Where to stay in Montenegro: the resorts compared

For a first visit without a car, stay in Budva or Bečići; with young children, pick the sandy stretch from Bečići down to Ulcinj; for old towns and quiet evenings, choose the Bay of Kotor. Montenegro’s coast is 293 kilometres long, and it sorts itself out quite simply. Inside the bay the beaches are concrete and shingle; from Budva southwards there is more and more sand; and at the far southern end, below Ulcinj, a single beach runs for thirteen kilometres.

The other thing that decides it is the airport. Everything from Herceg Novi down to Petrovac is closer to Tivat; Bar and Ulcinj are closer to Podgorica. Below, the resorts are compared by beach, journey time, crowd and the price of a room.

In short

• First visit, no car: the Budva Riviera. It is 20 km from Tivat airport, has a promenade you can walk from Budva to Bečići, and a bus runs to Sveti Stefan every 15–20 minutes.
• Young children: Bečići (almost 2 km of sand and fine shingle), Petrovac (600 m of reddish sand), Velika Plaža at Ulcinj (13 km, very shallow).
• Nightlife: Budva. Peace and quiet: Petrovac, Herceg Novi, Perast.
• Hardly any sand in Kotor, Perast or Herceg Novi: expect platforms and fine shingle.
• Apartments in July and August: roughly €60–120 a night in Budva, Kotor and Herceg Novi, €50–90 in Bar and Ulcinj. A rough guide, not a price list.
• Tourist tax comes on top: €1 per person per night.

Where is everything?

If you have only heard of Kotor, here is the coast from north to south. Herceg Novi sits at the mouth of the Bay of Kotor, 9 km from the Croatian border, with Dubrovnik beyond it. Kotor, Perast and Tivat are inside the bay. Once you leave the bay, the open coast begins: Budva and its riviera, then Petrovac, then Bar, and finally Ulcinj, the southernmost town in the country, close to Albania.

The resorts at a glance

Resort	Beach	Nearest airport	Best for
Herceg Novi	concrete and shingle	Tivat, 23–28 km via the ferry; Dubrovnik, 26–29 km plus the border	quiet, an older crowd
Kotor, Perast	platforms, fine shingle	Tivat: 7 km to Kotor, 21 km to Perast	old towns rather than beaches
Tivat	shingle and concrete in town, sand on Luštica	Tivat, 4–8 km	the airport on your doorstep
Budva	Slovenska: shingle with some sand; Mogren: sand	Tivat, 20 km	first visit, evenings out, no car
Bečići, Rafailovići	almost 2 km of sand with fine shingle	Tivat, 22–24 km	families
Pržno, Sveti Stefan	sand; some beaches belong to hotels and cost more	Tivat, 25–28 km	couples, quiet but dearer
Petrovac	600 m of reddish sand, Lučice next door	Tivat 37 km, Podgorica 48 km	families, peace
Bar	shingle in town, sand at Sutomore	Podgorica, 41–47 km	a town that lives all year
Ulcinj	13 km of dark-grey sand	Podgorica 72 km, Tivat 83 km	children, kitesurfing, sand

Distances are by road, without traffic. In July and August allow half as long again for the journey, or even double.

Does Montenegro have sandy beaches?

Yes, but not everywhere, and this is where guidebooks most often go wrong. Here it is from north to south.

The Bay of Kotor. The shore is steep, so the beaches are built up or concrete, and you often get in by ladder. The water is calm and deep from the first step: excellent for swimming, awkward for toddlers. The exception is around Tivat, with sandy Plavi Horizonti on the Luštica peninsula and Kalardovo beside the airport.

Budva and its riviera. Budva’s main town beach, Slovenska (1,600 m), is shingle with patches of sand. Beyond the centre, according to Budva’s tourist board, the beaches are sandy: Mogren, Bečići, Kamenovo, Pržno, Petrovac, Lučice. In practice that often means sand mixed with fine shingle, but not rocks and not concrete. Beach by beach, the stretch is covered in the Budva Riviera.

Bar. A mixed shoreline: the town beach, Topolica, is shingle, while neighbouring Sutomore is sand. The municipality has around twenty beaches in all.

Ulcinj. Velika Plaža is the longest beach in the country: 13 kilometres of fine dark-grey sand brought down by the Bojana river. You walk about fifty metres out before the water reaches your chest. The details are in Ulcinj and Velika Plaža.

Every type of beach, with lounger prices, is in Montenegro’s beaches by type.

Where to stay with young children

The first test is how you get into the sea. The slope is gentle in the middle of Bečići beach, at Petrovac and below Ulcinj. Next to Petrovac there is also Lučice, a small beach of fine golden sand where the water stays shallow.

The second test is the journey from the airport. Bečići is half an hour from Tivat; Ulcinj is about two hours. With a small child heading south, it is easier to fly into Podgorica, from where Ulcinj is roughly an hour and a half. Child seats are compulsory by law in transfers: you request them when you book, and they are charged separately.

The bay is an acquired taste for families with toddlers: the water is calm, but there is no sand and the depth starts right at the edge of the platform.

Where to stay without a car

On the Budva Riviera. Budva, Bečići and Rafailovići are linked by a seafront promenade; the bus to Sveti Stefan runs every 15–20 minutes for €2.50, and Kotor has more than 30 buses a day, about 40 minutes, usually €5. Nearly all of the country’s group excursions leave from here too, although the organiser runs them only with Russian-speaking guides, so check that before you count on them.

Staying without a car is harder in Herceg Novi (a town of steps, a long way from the rest of the coast), on Luštica, and in Ulcinj, where you still need a lift from town out to Velika Plaža. What you can and cannot reach by bus is set out in Montenegro without a car.

Nightlife, or somewhere quiet?

Budva is the country’s party town: clubs, bars, beach parties. The nightlife runs along the strip from Budva to Bečići, and in summer Kamenovo beach hosts daytime parties.

Petrovac is the opposite. It is 18–19 km from Budva, noticeably quieter in the evening, and its visitors are mostly families and couples. Pržno and Sveti Stefan are calm as well, but dearer: a set of loungers on the King’s Beach (Kraljeva plaža) at Miločer costs €240.

Herceg Novi is a relaxed town at the entrance to the bay with an older crowd, and the Pet Danica promenade runs about 7 km along the water. Perast has around 240 residents, and at night it really is quiet.

How much does accommodation cost?

No one publishes a reliable price list by resort, so these are orders of magnitude only. The figures come from spring 2026 reviews in the Serbian press, which all quote the same summary without naming its original source.

Where and when	Apartment, per night
Budva, Kotor, Herceg Novi, July–August	€60–120
Bar, Ulcinj, July–August	€50–90
Tivat: small, away from the beach / two-room, by the beach	from €50 / from €100
May–June, further from the sea	from €20–30

The most expensive places are Budva, Kotor and Tivat around the Porto Montenegro marina; Bar and Ulcinj are cheaper. On Herceg Novi the sources disagree: some put it among the cheap resorts, others alongside Budva. The same reviews say prices nearly double over a few weeks as the peak season arrives.

The tourist tax is €1 per person per night, €0.50 for 12–18-year-olds, and nothing for children under 12. A full weekly budget, with food, car and trips, is in the cost of a week in Montenegro.

Which airport: Tivat, Podgorica or Dubrovnik?

Tivat serves everything from Herceg Novi to Petrovac. A transfer, priced per car: to Budva from €58, to Bečići from €62, to Petrovac from €89.

Podgorica serves Bar and Ulcinj. A transfer to Bar costs from €86 and to Ulcinj from €136; from Tivat the same trips start at €112 and €164.

Dubrovnik is in Croatia, and it only makes sense for Herceg Novi, 26–29 km away. Between the two lies the border, where in summer you can wait anywhere from half an hour to two or three hours. Kotor is about 59 km from Dubrovnik airport and Budva about 71 km, and both involve the same border, so for them Tivat nearly always wins.

Landing at Dubrovnik also means entering the EU, and since 10 April 2026 the EU Entry/Exit System applies in full to non-EU travellers, British passport holders included. On your first entry you are photographed and four fingerprints are taken instead of a passport stamp; children under 12 give no fingerprints. Expect that first crossing to take longer than usual.

When you compare flights from the UK, compare the airports as well as the fares: a cheaper flight into the wrong one can cost you the difference back in transfers. Montenegro is an hour ahead of the UK.

Transfers can be booked on the transfer page. The services are provided by independent companies, and you book and pay them directly.

With a car, is it easier?

With a car the base matters much less. Budva to Kotor is 22 km, about half an hour; Budva to Bar is about 40 km, an hour. You can stay wherever is cheaper or quieter and drive to the beaches you want. An economy car costs from €25 a day in the low season; in July and August hire costs roughly twice what it does in May.

Traffic drives on the right, and dipped headlights are compulsory during the day as well as at night. The rest of the rules are in driving rules in Montenegro, and car options are on the car rental page.

Do British visitors need a visa?

No. On a British passport you can stay up to 90 days in any 180. The passport must have been issued less than ten years ago and remain valid for three months after the day you leave. The full rules, including for EU and US citizens, are in entry requirements for Montenegro.

Prices checked in September 2026. Sources: Budva Tourist Organisation, Bar Tourist Organisation, Tivat Tourist Organisation, Tivat Airport, accommodation price reviews in the Serbian outlets Mondo and Kurir (April 2026).