Budva has been taking in visitors for a very long time — a fortified Old Town on a small peninsula, a chain of beaches on either side of it, and mountains rising straight up behind. It is also the most crowded place on the Montenegrin coast in August, which means the difference between a good few days and a mediocre few days is knowing what to do and when to do it. This is our list: the anchors nobody should skip, the beaches worth the extra twenty minutes, and the trips that get you off the coast entirely. Two of the entries are tours we run ourselves, and we have said so where they are.
1. Get lost in the Old Town
Budva's Old Town is a small walled peninsula of limestone lanes, squares and churches at the western end of the town beach. It is compact enough that getting lost is a feature rather than a problem: five minutes in any direction and you are back at a gate. Come early in the morning, when the lanes belong to delivery vans and cats rather than tour groups, or late in the evening when the stone gives back the day's heat. Trg pjesnika — Poets' Square — and the cluster of churches around Santa Maria in Punta are the natural places to slow down.
2. Climb the Citadela for the view over the rooftops
The Citadela is the fortress at the seaward tip of the Old Town, and its ramparts are the single best vantage point in Budva. From the walls you look straight down onto terracotta roofs, out to the island of Sveti Nikola, and back along the curve of the coast. It is a short climb inside the fortress rather than a hike. Go at sunset if you want the light; go at midday if you want the water at its most absurd shade of blue. Ticketing and opening hours change with the season, so check at the entrance when you pass.
3. Find the Ballerina on the rocks
The bronze dancer standing on a rock below the Old Town walls is the most photographed thing in Budva after the walls themselves, and — unusually for a famous statue — she is genuinely worth the detour. She stands on the coastal path between the Old Town and Mogren beach, poised over the water with the fortress behind her, and local legend attaches a story of a woman waiting for a sailor who never came back. Go early: by mid-morning in August there is a queue for the photograph.
4. Swim at Mogren, and take the cliff path to get there
Mogren is two small coves west of the Old Town, joined by a short tunnel cut through the rock, and reaching them is half the pleasure. The path runs from behind the Avala hotel along the base of the cliffs, a few minutes of walking with the sea directly below you. The water is clear and deep close in, the coves are sheltered from the afternoon wind, and the cliffs put the sand in shade late in the day. It fills up in July and August, so arrive before ten or after five.
5. Take a dip at Ričardova Glava, right under the walls
Ričardova Glava — Richard's Head — is the small pebble beach tucked directly beneath the Old Town's southern wall, named after a legend involving Richard the Lionheart. It is neither the biggest nor the quietest beach on the Riviera, but nowhere else can you swim with a medieval fortress rising out of the water beside you. It is the obvious place for a quick swim between wandering the Old Town and sitting down to lunch, and it is about a minute's walk from the Old Town gate.
6. Spend a proper beach day at Jaz
Jaz is the wide open bay a few kilometres west of Budva, past the tunnel — a long stretch of gravel and sand backed by a flat green field rather than apartment blocks. It is where you go when the town beaches feel too built up: more space, more wind, bigger waves on a breezy day, and enough room that even in August you can find a patch to yourself at the far end. It has hosted some of the biggest open-air concerts in the region, which tells you something about the scale of the place.
7. Cross over to Sveti Nikola island
The green island sitting offshore from the town beach is Sveti Nikola, the largest island on the Montenegrin coast and known to just about everyone in Budva as Hawaii. It has beaches on its sheltered landward side, walking paths through the pines, and — the real point of going — a view back at the mainland that puts the whole Riviera in one frame. Water taxis cross from the town beach and the marina through the summer season; ask at the waterfront the day before rather than trusting a timetable.
8. See Sveti Stefan from the viewpoint above Miločer
Sveti Stefan is the fortified islet on a sandbar a few kilometres south of Budva: a 15th-century fishing village of stone houses and terracotta roofs that was converted into a resort in the 1960s. The islet itself is private and access is restricted, so for most visitors this is a view rather than a visit — and the classic view is from the road above at Miločer, where the whole islet and the beaches on either side of the sandbar sit below you. Stop there late in the afternoon, when the low light turns the roofs orange.
9. Walk the promenade to Bečići and Rafailovići
A paved seafront path runs east from Budva marina around the headland to Bečići and on to the small harbour at Rafailovići, and it is the best walk in town — half an hour or so at a stroll. You get the marina, a tunnel through the rock, the long sweep of Bečići beach, and a string of konobas on the water at the far end where the fish is landed a few metres from the table. Do it in the evening, eat at the end of it, and walk back under the lights.
10. Go canyoning at Drenostica
This one is ours, so read it as a disclosure as much as a recommendation. Drenostica canyon is 8 km and about fifteen minutes above Budva Old Town, which makes it the closest real adventure to the beach. You spend two to three hours in the canyon — abseiling, swimming through pools, sliding down water-worn rock, jumping from the ledges if you feel like it — with ICOpro-certified guides. It costs €100 per person, with 10% off for groups of four or more, and the season runs April to October. Minimum age is 7 (about 25 kg), and the meeting point is the Terrazza Budva car park at 10:00.
11. Spend an afternoon in Petrovac
Petrovac is a small resort town about twenty minutes south of Budva, and it feels the way Budva did before the high-rises: a short promenade under pine trees, a little Venetian fortress on the rocks at the end of the beach, and a calm bay where families swim in the evening. Just north of town, the cove of Lučice is one of the prettiest small beaches on the Riviera. Go for a late swim, stay for dinner on the promenade, and drive back in the dark.
12. Beach-hop east: Kamenovo, Pržno, Ploče
Budva's own beaches are convenient rather than beautiful. Twenty minutes east, the coast improves sharply: Kamenovo is a clean crescent below the road, Pržno is a working fishing cove with restaurants right on the water, and Ploče, further along, is a flat rock platform with pools built into it and a bar that turns into a party by mid-afternoon. Take a car, a scooter or the local bus for a day and treat the coast east of town as a menu rather than a destination.
13. Walk up to Podmaine Monastery
Ten minutes uphill from the centre, above the noise and the apartment blocks, the Orthodox monastery of Podmaine — also called Podostrog — sits among olive trees with the whole bay laid out below it. It is a working monastery, small and quiet, and the contrast with the beach strip a kilometre away is exactly why it is worth the walk. Dress respectfully, with shoulders and knees covered, and keep your voice down. It is also the easiest hill walk in Budva if you want a view without getting in a car.
14. Watch the evening happen at the marina and Slovenska plaža
Budva's evening ritual is the walk. From about seven o'clock the whole town is out along the marina and the promenade behind Slovenska plaža, with ice cream, corn on the cob and yachts on one side. It costs nothing, it is the most local thing you can do in an extremely touristy town, and it is your best chance to see Budva as somewhere people actually live rather than visit. Start at the marina and drift east until you find somewhere you want to sit down.
15. Eat what the coast actually eats
Skip the pizza on the main strip and look for a konoba. On this coast that means grilled fish sold by the kilo, black risotto, squid, and octopus cooked under a bell — ispod sača. From the villages inland come the smoked ham and cheese of Njeguši, and for breakfast there are priganice: fried dough with honey and cheese. The rule that has never once failed us is simple: if the menu has photographs on it and lists eight cuisines, keep walking.
16. Trade the coast for a day in the mountains
Montenegro is a beach holiday attached to a serious mountain country, and the mountains are a day trip rather than a separate holiday. Our guided day hikes run 4 to 7 hours between May and October, with certified local guides, from €100 per person, and they range from a flat walk around a glacial lake to a summit above 2,400 metres. No previous hiking experience is needed for the easy routes. If you only have one non-beach day and the forecast is good, this is the one people remember afterwards.
17. Spend a day at Skadar Lake
Skadar Lake is the largest lake in the Balkans and a national park, about an hour inland from Budva over the hills behind Petrovac. The base for a visit is Virpazar, a small village on the water with a stone bridge, a few konobas and wine cellars, at the edge of the Crmnica valley, where local families make Vranac red wine. Go for the water lilies and the birdlife, a lunch of carp or eel, and a tasting on the way back. It is a full day out, and a completely different Montenegro from the coast.
18. Take a day trip to Kotor and Lovćen
Kotor sits at the back of its fjord-like bay up the coast — a walled town under a mountain, on the UNESCO World Heritage list, with a stepped path up the fortifications to St John's Fortress that is a great deal more of a climb than it looks from below. From Kotor the serpentine road switchbacks up into Lovćen National Park and the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, on a peak with a view over half the country. It is a full day, and one of the best drives in Europe.
How to fit it together
Two days: Old Town, Citadela, Mogren and the Ballerina on the first, the beaches east of town on the second. Three days: add canyoning, which takes a morning and leaves the afternoon free for the beach. Four or more: put the mountains in with a guided hike, add Kotor or Skadar Lake, and keep one day completely unplanned for the beach you find by accident. Book the tours before you arrive if you are coming in July or August, and save the flexible things for whichever day the wind gets up.
Tours from this guide
Planning a few days in Budva and not sure how to fit it together? Send us your dates and who is coming through the contact form, or message us on WhatsApp at +382 68 252 312 — we usually reply the same day.
