Montenegro

jayencee

Hi, we (myself and OH) are thinking of taking a weeks holiday in Montenegro in June.  Can anyone recommend any particular areas to stay?  Want to be near a beach but also do some sightseeing.  Have been looking at Kotor, is it worth staying there or just doing a day trip?  Any suggestions gratefully received.  Not got a huge budget!

Bicycleman22

In my opinion Montenegro is not a great beach holiday place but a truly amazing place for the mountains. Most of the towns  / beach places along the coast are very busy in high summer, I am not sure about June though. Kotor is so beautiful but gets crowded when the cruise boats arrive, a bit like but not as bad as Dubrovnik. Lovcen national park and Durmitor are not to be missed if you do get there.

daveyjp

Back in 1989 when it was still Yugoslavia ( but not for much longer), I spent a week in Budva and enjoyed it. A couple of beaches and an old town to explore.  Not far to Dubrovnik.

zagfles

I think the best beaches are between Budva and Petrovac. Budva is probably a good central location if you want to visit other places on day trips. Kotor is stunning but does get overcrowded with cruise ships, when we were there in May there were a couple in a day but told in the summer they get 6 ships in a day!

I liked Bar and it was reasonably cheap, they get a lot of Polish tourists, we had quite a few people try to start conversations in Polish with us  Easy to get to Virpazar by train or bus for boat trips on lake Skadar, or to Ulcinj which is very Albanian (near the border). 

There's a lot of historic old towns (stari grad) near most towns eg Budva, Bar, Kotor which are worth visiting if you like that sort of thing. 

silvercar

HfP has a review today of a hotel in Montenegro. https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/04/29/review-hyatt-regency-kotor-bay-montenegro/ Read the comments for others suggestions on hotels, HfP tens to be top end in hotel recommendations.

Emily_Joy

silvercar said:

HfP has a review today of a hotel in Montenegro. https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/04/29/review-hyatt-regency-kotor-bay-montenegro/ Read the comments for others suggestions on hotels, HfP tens to be top end in hotel recommendations.

Hyatt in Montenegro is about as expensive as it gets. We rented a privately managed studio for 4 nights  (via booking.com) for the price of one night in Hyatt. 

By the way, most cash machines in Montenegro charge fees for cash withdrawal from foreign cards. However, we were able to find a cash machine in a Hilton that was fee-free.

Katiehound

You might want to watch episode 6 of Channel 4's series Joe & Katherine's bargain holidays as they go to Montenegro.
The pair of so-called comedians are... pretty rubbish..... but they might have ideas you can use. You can watch this on Channel 4 on demand on the computer- not sure if this programme has aired on TV yet.

Angelica123

Montenegro is lovely. Kotor is probably the most popular place that people visit - just be aware that as it is small, it can be crowded on days when the cruise ships are there so if you can time it to not be there on cruise ship days! Plenty of places you can do as day trips from Kotor. Durmitor National Park is lovely. 

While many places in touristy areas will accept card, many will only accept cash. Card machines will charge a fee (usually 4.99 euros) so definitely useful to bring some Euros with you (or pounds in cash to convert). 

It's not as cheap as you would imagine. Many people rent a car (although bear in mind that cars can not drive into any of the old towns, parking can sometimes be an issue). Guest house/Air BNB options are often more widely available than hotels (and cheaper too). 

bluennoclue

Herceg Novi is also beautiful and worth considering. Generally, the combination of the mountains and the sea in Montenegro is something else. Wild beauty, as people say. The prices might be higher than you expect though. There are many hidden gems worth exploring if you rent a car but the traffic can get crazy. The Bay of Kotor and Kotor old town should definitely be visited at least for a day trip. You can take a bus from Herceg Novi (there are many every day) and organize your own trip. 

Katiehound

I have visited Kotor from one of those cruise ships (except we were small enough to dock! rather than moor out in the bay)
Bought an excursion off the ship and we drove up all the hairpin bends to the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful day and the views from the top were absolutely stunning.
 Also lovely to cruise up the fjord to the town so a boat trip would be a great idea to experience the scenery.

badger09

Katiehound said:

I have visited Kotor from one of those cruise ships (except we were small enough to dock! rather than moor out in the bay)
Bought an excursion off the ship and we drove up all the hairpin bends to the top of the mountain. It was a beautiful day and the views from the top were absolutely stunning.
 Also lovely to cruise up the fjord to the town so a boat trip would be a great idea to experience the scenery.

Me too. On a small cruise ship I mean. We organised our own transport around the bay to Perast & spent the day there as it was so beautiful. Great food right on the waters edge & friendly locals. We then did a short guided walking tour around town, just the 2of us. Guide was a young mum on her 1st day back at work after having her 1st baby.  Happy memories.