The Budva Riviera, stretch by stretch

When people tell me they’re off to Budva, they rarely mean just the town. They mean a whole stretch of coast that starts at Jaz beach, runs past the old town, carries on through Bečići and Sveti Stefan and ends at Buljarica, not far from the boundary with Bar. That’s the Budva Riviera, and thinking of it in sections saves a lot of disappointment when you book somewhere to stay.

How big it is and how busy it gets

The national tourist board puts the beaches at 38 km, sand and pebble, with around 100,000 swimmers a day at the height of summer. It’s the most visited coast in the country, since Budva municipality logged 848,515 arrivals in 2024, a third of Montenegro’s total according to MONSTAT. With numbers like that, my first piece of advice is simple. If you’re going in August, choose your stretch by how you’ll get about, not by the photo of the beach.

From Jaz to the old town

The northern stretch begins at Jaz, about 2.5 km from Budva on the Kotor road, with two beaches of 800 and 400 metres, a campsite and a car park. Then comes the town itself, with Slovenska plaža as its 1,600-metre town beach, the coves of Ričardova glava and Pizana tucked under the walls and, on the far side of the old town, Mogren. Sveti Nikola island sits less than a kilometre offshore. This is the stretch with the most bars, the most traffic and the most going on after dark.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Bečići before prices climb.

Bečići, Rafailovići and Kamenovo

Past Zavala headland, with little Guvance beach, Bečići beach begins. It’s about 2,000 metres of multicoloured sand which, the tourist board explains, is washed down by four streams. It’s split between hotel lidos and public sections and ends at Rafailovići. A seafront path links it with Budva in one direction and Kamenovo in the other, a 330-metre beach whose bars play music from midday in summer. I go into more detail in the Bečići guide.

Pržno, Miločer and Sveti Stefan

This is the expensive stretch and, to my eye, the loveliest. Pržno is a former fishing village with a 260-metre beach facing west, the kind that keeps the sun until the very last minute. Next door is Miločer park, a garden of cedars, eucalyptus and mimosa around the old Karađorđević summer palace, with the 280-metre King’s Beach and the 200-metre Queen’s Beach. Then comes Sveti Stefan, the islet fortified in 1442 according to tradition, with twelve houses, one for each Paštrovići clan, and turned into a hotel in 1960.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Bečići and choose by the reviews.

Paštrovići and the south as far as Buljarica

South of Sveti Stefan the road pulls away from the sea and you find coves such as Crvena glavica, a cluster of seven small beaches with reddish sand, Drobni pijesak and tiny Perazića do, just 40 metres long, below Reževići monastery. That monastery, along with Praskvica and Gradište, makes up the religious heritage of Paštrovići, the historic district of this coast. Next is Petrovac, with its promenade, a 600-metre beach and the Venetian Kastio fort, and two kilometres on Buljarica, which at 2,250 metres is the longest beach on the riviera. Petrovac has its own guide under Petrovac.

Doing it without a car

The town buses are run by Mediteran Express, leaving from the Mediteranska Street roundabout. Buses to Sveti Stefan stop at Bečići, Rafailovići, Kamenovo, Pržno and Miločer every ten minutes from 06:00 to 22:00, then every quarter or half hour until 01:30. The Petrovac line has 16 departures a day, from 06:10 to 23:10, stopping at Reževići and Perazića do. With those two routes I wouldn’t hire a car for the riviera itself, only for getting out of it, and remember that Montenegro drives on the right. If you’re wondering which beach to pick on each stretch, I compare them in beaches in Budva.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Bečići before prices climb.