Dukley Hotel & Resort, luxury residences between Budva and Bečići

Dukley isn’t a hotel in the usual sense. It’s a complex on the Zavala peninsula, the headland separating central Budva from Bečići beach, with a resort of residences and two sister hotels around it. Everything I say about its facilities comes from the group’s own website.

Where it is

The Zavala peninsula sits between Slovenska plaža and Bečići, with sea on three sides and views back to the old town and Sveti Nikola island. At the start of the headland is Guvance, which the Budva tourist board also calls Dukley beach, an 80-metre sandy cove facing west towards the old town, good for sunsets and reached along the seafront path from Budva or Bečići. In other words, you’re out of the bustle but a stroll from it. The Budva tourist board’s hotel list gives the address simply as Jadranski put, Zavala peninsula.

Residences and penthouses

The five-star Dukley Hotel & Resort doesn’t do conventional rooms. According to its website, guests stay in residences of 80 to 270 m² for two to eight adults plus a child, and penthouses of 300 to 500 m² for four to eight adults plus a child. It’s a format designed for families, groups or long stays, with the space of a flat and the service of a hotel. That also changes how you should compare prices, because a residence for six is a different proposition from three double rooms elsewhere in Budva, and I’d do the sums per person rather than per night before ruling it out.

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

What the complex shares

The group’s three Budva hotels share facilities. The website lists seven restaurants, three private beaches, the Infinity Pool Club, a kids’ club with a pool, beauty and health services and a spa with a gym. The Infinity Hotel, also five-star, has rooms of 26 to 58 m² and a rooftop pool overlooking the sea and the old town, while the four-star Harmonia mixes small rooms with apartments of up to 122 m². The group also says a health clinic is being prepared at Dukley Gardens. Away from the coast it runs a fourth property, the four-star Mountain Retreat, with chalets and suites minutes from the Kolašin ski slopes next to Biogradska Gora National Park, if you fancy combining sea and mountains in one trip.

The name

The group’s website explains that Dukley comes from Doclea, the most important Roman city in the region and the foundation of the first state in what later became Montenegro. The ruins of Doclea are just outside Podgorica, and I cover them under Doclea.

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

Who it suits

Families and groups who want space, hotel dining and a private beach without giving up the old town a short walk away. If you’re a couple who only need a good bed close to everything, I’d look first at the Infinity or the other central hotels I list in hotels in Budva.

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