Porto Montenegro, a stroll among the superyachts

For a lot of people, Porto Montenegro is the picture of Tivat before they’ve ever set foot in the town. Huge yachts, Venetian-style buildings and a waterside promenade with mountains rising behind. The marina sells itself as one of the Mediterranean’s leading superyacht bases, but if you’ve flown in on a budget it’s simply a very pleasant place for a walk. Here’s what’s there and what’s worth your time.

A marina built for superyachts

According to its own website, Porto Montenegro has more than 500 berths for boats from 6 to 250 m long (its berthing page says 580), a dock team on duty round the clock and a request to call ahead on VHF channel 71. It holds Five Gold Anchor Platinum status from The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA), plus ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 certification. The National Tourism Organisation adds the two facts the marina likes to lead with, a 250 m berth sold as a world record, and the ACREW prize the marina collected in 2021 as top superyacht marina.

For anyone arriving by sea, the useful bit is that there’s border control on site, with police, customs and harbour master, and that visiting boats are welcome by the day, week or month. If coastal sailing is on your mind, I cover it in sailing in Montenegro.

No yacht? Here’s what to do

Walk. The waterfront is open to all and joins the town’s own Pine promenade, so you can stroll from the centre of Tivat straight into the marina. There are restaurants, cafés and boutiques, and it stays reasonably lively even out of season; the marina itself makes a point of its winter community.

The one visit I wouldn’t skip is the naval museum at the northern end, housed in a restored 19th-century sawmill. It has more than 300 artefacts, Austro-Hungarian naval equipment and two Yugoslav submarines, one of them the 50 m Heroj submarine. It’s open Tuesday to Saturday, 9:00 to 17:00, and you’ll want around an hour.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Tivat for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Jetty 1 and the old crane

The most photographed spot is Jetty 1, with its red and white historic crane. The marina says this is where the biggest yachts tie up, with berths up to 180 m, and the cafés along the promenade next to it are set up for exactly that view. If you like boats, it’s the best seat in the house for the price of a coffee, with a jetty the marina says can take the largest yachts afloat just a few metres away.

The marina talks of 25 acres of promenades and green space, and just beyond it, in the centre of Tivat, is the town park of 1892, planted with trees sailors brought home from around the world. I’d combine the two in an afternoon, marina to park and back along the Pine promenade as the sun goes down.

On the water

The Porto Montenegro Yacht Club has three squadrons, sailing, motor yachting and rowing, and runs regattas through the year. For visitors there’s paddleboard and kayak hire on the bay, RYA sailing and powerboat courses, trips to hidden coves and islands, and a seaside pool at the club, which the Tivat tourist board counts among the town’s most popular since it opened in July 2011. The marina also promotes speedboat trips to the Blue Cave on Luštica for a swim and a snorkel.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Tivat for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Hotels and food

The marina’s website features two hotels, The Quince on the waterfront and SIRO, built around fitness and recovery, plus apartments by the night or longer. For me, staying here makes sense if you want comfort and marina views; if you’re after village character, look at a hotel on the town promenade, such as the Palma, or the inner bay instead. I compare the options in hotels in Tivat.

Is it worth it?

That depends on what you’re after. If it’s history or an old town, Porto Montenegro isn’t the place; Kotor is a short drive away for that. If you enjoy boats, a polished waterfront and wide views across the bay, then yes. And the naval museum with its submarine is reason enough on its own, especially with children in tow. It’s about 10 minutes by car from Tivat airport, according to the marina, so it also works for a last evening before an early flight home.