Hotel Splendid, the big resort on Bečići beach

The Splendid is one of those hotels that defines a beach. It takes up a good stretch of the front at Bečići, 2 km from Budva, and it’s big in every way, in rooms, in spa and in function halls. The facility details here come from the website of the Montenegro Stars group, which owns it.

A pioneering hotel

According to its website, the Splendid Conference & SPA Resort opened in 2006 as the first five-star hotel on the eastern Adriatic coast. The Budva tourist board still lists it as five-star among the municipality’s hotels. It sits right on the beach, with a private section, at Bečići, whose beach was honoured in Paris back in 1935. The same group runs the four-star Montenegro Beach Resort in Bečići, open only from April to October, plus the Montis Mountain Resort by Splendid (the group’s homepage also lists a third five-star, the Sea Star), if you want to split a trip between two hotels from the same stable.

Rooms and suites

The website lists 322 Superior rooms, most with sea views, and a spread of suites, four Junior, nine Family and four Wellness, plus a Penthouse and a presidential suite for VIP guests. It’s a volume hotel, aimed at families, groups and stays of a week or two rather than a romantic two-night break. For British families that’s often exactly the point, with Tivat airport about 20 km from Budva and the beach right outside the door.

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

Spa, restaurants and conferences

The hotel boasts Montenegro’s largest spa centre, which even has its own website, and offers five bars and three restaurants with different cuisines. It also has the country’s largest conference venue, for up to 800 people, with halls for corporate events, weddings and gala dinners, and in winter the Budva tourist board has used its halls for free theatre seasons. The Merit Royal Splendid casino operates in the same complex.

What’s around it

In front of you is Bečići beach and its promenade, which leads to Budva through the Zavala tunnel and to Kamenovo the other way. The tourist board lists a Water sport Budva stand at the hotel itself, with parasailing and boat hire. And next to the Splendid is the turning, about two kilometres long, to the ancient olive tree at Ivanovići, reckoned to be around 2,000 years old and protected since 1994. I compare it with the area’s other hotels in hotels in Budva.

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

Who it suits

Anyone who wants everything on site without ever leaving the hotel, private beach, spa and several restaurants, and anyone travelling outside summer who values the spa more than the sand. If a small hotel with charm is what you’re after, look at Pržno or Sveti Stefan first, and for other big names on the coast, see the best hotels in Montenegro.

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