Sutomore, the young crowd's beach on the Bar Riviera

Sutomore is where the young crowd heads on the Bar Riviera in summer, and its own tourist board sells it exactly that way. Music, bars, food stalls and a very long sandy beach. If that’s your thing, you’ll be happy. If not, it’s worth knowing what’s around it, because a few minutes away are some of the quietest coves on the southern coast.

From fishing village to party resort

The Bar tourist board describes it as the most popular resort on the Bar Riviera, grown from a fishing village clinging to a sandy beach. Today it has hotels, restaurants and holiday homes behind it, and the tourist board pitches it as the main young people’s destination on the coast, with good music and something going on around the clock. The village had 1,816 residents in the preliminary 2023 census and belongs to the municipality of Bar.

The beach

Sutomore beach measures 1,200 metres and 56,000 m², and according to the Bar tourist board it’s well run with clean water. It adds that the sand has a reputation for easing rheumatic complaints. Along the promenade you’ll find restaurants, cafés, fast food and souvenir shops, and at night clubs, discos and fairground rides. The national tourist board lists it among Bar’s family beaches. Next to it is Zlatna obala, the Hotel Inex’s 240-metre sandy beach, reserved for its guests.

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The coves round about

The best of Sutomore, for me, lies on its edges. Štrbine is a 100-metre pebble cove of 1,700 m², with clean water and sunsets over the open sea. Between Sutomore and Bar is Crvena plaža, a 50-metre inlet of vivid red sand, and the tourist board tells the legend of the sea nymphs who combed their hair with coral combs on the cliff above. A little further on is Ratac, a naturist beach split in two by its headland and screened from the road by pines. All of them, with their sizes, are in beaches in Bar.

The fortress above

On the hill closing off the village, 225 metres above the sea, are the ruins of Haj-Nehaj, the fortified town the Venetians built in the fifteenth century. It’s the outing I’d save for late afternoon, before heading back down for dinner.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Sutomore and pick one that fits your day.

Getting there

Sutomore has a station on the ZPCG railway between Bar and Podgorica, and by road you reach it from Bar or along the coast from Petrovac. From Podgorica, the motorway down to the coast runs through the 4,189-metre Sozina tunnel, says the Bar tourist board. Coming from the UK, you’ll land at Podgorica or Tivat; Podgorica is 46 km from Bar and Tivat 60 km, according to Airports of Montenegro. In August the village holds an evening of traditional Spič folk music and dance with local food stalls. If you’d rather sleep somewhere calmer, head north to Čanj.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Sutomore on Booking.com and filter by area before price.