Ulcinj, the old pirate town at the southern end of Montenegro

Ulcinj feels like a different Montenegro. Coming down from the north, the beaches swap pebbles for fine sand, and the town has its own silhouette, a walled old quarter perched on a rock above the sea that has been lived in for twenty-five centuries. It’s the last town on the coast before Albania and, to my mind, the best base in the country if sand is what you’re after.

Twenty-five centuries on a rock

The Ulcinj tourist board dates the town’s founding to the 5th century BC and the Illyrian state of the Ardiaei, pointing to the stretch of wall on the north side of the old town, built in the Greek fashion with huge stone blocks. Pliny the Elder listed it as a town of Roman citizens. It was the seat of the Balšić family from 1360 to 1421, spent a century and a half under Venice and fell to the Ottomans in 1571, just before Lepanto, staying in their hands until 1878-1880. That was its heyday. With more than 300 ships, it became, in the tourist board’s words, one of the great ports of the Mediterranean and a corsair stronghold feared all over the Adriatic. You can read all of that as you wander the Ulcinj Old Town, with its old slave square and the legend of Cervantes held captive there.

The new town and Mala plaža

Below the walls is Mala plaža, the town beach, 360 metres of very fine sand that shelves extremely gently, which the tourist board recommends for children. A two-kilometre pine wood, Borova šuma, runs east from it and hides Ženska plaža, the women’s beach, with sulphurous springs that local tradition credits with helping fertility. In 1992 Ulcinj was declared a spa and climate health resort, and its tourist board boasts 218 days of sunshine a year. The new town is lively in summer, with a market selling olives, oil, cheese and oranges, jewellers’ shops, cafés and clubs open from 21:00 to 5:00. According to the tourist board, Ulcinj’s goldsmiths are known well beyond the town for their prices, and the market is also the place for dried figs and sudžuk, the local dried beef. In summer the old town hosts the Summer Stage, a season of plays and theatre events.

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Velika plaža and Ada Bojana

Four kilometres from the centre begins Velika plaža, the longest beach in the country, 13 km of fine sand running down to the mouth of the river Bojana. The maestral blows here about 90 days a year, which makes Ulcinj Montenegro’s kitesurfing capital. At the far end, Ada Bojana is a river island with a naturist beach and fish restaurants, right on the border. Every other beach in the municipality, from rocky coves to river beaches, is in my guide to Ulcinj beaches.

Valdanos, the olive grove and the hinterland

To the north-west, Valdanos bay forms a horseshoe sheltered from north and south winds and protected as a natural monument. Behind it spreads Ulcinj’s great olive grove, some 18,000 trees with an average age of around 800 years; the tourist board describes it as Montenegro’s largest living monument to olive growing. Inland lie Lake Šas and the ruins of Svač, and between the town and Velika plaža are the salt pans, where the tourist board counts more than 20,000 birds in the winter months.

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Getting there and where to stay

Ulcinj has neither a railway nor an airport. Its tourist board puts it about 95 km from Podgorica Airport and 84 km from Tivat, the two airports you would fly into from the UK, and the nearest railway station is Bar, beyond the Bar Riviera. The Albanian border crossing is at Sukobin, and Montenegro drives on the right. There’s everything from town-centre hotels to campsites on Velika plaža; I go through the areas in hotels in Ulcinj. Adults pay a €1 daily tourist tax, which goes on your bill.

When to go

The Ulcinj tourist board puts the swimming months at May to October and says the maestral takes the edge off July and August afternoons. The nearest official weather station is at Bar, where July 2024 averaged 27.5 °C according to MONSTAT. My pick would be June or September rather than August, with the sea already warm and more room on the sand.

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