Budva: Old Town, Beaches and Trails
Accommodation in Budva
Budva brings together medieval history, beaches and trails through the hinterland. If you don’t want to focus your stay on just one type of holiday, you’ll find ideas here for days by the water as well as for exploring museums, churches and the surrounding landscape. When choosing a holiday apartment, you can start by asking whether you mainly want to experience Budva’s Old Town and coast, or whether you’d also like to include hiking trails and smaller towns in your trip.
Beaches with different features
In 1935, Bečići Beach received the Grand Prix in Paris, followed by the Golden Palm in 1965. Mogren consists of two beaches connected by a tunnel. There is also a specific route detail to help you find your way: a 350-metre concrete path leads from Hotel Avala to Mogren Beach. This distance applies to that starting point, not to other accommodation.
Buljarica Beach is 2,250 metres long. If you’d like to explore nature as well as the beach, you can visit the Buljaričko polje wetland, a nature reserve for numerous rare plant and bird species. Crvena Glavica comprises seven smaller beaches, some of which can only be reached by boat or by swimming. Keep this in mind when choosing specific places by the water. Drobni Pijesak lies in a secluded cove and is easiest to reach from the sea.
Old Town, museums and a vibrant cultural scene
Budva’s Old Town is enclosed by medieval walls, which include a fortress, towers and gates. The Museum of the City of Budva, located in the Old Town, displays archaeological and ethnographic exhibitions. The Citadel also offers a view of the city and houses a small museum, a library and a fish relief that symbolizes Budva. These offer different ways to explore the city’s history: through archaeological and ethnographic collections, its fortifications or individual historical artefacts.
During the summer months, the “City Theater” festival, founded in 1987, turns squares and courtyards in the Old Town into stages. Another cultural venue is Spomen Dom Reževići. Housed in a former school building dating from 1856, it includes a gallery, a library and an ethnographic room. Its programme includes presentations, exhibitions, discussion events and poetry and music evenings.
In Petrovac, the Roman mosaics offer a different view of history: these are floor decorations from a Roman building that probably dates from the 3rd or 4th century AD. Spomen Dom Crvena komuna houses an art gallery, a library and a museum of the revolution. Notable religious sites include Praskvica Monastery near Sveti Stefan, with its extensive library, archive and treasury, as well as the Church of St Thomas. The church stands on a hill among pines and cypresses along the Bečići beach promenade and can be reached from the beach.
Hiking, nature and regional discoveries
The Budva Riviera has almost 150 kilometres of hiking trails within the municipality. They lead through the hinterland and connect authentic coastal villages. One named historic route is Jegorov Put, which runs from Miločer to Čelobrdo. BudvaTrails, a GPS app, is also available for hiking and can be used online and offline free of charge. If you’d like to combine travel with exercise and culture, you can make these trails a focus of your trip alongside museums and historic sites.
The old olive tree in Ivanovići is a natural monument with a long history. It is about 2,000 years old and was registered and protected as a natural monument in 1994. From the Budva–Bar highway, a path of about two kilometres leads through the settlement and village of Ivanovići; from there, a 30-metre stone path leads to the tree. Miločer Park, meanwhile, is a garden of exotic trees and flowers in the Sveti Stefan–Miločer tourist area.
Local food culture can also be part of your explorations: Dan Širuna includes a traditional tasting of freshly prepared širun, a bluefish served with local wine or beer. Diving clubs can be found in Budva, Pržno, Sveti Stefan and Petrovac; Budva Marina has 330 commercial berths at sea. Depending on whether you want to focus on culture, hiking, nature or activities by the water, you can choose your holiday apartment’s location accordingly.
Places in the Municipality of Budva
For further orientation, you can also explore the individual places and areas: Bečići, Sveti Stefan, Petrovac Na Moru, Miločer, Budva, Pržno, Kaluđerac and Buljarica. Other names to look for include Katun Reževići, Kuljače, Rijeka Reževići, Markovići, Lapčići, Boreti, Prijevor and Drobnići.
For the broader travel overview: Montenegro.
