If you know me or have read my previous blogs, you are familiar with my love for Monaco and The French Riviera. I love that coastline. It’s so beautiful and is absolutely perfect for a summer holiday away. 

 

It was my go-to spot, but now I have a new spot. A place more undeveloped and unique. A place so beautiful, it looks like it could be out of a travel magazine. Montenegro. 

 

Montenegro is stunning and a place you can have any type of holiday, whether it’s relaxation on the beach, a luxury spa weekend, adventure packed, site-seeing, or coming with the family. There’s no shortage of things to do, and beauty to see. It’s a place not spoiled by tourism yet, and I was truly in awe. It reminded me of a mixture between Monaco and Cape Town and a little bit of Croatia. 

 

Montenegro is in the Balkans.  It consists of mountainous territory, Midievil villages, and beautiful beaches along the coastline of the Adriatic Sea. There are stunning churches and monasteries, caves, a national park, glacial lakes, and beautiful mountain valleys. The people are Montenegrin, but there are also ethnic Serbs, Bosnians, and Albanians. In Montenegro, they use the Euro. 

 

The two cities I saw in Montenegro were Budva and Kotor. There are so many other stunning places in this country to see and stay. I wish I had more time. I would strongly suggest when you come to allow yourself a week to see the whole country by car.  There truly is so much natural untapped beauty. 

 

Okay.  Back to Budva and Kotor. Kotor, I didn’t actually “visit visit.”  I just drove through.  But OMG! I have to go back just to see Kotor. It truly looks like one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The mountains surrounding the water makes it look like a fjord. The sea. It’s seriously stunning. Go ahead and google it. You will die. I have pictures below of what I could capture on my bus to Bosnia. 

 

Budva is another stunning coastal town. I stayed at HOTEL SPLENDID and, man, was it SPLENDID. You like the cheese there? Haha! 

 

Really, though.  This hotel is the premiere spot to stay in Budva and really Montenegro. It’s huge, has amazing ocean views, an amazing spa, a huge outdoor pool, restaurants, and a cool casino on the top floor called Casino Royale. You may recognize it from James Bond films. I went up and played up there but hardly knew how to even use a slot machine.  Needless to say, it wasn’t a long casino visit.  But is worth checking out. 

 

The spa is amazing, and the treatments are out of this world. I had a rose petal bath followed by a lovely massage. The indoor pool is huge and very grandlike. There are multiple steam rooms and saunas. It is the biggest spa I’ve ever been in. It also has sea views from the pool and saunas, which is so awesome. 

 

The restaurant downstairs is huge.  The breakfast selection is just as huge as the restaurant.  It was the biggest selection of food I’ve ever seen. It literally had every possible food you could want. Brad Pitt and Angelina stayed in this hotel. 

 

You can walk to some really cute restaurants nearby on the beach if you don’t fancy eating at the hotel every time.  There is a great sushi restaurant here, as well. 

 

You can also walk to Old Town Budva which is so cute. It reminded me of a mini Dubrovnik. Just walk around it and explore, check out the fortress, have a drink on the beach and take in the views at the restaurants there, sit on the old cannons. Enjoy it all. It’s very pretty. It also reminded me a little of Valletta if you have been there. 

 

If you’re a casino lover, there are a few more casinos in Budva you can go see. There is also a luxury island called Sveti Stephan, which is very high society. I’m not even sure you can enter it without staying there.  But you could go near it and get the famous Budva photo of the circular island. 

 

Another cool thing to check out is Port Montenegro.  It’s luxury to the core, and it’s full of yachts, fancy people, and shopping. It’s in Tivat, in the Bay of Kotor but a must visit. Try going there for a nice lunch and some rosé. It truly has that Monte Carlo vibe. Very high class and luxury, so make sure you look cute! Haha. 

 

Have the best time if you go to Montenegro! It’s truly such a stunning place with something for everyone. Again, make sure that if nothing else, you visit Budva and Kotor. Podgorica is the capitol but you can give it a skip! 

 

The easiest airport to fly into is Tivat. A cab from Tivat to Budva should only be around 40 euro. There are trains in Montenegro, but I would again recommend renting a car. Zoom, zoom!  Enjoy all there is to see in this beautiful country!