Budva, Sveti Stefan and Coastal Walks in Montenegro — A Slow Travel Diary

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After visiting the city of Bar, spending a full day in Budva, walking around the nearby Mogren beaches, and going to Bečići, we traveled to the city of Kotor and dedicated an entire day to exploring it. By the fourth day, we returned to Budva, since that’s where our accommodation was located. We found out that on that very evening there would be a festival — the official opening ceremony of the swimming season. We saw the announcement in Serbian, and surprisingly, almost everything was clear to us. Some of the information was also duplicated in English. Italian musicians were expected to perform, and it sounded like something truly special. Honestly, it felt like we were very lucky to be there at the right time.

We started the fourth day early and headed to the central beach of Budva. The sea was almost completely calm and crystal clear. There were barely any people on the beach — just us. A few brave lovers of quality relaxation, people who woke up early, also came to dip themselves into the sea. There weren’t many of them, but we did meet a few.

It’s especially nice to walk through almost empty streets when the season hasn’t fully started yet and the mornings are still quiet. In early June, a lot is already blooming, and the greenery in Budva noticeably enhances the scenery.

We headed toward the island-peninsula of Sveti Stefan, which is considered the calling card of Montenegro. This was exactly the place we really wanted to visit.
After swimming in the sea, we were standing at a bus stop in Budva, waiting for a bus. After some time, a man stopped in a car with no taxi signs at all and simply offered to take us to the Royal Beach for 5 euros per person. From there, you can walk to Sveti Stefan. They say that Royal Beach is paid during the high season, but we entered completely for free. While we were there, I even managed to swim in that bay. It’s a small but incredibly picturesque bay. The beach is mostly covered with fine, brick-colored pebbles. From Royal Beach, you can partially see Sveti Stefan itself, which is located just behind a small cape made of rocks and forest. The weather was clear, although thick clouds hung over the mountains, creating absolutely stunning photo opportunities.

On the way to Sveti Stefan, we came across a very beautiful tree — it looked as if it were perforated with holes, with unusual and interesting shapes.

The color of the water in this place was so impressive that for a long time after the trip I used these photos as wallpapers on my phone and in several social media profiles. Almost everyone who saw my photos from Royal Beach asked where this place was — clearly, they wanted to visit it themselves.

Along the path from Royal Beach to Sveti Stefan, we also met a cat, calmly resting right on the walkway.

I don’t know how much a regular taxi would have cost, but in essence, that’s exactly how we traveled. For two people, it came to 10 euros total. As for time, it took around five to ten minutes at most.
And now — the island of Sveti Stefan.

A narrow land bridge, about two meters wide, leads to the hotel located on the island — which, according to the information I found online, essentially is the island. On the left side of the bridge, there’s a beach, and on the right — a parapet. The color of the water here is simply impossible to describe. You really need to see it with your own eyes: boats anchored not far from the fortress walls and the beach look as if they are floating in the air, because the water is unbelievably clear.

When we reached Sveti Stefan, we walked right up to the entrance gates, but we couldn’t go inside. The hotel complex was completely closed.
So instead, we immediately headed in the opposite direction — toward the mountains and a nearby monastery. Seeing Sveti Stefan from below wasn’t enough for us. We decided to go uphill, passing through the monastery area, following a narrow path. Along the way, we encountered a huge, long black snake. The path kept climbing higher and higher, leading toward what should have been an even better viewpoint. However, dense vegetation eventually stopped us, and we didn’t make it all the way. Still, this turned out to be the highest point of the day from which we could admire the beautiful island of Sveti Stefan.
Next, we had to make our way back to Budva. Part of the route ran along the roadside of the main coastal highway, which generally follows the sea line. At one point, we had to turn toward the monastery again.

We knew nothing in advance about the resort village of Pržno, but since it lies along the route to Sveti Stefan, we decided to stop by. And it turned out to be incredibly beautiful: a sandy beach and a rocky island with a fortress rising right in the middle of the sea. There is indeed a small rocky island just offshore — very close to the beach and extremely scenic.

After spending some time in this small but cozy place, we climbed back up and returned to the road. The navigation app showed that we had about 700 meters to walk straight along the road. On the left side, through gaps in the trees, stunning views appeared from time to time.
It felt as if the entire country was actively being built up with new hotels. Construction seemed to be everywhere, even among already existing hotels and residential buildings.

To be honest, we saw very few truly old or abandoned-looking houses. Not necessarily scary — just visibly aged. From Pržno to Budva, we had about 9 kilometers to walk in total. And everywhere we went — Kotor, Budva, Bar, and smaller towns — it was construction, construction, construction.
Eventually, we reached a sign marking the village of Kamenovo. This was where we could finally turn toward the sea — the nearest left turn was ours. Kamenovo had been along our route the entire time while we walked along the highway. It wasn’t very comfortable, as pedestrian infrastructure was almost nonexistent, but we were curious to see what surrounded Budva. For the first time after the “Kamenovo” sign, an actual pedestrian path appeared. It led through a small parking area and allowed us to walk properly instead of squeezing along the highway, where pedestrians seem to have almost no rights. Once you reach the “Kamenovo” sign, turn left. Then there’s a stepped descent toward the sea, bypassing the old, partially destroyed sanatorium buildings. You can walk through them, but we did — and there was nothing particularly interesting there. So it’s better to go straight down the steps. Since the season was just beginning, there were already quite a few people, judging by the parked cars. There’s also a route that goes down through the old sanatorium territory. Surprisingly, people still live there — we saw them on the ground floor. It’s the only level where windows and doors are still intact; in the rest of the buildings, there are no windows left at all.
We continued this way — there was even a sign nailed to a tree reading “Plaza” (beach). From there, we simply went straight down the stairs to the sea — no more turns. In the end, two pedestrian tunnels, lit with artificial light, led us all the way back to Budva. The stairs are beautifully laid out — neat, even, and made of colorful stones, likely collected from the beach itself. You can see green, red, and white stones.

As mentioned earlier, in the Kamenovo area we encountered interesting old buildings, mostly abandoned, where people still seem to live right by the sea. It’s hard to understand how or why they live there. Perhaps the roof of the empty upper floor leaks. Meanwhile, construction is everywhere around. In some places, old staircases appear — possibly from Yugoslav times — decorated with embedded stones.
Kamenovo Beach is said to be one of the cleanest beaches in Montenegro, mainly because there are almost no hotels or active resorts nearby and very few residential buildings. This used to be a sanatorium area, but unfortunately, very little remains of it. On the way to the beach, you can see the remnants of old building floors and structures in various states of decay. It looks rather sad, except for the staircases — they’re surprisingly well preserved and very charming to walk on with their colorful stones.

By this point, we had already visited several beaches in Montenegro: the Slovenska Beach in Budva, the Royal Beach on the way to Sveti Stefan, two beaches near Sveti Stefan itself, and one beach located between Sveti Stefan and the Royal Beach. Standing on the beautiful beach in Kamenovo, it was honestly unclear where people even come from — there are no hotels or resorts nearby. Right on the beach, there’s only a café, and just above it runs the highway. I honestly don’t even know how people get here on foot. But cars are parked nearby, so most people probably arrive by car — or on foot if they’re budget travelers. The most important thing is that you can walk here from both Budva and Sveti Stefan.

A tunnel resembling a cave leads from Kamenovo to the small town of Rafailovići. When we exited the tunnel and entered Rafailovići, we immediately noticed another beautiful beach and impressive rock formations. However, we decided not to swim — we were already rushing to dinner after such a long and eventful walk. At the tunnel exit, we met another cat, also chilling and relaxing.

The next tunnel on our way back connects Bečići and Budva. So there are at least two tunnels here: the Bečići–Budva tunnel, which we had already walked through earlier (I mentioned it in previous articles). This tunnel is much more developed — brighter, longer, and rich with colorful wall art. There’s even graffiti of the Russian alphabet and a reference to the city of Herceg Novi, founded as a fortress in 1382 by the Bosnian king.

Most of the graffiti inside the tunnel tells stories about local towns and places. The tunnel ends quite quickly, especially if you stop to read the inscriptions, look at the Montenegrin alphabet, and explore — there’s actually a lot of interesting information there.
And just like that, we were back in Budva. In the evening, we saw a fisherman standing with a rod, casting his line into the sea at sunset. This is where the day came to an end. Tomorrow, we’ll head to a high viewpoint in Budva — and I’ll show it to you.

The next day, we set out from the Adriatic coast toward a monastery located closer to the mountains, planning to climb higher. Along the way, we noticed signs pointing to a waterfall located 5 km from here. We’ll see if it’s possible to reach it on foot.

This would be another walk through Budva — but this time toward the mountains. Before that, we mostly walked along beaches and through the Old Town by the sea. Now, the direction changed.
A new day began. We woke up unsure whether we should go on another hike — the weather didn’t look promising. Dark clouds filled the sky, and rain seemed likely. Our hotel is located about 300 meters from the Adriatic Highway, the main road. From there, it took us about 10 minutes at a relaxed pace to reach the monastery — maybe 15 at most. The monastery grounds are beautifully maintained, with gardens and trees. I wondered what exactly grows there. The entrance area of the monastery is quite impressive. You can also drive up from the other side. The view from the monastery is breathtaking — you can see all of Budva and the sea below, since the monastery is located at a higher elevation.
Palm trees grow on the monastery grounds, and the architecture is beautiful. The views are just as impressive as those from the Old Town. At the same time, the sound of construction tools — angle grinders, saws — can be heard from time to time. Construction is present here as well.
We continued moving upward into the mountains, toward the upper part of Budva, hoping to capture stunning views of the entire city, the mountains, and the sea. Whether you reach the highest point or not, you’ll still enjoy Budva from above. The views are rewarding regardless.
At some point, the path turned into a rocky slope and bent to the right. From there, only about 130 meters remained to reach the viewpoint. The climb was steep, but we were almost there. The last 100 meters turned out to be the hardest.

We were drenched in sweat — from the climb and the weather. The air was heavy, a storm was approaching, thunder rumbled, and dark clouds gathered overhead. But the view was absolutely worth it. A stunning panorama of Budva opened up before us. In fact, you don’t even need to climb that hard — if you’re traveling by car, you can stop right nearby. The viewpoint is located close to the road.

There’s even a small pull-off area where you can stop and enjoy the view. Or you can walk up like we did — almost from the coastline. We live about 500 meters from the beach, so it took some time. But seeing Budva from a bird’s-eye view was absolutely worth the effort.

On the way back, we visited a fairly large store for this area — a two-story hypermarket in Budva. We went there partly out of curiosity and partly to buy some groceries. On the first floor, there are all essential food items; on the second floor — household chemicals, toys, decorative cosmetics, and everyday goods. As budget travelers, we were curious about prices in euros. Apples cost 0.99 euros per kilogram, milk — 0.95 euros, margarine — 0.75 euros, lemons — 1.39 euros per kilogram. Overall, prices are quite reasonable — not much higher than what we’re used to. We even found gluten-free cheese, so specialized products are available. Canned food averages around 2 euros per can, with the lowest prices starting at 1.19 euros. Sunflower oil costs 1.34 euros, sugar — 0.87 euros per kilogram. The familiar tall can of chips costs 1.79 euros. Cookies — around 0.70 euros per pack, similar to oatmeal cookies. Overall, living with these prices is вполне possible. Interestingly, in Serbia and Montenegro, loose black tea is almost impossible to find in stores, while green tea in tea bags is available — most tea here is sold in bags.

The hypermarket is called HDL and is located in the center. We bought enough groceries for roughly one day — enough to cook lunch and dinner, including snacks, sweets, nuts, meat, and vegetables. All of it cost us about 12 euros.
After that, we walked around Budva a bit more — away from the beaches. Near the coast, for example, we found a children’s playground entirely built on grass and soil. In Montenegro, there’s a supermarket chain called Voli — actually very good. We also passed by Budva’s shopping center, TQ Plaza.
In the evening, we attended the music festival celebrating the opening of the season. Even during the day, musicians were rehearsing on stage — playing string instruments and even an accordion.

An evening walk to a more distant beach turned out to be a great idea — we wanted to see as much as possible during our short vacation. Mogren-2 Beach was a place we couldn’t access for two days because workers were building a narrow connecting walkway — as far as we understand, this is the only land access to the beach. At that time, the beach looked quite deserted, possibly also because it was already around 8:00 PM. There were very few people. Construction was still ongoing — exposed rebar, digging, plans for a café. Mogren Beach is surrounded by high, steep cliffs, and above them, a road can be seen.

The water of the Adriatic Sea was stunning — perfectly clean and transparent. As dusk approached, we headed back toward the stage to watch the opening concert of the summer season. World-famous virtuoso musicians were performing. We went to see the concert, which will be the topic of the next article. In short — it was incredible. Grand, inspiring, and unforgettable: listening to masters from Italy under a warm summer sky on the shores of the Adriatic.