1 Day Itinerary in Budva: Montenegro’s Beach City

Budva is the most touristic city of the Balkan countries for the summer season. This favorite place of Montenegro, famous for its beaches, is a charming Balkan city with its clean sea and islets. Budva is seen as a complete sightseeing point beyond just sea tourism with its beaches and historical sites dating back to the Middle Ages. Here are the places to visit and beaches to swim in Budva.

Sveti Nikola Island

Opposite the castle where the Old Town is located, you will see a large rock emerging from the middle of the sea, about 1 km from land. The island, which you can reach by ferry from the Marina, has restaurants and a beach called Hawaiian Beach, as well as several other beaches. The island can be reached for a few euros per person round trip. Apart from these, there is nothing else to do.

Budva Castle and Museum

If you have traveled from Kotor to Budva, you can see a similar Old Town to the one in Kotor. Old Town is surrounded by city walls. Budva, the apple of the Adriatic Sea, is one of the oldest settlements in the region. It is about 2500 years old.

Restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops are allowed to open within the walls without disturbing the historical atmosphere. Some doors lead directly to the beaches. The thing to do here is to walk through the narrow streets and breathe in the smell of history. There is also a place in Old Town where you can enter for a fee.

You have to pay a fee to enter the Citadela Fortress in Old Town. Citadela is the name given to the walls on the south side of Old Town. It takes you to the highest point of Old Town where you can see both the city and the sea views of Budva. You can enter here to see the view of Budva.

While the best part of entering the Citadel, or Budva Castle, is the view of Budva, inside there are exhibits of various archaeological artifacts, a historical library and an exhibition of model versions of several old ships. In Budva Castle, we also see several churches that were built centuries ago. You can enter Budva Castle for 3,5€ per person. Once inside, you will spend about 1 hour touring the castle, seeing the sights, taking photos, spending time in the library.

Dancing Girl Statue

One of the symbols of Budva is the statue of the dancing girl. It’s hard to find the statue of the dancing girl empty, because it’s so popular that there are always people who want to take a photo with her. On your way to Mogren Beach, one of the places to swim in Budva, this statue looks very beautiful with Budva Castle and Sveti Nikola Island in the background.

Budva Beaches and Bays

Budva is a city of beaches and the places to swim in Budva are competing with each other. If you are going to Budva, make sure you have a sea suit with you. Because both the sea is wonderful and the entrance to Budva beaches is free. Naturally, if you want to rent sunbeds and umbrellas, you can rent them for reasonable prices.

Mogren Beach

The closest and most beautiful beach to the center of the city, Old Town, is Mogren Beach. To get here, head west out of Old Town and follow the walking platform by the sea. After walking for a while between the inwardly carved rocks, past the statue of the dancing girl, you come to the lively Mogren Beach.

Mogren Beach is a stony beach, but the water is like glass. Various events are organized at Mogren Beach, after all, it is a busy tourist area. For water sports enthusiasts; JetSki; 30 minutes (50€), parasailing for 2 people 60€, water tube for 2 people 15€, FlyBoard for 20 minutes 50€. You can also do scupa diving in the region.

Jaz Beach

If you are looking for a sandy beach, Jaz Beach, a little further away from Mogren Beach, is the place for you. The back side of Jaz Beach is also used as a tent and caravan camping area.

These beaches are preferred by Turks, Serbs and locals alike. Besides these beaches, there are Slovenska Beach, Guvance Beach, Becici Beach, Kamenovo Beach, Prizno Beach, Kralijicina Beach, Milocer Beach and the beaches around the luxury island of Sveti Stefan. Let’s not forget the beaches on Sveti Nikola Island, which you can cross by boat. That’s it for Budva’s beaches and bays, but Budva is in such a beautiful part of the Adriatic Sea that each alternative is a different beauty. You can stay for a few days and explore a different beach every day. On most of the beaches you can lay out a towel and hang out for free and most of the beaches have blue flags.

Where is Budva and how to get there?

Budva is one of Montenegro’s jewels on the Adriatic Sea. Kotor is the other one. It is possible to get from Kotor to Budva by car in a very short time, the distance between them is 22km (30 minutes). Bus transportation is also possible. For a few €, you can reach Budva in about 1 hour.

The easiest way to get to Budva from Turkey is to take public transportation from Podgarica Airport in the capital of Montenegro, which is one of the visa-free countries, but it is most enjoyable to rent a car as we did during our Balkan tour.