Anyone been to Montenegro?

[Summerbay23]

Considering a holiday to Montenegro next year (myself, DH & two young adults). Would like a coastal villa but near a town or large village so that the 'kids' can go out and about easily without us. We would like nice beaches, towns etc. And probably only have a week - 10 days. Can anyone recommend anywhere - or any websites to check out accommodation.

I travelled through it very quickly unfortunately not realising before how beautiful it was. We drove around kotor Bay and it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I'd love to go back and stay there properly but I'd deffo recommend having a look in that area

We went on a day trip to Kotor from Croatia. It was beautiful but the cruise ships were a bit of a blight. So I might stay somewhere where they aren't.

I visited for the day on from a cruise ship. They have lots of wild cats living on the streets.

Yes, to Perast. It is absolutely beautiful

@sasamedifferent ooh I didn't realise it got lots of cruises there. We were there in May so was probably just before main cruise season started. Maybe going slightly off season is better

We stopped there on a cruise. The cruise ships don't moor up in the harbour though, the passengers have to get a tender to Montenegro. It is an absolutely beautiful place with really friendly people. It whetted my appetite to go back, for a holiday there, to explore Budva and Kotor Bay. Tui do 3 day breaks to Montenegro for a relatively inexpensive mini holiday.

We love the area between Kotor and Herceg Novi, and we've stayed in some beautiful villas with pools in Donji Morinj.

This restaurant is on your doorstep www.catovica-mlini.com/galerija/, as well as another 2 restaurants by the beach, and a minimart. Perast is a short drive or taxi boat away.

We had a lovely (but no kids!) break in Tivat. Did some trips out and it's a beautiful place, would definitely recommend

Thanks everyone
@M777 where did you find your villas? Any recommendations of websites to look at?

@pasta where did you stay? Villa or hotel?

thanks for all the tips, trawling the internet is an endless task.

We went to Budva last year, and utter shithole. Beaches filthy, bins overflowing. We stayed in the iberostar which was lovely but I hated Montenegro, really rude and unfriendly people, very expensive. Wished we'd stuck to croatia

We stayed in a tiny air bnb, was just me and DH. Perast is tiny, you don't need to worry about location when looking, so just go for something you like the look of

We’ve been twice : stayed in a lovely AirBnb in Kotor; at another in Porto Montenegro and a hotel just outside Kotor. It is stunning but there aren’t really any sandy beaches in that area and places like Tivat, the seaside resorts, were a bit grotty and dominated by Eastern Europeans. I would have thought Croatia would be much more what you’re looking for although, again, sandy beaches are not the norm.

Anywhere around Boka Bay is stunning, however it doesn't have the sandy beaches you maybe seeking. It will have tiny stony beaches or jetty's which is straight into deep water. Areas to look for are Muo, Dobrota, Prcanj, Perast. Muo and Dobrota are nearest to the charming town of Kotor and are walkable to it (wait until the cruise ship passengers have gone). Dobrota is on the sunnier side of the bay for the afternoon and evening sun.

Budva or Becici have sandy beaches but neither are as charming as the Kotor area. I don't like Budva at all apart from Budva Old Town.

Tivat is nice with Porto Montenegro as a high end place with its marina and shopping. I don't know about the beaches here.

Further along the coast is Bar and Ulcinj - Sandy beaches. I don't know much about this areas.

I suggest you fly into Tivat - much easier than Dubrovnik or Podgorica. Tivat is a small airport which barely copes with the summer traffic - but is preferable to Dubrovnik (long waits at the border with Croatia) or Podgorica (further away from the coast).

As someone mentioned further up there are a large number of street cats (many are friendly). The charity Kotor Kitties operate a sterilisation program in the country.

I don't know any websites for accommodation- I would probably trawl through Airbnb!

We've used

montenegrotours.com
Also Booking, Vrbo, Airbnb.

We stayed here in Herceg novi
https://www.lazure.me/rooms-suites
lovely hotel. We travelled to Kotor on the public bus 5 euros. Kotor is beautiful but ruined by the cruise ships. There were three docked there when we visited.
Herceg Novi is a good base: nice town, can walk along the promenade from hotels to the centre, food a little meat heavy, people friendly and decent value.