After Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, we end our tour in Montenegro for a well deserved few days of relaxation. Nowadays Montenegro is a top tourist destination. Some even call it the “Monte Carlo of the Adriatic.” It is here that you’ll find the luxurious getaway resorts like the Regent Porto Montenegro in Tivat, The Chedi in Luštica Bay, the Nikki Beach Hotel & Beach Club in Radovići, the One&Only Portonovi, and the Aman Sveti Stefan (currently closed over a beach access dispute), as well as homes for sale or rent. The country increasingly draws Americans and Europeans in the summer months because of its proximity to Croatia, Greece, and Italy
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Offering some of the world’s best scenic escapes, the country is no stranger to Hollywood stars. Icons like Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren vacationed here in the 1970s. Madonna, the Beckhams, and Naomi Campbell have all journeyed here, while back in 2010, then-couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie visited the country. Pitt — who took Jolie to see such bayside towns as Perast and Kotor, where he filmed the 1988 film The Dark Side of the Sun — at one point had to get out of his car to ask paparazzi to respect his holiday. No paparazzi for me, except maybe for the toothless fisherman :). But I loved the little town of Perast, with the fisherman and the cozy restaurants overlooking the ocean. Just in front of Perast, there are 2 tiny islands – the Catholic monastery of Saint George, and Our Lady of the Rocks. The story behind the island is of two sailors who saw an icon of the Madonna and child resting on the rock. They thought it was a good luck miracle and afterwards left stones where the icon was found, which in time evolved into a tradition and an island and small chapel were formed. Every year on June 22 locals take their boats and bring rocks to the island to make it bigger. The ‘Lady of the Rocks’ island is also home to a Catholic church. We visited the island by boat and I very much enjoyed the little church.Check out the hotel that I’d choose if I would be staying there: the ‘Heritage Grand hotel’. Small, quiet and chic. You also have some cute apartments in Perast. We also visited Tivat, a coastal town nestled away between two cliffs in the northeast corner of Montenegro.
We are staying at the Karin Kumbor hotel, a 10 minute walk from Portonovi, located in a fjord-like setting. With a feel that’s part Lake Como, part Monte Carlo, Portonovi is flanked by mountains and the area is filled with luxury boutiques, high-end restaurants like ‘the Square, the luxury One & Only hotel, and a lot of eye-catching real estate. Mega-yachts can be seen anchored in the adjacent Bay of Kotor. Several years ago Tivat and Potonovi and its mountainous surroundings attracted Canadian businessman Peter Munk, the Chairman of the world’s largest gold mining corporation Barrick Gold. He was visiting the Adriatic coast from aboard his yacht and took a day trip from Dubrovnik to Montenegro and Boka Kotorska. The result of his idea born during that day trip was to build the most luxurious marina at the Adriatic. Check out the interesting story here. I must admit that I don’t know if it would rather stay at Porto Novi, at Tivat or if it would be nicer to stay at the Aman resort in Sveti Stefan. There are many holiday destinations that you associate with A-list appeal like Cannes in France, Mykonos in Greece or Gstaad in Switzerland, but the iconic islet of Sveti Stefan in Montenegro has managed to maintain an aura of hush-hush exclusivity despite having hosted the world’s biggest names. Tennis player Novak Djokovic recently got married there – hiring out the entire island for his wedding party. All of the places are luxurious, so I like all of them 🙂
“Along with its gorgeous location and infrastructure Portonovi resort offers a higher level of luxury in the area. 15 years ago, Montenegro and its breathtaking natural beauty was a well-kept secret. Now that the secret is out, it might become just another luxury tourist destination. I’m happy that I got to see it now, still in it’s raw beauty. But like a Montenegrin said, who came back after living 10 years in Canada. Whatever happens, they can’t take away the beauty of the mountains and the ocean….
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