Post review
To increase honesty, reviews are anonymous. You can only add one review per city or it replaces/edits your old one. Reviews with URLs or emails are removed. If you're writing about data being wrong, please don't do it here as it'll be removed here.good
balkan
prices
countries
beaches
expensive
serbian
pretty
nice
croatia
walkable
friendly
loads
activities
compared
dirty
water
beach
party
Budva is a mixed experience. It is very affordable, with cheap internet, taxis, and rentals, especially in the off-season. The city has scenic surroundings and plenty of tourist activities, though prices for these can be high compared to other countries. It is the biggest tourist hub in Montenegro, so it has an active atmosphere, but it can also be overcrowded.
The downsides are notable. Walking around the city is difficult due to inclines, lack of sidewalks, and flooding when it rains. Accommodation is often overpriced and not of great quality. Restaurants tend to be smoke-filled with poor service and expensive but mediocre food. Locals and tourists from neighboring regions generally keep to themselves, making socializing harder for outsiders. While Budva is marketed as a party city, most nightlife shuts down early except for a few smoke-heavy nightclubs filled with Serbian music. Beaches are overcrowded, expensive, and often dirty, with only a couple of cleaner spots outside the main city.
Overall, Budva may be worth visiting if budget is a priority and you enjoy a tourist-heavy environment, but the poor walkability, unfriendly atmosphere, and underwhelming food and nightlife can make it a disappointing choice compared to nearby options like Croatia or Albania.
AI-generated summary of reviews
I really enjoyed my time here as the city is walkable, very friendly people, good holiday vibe, loads of touristy activities (I could barely fit everything in 2 weeks, prices are high compared to other countries for the same activities). Budva is the largest tourist city, so it feels more like a city compared to other places. Budva isn't for beaches, as it's overpacked, expensive, dirty and the water is unhealthy dirty (If you want to swim go to Sveti Nikola and the beach on the right of the ballerina statue - the only clean water places). Budva is known as a party place with loads of Serbians. Nightlife stops at 1am except nightclubs which are filled with smoke, music is mostly Serbian or a mix with Serbian, all places are pretty casual (no high end feel) and at night all the streets (even the furthest ones) are filled with party people. Locals and Serbians like to stick to tables and don't socialize with others.
2 years ago
Budva is a terrible place. Yes, it has scenic mountains, but the rest of the Adriatic coastline does too. I went to all of the Balkan counties and Montenegro and Serbia were pretty bad. The others are pretty nice, and I will definitely go back to them.
Here's why it's terrible:
1.)Bad food, overly pretentious restaurants that are smoke-filled, and rude and/lazy staff in them.
2.) Rude people. There are a few friendly ones but you need to work hard at it. They also seem to not like western Europeans or North Americans as much as their Russian and Serbian friends.
3.) Accommodation is overly priced and not great.
4.) They don't seem to understand hospitality as well as the other Balkan countries.
5.) English isn't very widespread like the other Balkan countries.
6.) Hard to walk around the city, not very walkable.
7.) More expensive than some of the actual good Balkan places like Croatia.
The good is that it has nice scenery, but it's basically the same scenery as Croatia and Albania, so there is absolutely no need to visit Montenegro when you can see the same stuff in better places like Albania and Croatia.
2 years ago
I really like Budva. It has paradisiac beaches, with extremely clear waters and very affordable prices for almost everything (Coming from Central Europe/Germany). Internet costs here 15€ for 500GB (no joke) and you can set up your life quite easily here. The gym costs around 40€ a month without a contract and the usual Taxi ride doesnt exceed 5€. You have very nice beaches everywhere and the boat ride is not so expensive. Specially after September on prices get really cheap for renting.
5 years ago
not great - known for night life, but things actually close quite early unless you take a cab to one club outside of the city - beach is just endless rent-able chairs, restaurants that all look the same, and juiced up Serbs
5 years ago
Th walkability in Budva is not good at all: almost no sidewalks, strong road inclinations, and roads do turn into waterfalls during raining period, which isn't make them more comfortable for walking at all.
5 years ago