2/5
190 reviews
Photo by Ender Vatan via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Budva

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good

balkan

prices

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expensive

serbian

pretty

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croatia

walkable

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loads

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water

beach

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Budva offers a mix of very affordable living and striking coastal scenery, making it attractive to budget-conscious travelers. Local services like mobile data, transportation, and gyms are inexpensive, and there are abundant tourist activities to enjoy, especially in the summer. The town has a city-like feel and an energetic holiday and party atmosphere, driven mostly by visitors from Serbia. Boat rides and nearby cleaner beaches such as Sveti Nikola are good alternatives to Budva's main crowded and often dirty beaches.

However, Budva receives repeated criticism for subpar hospitality, limited English communication, and generally rude or indifferent behavior from service staff and locals. Many reviewers felt unwelcome, particularly if coming from Western countries. Others noted that accommodation is expensive relative to its quality, and that Budva feels overpriced when compared to nearby Balkan destinations like Albania and Croatia. The city’s walkability is poor according to some, and nightlife can be smoke-heavy and not especially social beyond locals sticking to their groups. While Budva has its merits, opinions vary widely, and it may not suit all travelers depending on their expectations for cleanliness, friendliness, and ease of travel.

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.

3 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.

6 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Beautiful scenery

✅ Many tourist activities

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Freedom of speech

❌ Rude people

❌ Not very clean

❌ Overpriced accommodation

❌ Unfriendly to foreigners

❌ Poor hospitality

❌ Limited English spoken

❌ Not very walkable

❌ Not very democratic

❌ Very expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members really didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not safe for women

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ People smoking tobacco a lot

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

9°C / 48°F cold

12°C / 54°F cool

11°C / 52°F cool

13°C / 55°F cool

19°C / 66°F mild

23°C / 73°F mild

28°C / 82°F warm

23°C / 73°F mild

19°C / 66°F mild

17°C / 63°F cool

9°C / 48°F cold

Real (median)

10°C / 50°F
cold

12°C / 54°F
cool

11°C / 52°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

18°C / 64°F
cool

23°C / 73°F
mild

27°C / 81°F
warm

23°C / 73°F
mild

18°C / 64°F
cool

16°C / 61°F
cool

10°C / 49°F
cold

Humidity

nice
68%

nice
61%

nice
54%

nice
59%

nice
56%

nice
53%

nice
51%

nice
55%

nice
63%

nice
59%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
186mm

rainy
199mm

rainy
105mm

rainy
170mm

rainy
100mm

dry
7mm

dry
12mm

rainy
58mm

dry
18mm

rainy
203mm

rainy
339mm

rainy
249mm

Cloud

cloudy
51%

pockets
30%

pockets
31%

pockets
41%

pockets
34%

pockets
20%

pockets
15%

pockets
11%

pockets
29%

pockets
30%

cloudy
53%

pockets
45%

Air quality

bad
171 US AQI

clean
33** US AQI

okay
77 US AQI

Sun

safe
1 UVI

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

233 people

200 people

440 people

425 people

543 people

640 people

554 people

455 people

500 people

400 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Budva's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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Help pick the best photos for Budva and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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$1,547 / mo

🌇 Also went here82 people

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2/5 (Rank #1140) 190 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍5 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🧐 Pricey: $3,188 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 46Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🌞 Perfect: 23°C74°F (feels 23°C73°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 57%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 33 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Good
💰 Income level*	Very low: $580 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Bad
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Bad
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Bad
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Montenegro
🗓️ Average trip length	8 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	46 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 23°C 74°F + 😊 Comfy (57%) = feels 23°C 73°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 33 US AQI 🍃 OK
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	CarGo
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	EUR 100 = USD 114
☕️ Best coffee place	Regina E. Budva
☕️ Best alt. coffee place	Coffee House Cafeteria
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Hotel Mediteran Becici
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	6% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	13,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$6,958 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 83% 👱‍♀️ 17%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$3,188 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$2,140 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$3,273 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$935 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,363 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$3,813 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$757 / month
🏠 Median home price	$273,612
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$64 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$125 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$367 / month
🍛 Dinner	$10
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1
👩‍🏫 International school	$11,514 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$40 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$5 / trip