2.04/5
189 reviews
Photo by Ender Vatan via Unsplash

Budva

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good

balkan

prices

countries

beaches

expensive

serbian

pretty

nice

croatia

walkable

friendly

loads

activities

compared

dirty

water

beach

party

Budva is a mixed experience, especially for travelers who value affordability and easy logistics. Costs for internet, gym memberships, and taxis are low, making daily life budget-friendly. It's convenient to set things up for a short or extended stay. Despite being a beach city, many find central beaches overcrowded, dirty, and overly commercialized, though places like Sveti Nikola offer cleaner water and a better swimming experience. Digital amenities like high data packages at low prices stand out as a big plus for remote workers or longer stays.

However, Budva consistently receives criticism for its limited walkability – steep inclines, poor sidewalks, and flooding when it rains make getting around on foot frustrating. Hospitality is subpar compared to other Balkan destinations, and the city's nightlife, though advertised as a strength, often closes early or feels unwelcoming due to heavy smoking and a lack of social atmosphere. Locals are often described as rude or indifferent, with friendliness hard-earned. Many reviewers found better experiences in nearby countries like Croatia or Albania, making Budva feel less worth the visit in comparison.

Overall, Budva may work for budget-conscious travelers who are tech-savvy and staying near cleaner beaches, but probably not ideal for tourists seeking atmosphere, friendliness, or walkability.

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

✅ Affordable

✅ Good internet

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ 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

❌ Not walkable

❌ Unfriendly locals

❌ Overpriced for value

❌ Poor hospitality

❌ Dirty beaches

❌ Not very democratic

❌ Expensive

❌ Not much to do

❌ Cold now

❌ 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

48 9°
cold

54 12°
cool

52 11°
cool

55 13°
cool

66 19°
mild

73 23°
mild

79 26°
warm

73 23°
mild

66 19°
mild

63 17°
cool

48 9°
cold

Real

50 10°
cold

54 12°
cool

52 11°
cool

55 13°
cool

64 18°
cool

73 23°
mild

81 27°
warm

73 23°
mild

64 18°
cool

61 16°
cool

49 10°
cold

Humidity

nice
34%

nice
30%

too dry
27%

too dry
29%

too dry
30%

too dry
28%

too dry
27%

too dry
26%

too dry
27%

too dry
28%

nice
32%

too dry
30%

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
24** 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

400 people

600 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. Not all nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

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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$1,454 / 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. Not all 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	2.04/5 (Rank #1038) 189 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍5 liked it 👎3 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Bad
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	🙂 Okay: $2,854 / mo
📡 Internet	🙂 Good: 46Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Okay
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥶 A bit cold: 15°C59°F (feels 15°C59°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 63%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 24 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)	🌤 15°C 59°F + 😊 Comfy (63%) = feels 15°C 59°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 24 US AQI 🍃 OK
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	CarGo
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	EUR 100 = USD 108
☕️ 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	5% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	13,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$6,958 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,854 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,804 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$3,100 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$886 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,452 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,718 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$717 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$68 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$89 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$348 / month
🍛 Dinner	$10
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$3
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1
👩‍🏫 International school	$10,904 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$38 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$4 / trip