Ada Bojana

Sand · 3 km · Ulcinj

Length: 3 km
Type: Sand
Water: Excellent
Crowds: Moderate

Ada Bojana is a river island at the mouth of the Bojana, 15.5 km by road from Ulcinj, with about 3 km of sand along its sea side that continues the line of Velika plaža. Three things bring people here: a strong, reliable wind that has made it a kite and windsurf spot, the FKK Ada Bojana naturist resort with its own bathing area (12A) at the north-western end, and the fish restaurants on the river arms. The rest of the sand is open to everyone, and the sunsets over the open sea are part of the reputation.

Getting there and the entry charge

The road from Ulcinj to Ada Bojana runs behind Velika plaža and crosses onto the island by the bridge over the Bojana. By car, without traffic: Ulcinj 15.5 km (about 28 minutes), Bar 46 km (about 65 minutes), Podgorica Airport 87 km (about 2 hours) and Tivat Airport 100 km (about 2 hours 25 minutes).

Driving onto the island is charged in season. The operator, HTP Ulcinjska rivijera, charges €1 an hour, up to €10 a day, in June, then from 1 July to 15 September €2 an hour between 08:00 and 18:00 and €1 an hour overnight from 18:00 to 07:00. Owners of houses on the island receive two free registration plates, and guests renting cottages pay a €10 day ticket. The naturist resort has its own car park and a bus link to Ulcinj.

A concrete road bridge over the Bojana river with wooden riverside restaurants on stilts — The bridge over the Bojana to Ada BojanaPhoto: AT44, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sand, wind and the shifting shore

The sea beach is about 3 km of sand. Its shape changes from year to year as the arms of the river shift, so the shoreline is never quite the one on last year's map. The wind is the point: strong and reliable, it has made Ada Bojana a kite and windsurf spot. Kite and windsurf areas are a defined type of bathing area in Montenegro's beach rules: the sport zone must be visibly separated from swimmers, marked at sea by alternating red and yellow buoys, watched by a licensed lifeguard and signed with its hours and permitted activities in Montenegrin and English. The bathing season, when the sea water is tested, runs from May to October.

A wide flat sand beach with a shallow pool, beach huts and mountains in the haze — The wide sand beach on Ada BojanaPhoto: Zlatomir Bacic, CC BY-SA 3.0

Is Ada Bojana free?

Partly, as on every beach in Montenegro. The beach rules class bathing areas as public, hotel or special-purpose; naturist areas belong to the last group, which is why naturism applies to the area designated for it and not to the whole island. Every public bathing area must keep half of its length free of loungers and umbrellas and mark that half, so there is always room for your own towel; on the furnished half one umbrella with two loungers takes at least 8 m². A passage to the sea at least 1 m wide is left every 20 m, and a strip at least 3 m wide along the waterline stays clear. Hotel bathing areas may furnish their whole surface, with at least 10 m² per set, or 15 m² at five-star hotels. Lifeguards are posted at least one per 50 m of shore in July and August and one per 100 m in the other months of the season. Under the current rule the loungers on leased areas are free after 17:00 until closing only for citizens of Montenegro showing an ID; in earlier years that late-afternoon rule applied to everyone.

Facilities

The hotel bathing area has water sports, beach volleyball, five-a-side football, sunshades, a beach bar and a restaurant. The naturist resort has rooms, an FKK campsite, restaurants, bars and tennis courts. Along the river arms are the fish restaurants the island is known for.

Kitesurfers on choppy turquoise sea with a mountain ridge behind — Kitesurfers off Ada BojanaPhoto: Zlatomir Bacic, CC BY-SA 3.0

Naturist area

The naturist beach of Ada Bojana is the beach of the FKK Ada Bojana resort: bathing area 12A, 262 m of shore directly below the resort's bungalows and restaurant on the north-western part of the island's 3 km sea beach, about 180 m on foot from the resort car park. It is the only bathing area on the island in the 2024-2028 programme for the coastal zone. The resort is the largest naturist resort in Montenegro: the first 50 wooden bungalows went up in 1972, and by the early 1980s the hotel and the camp each held about 1,000 guests, most of them German. It has rooms, an FKK campsite, restaurants, bars and tennis courts, with parking and buses to Ulcinj. Beach etiquette is the usual naturist one: a towel on shared seating, no staring or comments, and photographing other people is strictly forbidden.

Nearby

Velika plaža, the 13 km beach that ends at the river mouth.
The Bojana itself, whose two arms form the island.
Ulcinj, with the Old Town and the Balšić Tower above the town beach.

Questions

Do you pay to enter Ada Bojana?

By car, yes, in season. The operator charges €1 an hour (up to €10 a day) in June and, from 1 July to 15 September, €2 an hour by day and €1 an hour at night.

Is Ada Bojana only for naturists?

No. The naturist part is the FKK Ada Bojana resort beach, bathing area 12A: 262 m of shore in front of the resort at the north-western end of the island's sea beach. The rest of the 3 km is a textile beach known for kite and windsurfing. On the resort beach, photographing other people is forbidden.