Sveti Stefan Beach

Getting there

The village of Sveti Stefan sits on the Adriatic highway between Budva and Petrovac; the beaches lie below it, at the foot of the causeway. The Budva city bus to Sveti Stefan leaves from Mediteranska street (the roundabout opposite café Perla) and runs via Bečići, Kamenovo, Pržno and Miločer: from 06:00 every 10 minutes until 22:00, then every 15-30 minutes until 01:30, with the last bus back at 02:00. The Budva-Petrovac line also stops in Sveti Stefan, at hotel Adrović. Both are run by Mediteran Express (+382 33 451 089). More on buses in Montenegro.

By car: Budva centre 9.4 km (about 19 minutes), Petrovac 11 km (about 21 minutes), Tivat Airport 31 km (about 44 minutes), Kotor 32 km (about 48 minutes) and Podgorica Airport 57 km (about 77 minutes), without traffic.

Sand, size and water

The two beaches together measure about 1,170 m and cover 14,600 m²; taken separately, the larger is about 700 m long and the smaller about 400 m. The surface is sand in which pink and reddish stone dominates, with fine pebble at the water's edge, and the water is turquoise and clear. The bathing season runs from May to October.

Who can use which beach

Since the resort reopened in 2026, the islet is mainly for hotel guests, with organised visits at set times. The causeway stays public, though the operator may close it for short periods for the guests' privacy. On the eastern beach one part is public and paid and another is reserved for residents of Sveti Stefan, with 10 free sets of loungers; the western beach is open to guests and the public, mostly paid, with free furniture for residents. Kraljičina plaža, the next cove to the north-west, is for hotel guests from 08:00 to 20:00, and Miločer beach mixes paid and free use. Residents also have part of Miločer (King's) beach. The local community has complained that fences closed the walkway from Sveti Stefan to Miločer park between 08:00 and 20:00, despite a final court ruling that it stay open.

The rules that apply to every public bathing area in Montenegro: half of the beach, by length, stays free of loungers and umbrellas and is marked as such; a free strip at least 3 m wide runs along the waterline; and a free passage to the sea at least 1 m wide is left every 20 m. Hotel bathing areas may furnish their whole surface. Under the current rule the loungers on leased beaches are free after 17:00 only for citizens of Montenegro showing an ID; in earlier years the free evening applied to everyone. Lifeguards are on duty at one per 50 m of shore in July and August and one per 100 m in the other months of the season.

The islet and its history

By tradition the Paštrovići fortified the islet in 1442, with spoils taken from Turkish galleys, and built 12 houses on it, one for each clan; the stone houses sheltered people from the surrounding villages against pirates and the Turks. Sveti Stefan became the trading and transport centre of the Paštrovići and for almost 300 years the seat of the Bankada, their tribal court. The settlement takes its name from the church of St Stephen the Archdeacon at the top of the islet; the churches of the Transfiguration and of St Alexander Nevsky also stand there.

It remained a fishing village until the mid-1950s, when it was turned into a hotel resort; the hotel town opened on 13 July 1960. Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti, Kirk Douglas, Monica Vitti, Sylvester Stallone, Yuri Gagarin and Bobby Fischer all stayed. Paris Match ranked the state-run hotel among the ten best in the world in 1968. It closed in 2005; Aman took over the site in 2007, and its Villa Miločer on the mainland has operated since 2008. The islet is part of a 32 ha estate, and its buildings are restored stone cottages more than five centuries old. The islet opens seasonally and Villa Miločer all year. From 2021 the islet stood closed for about five years during an arbitration in London between the state and the lessee, with claims of about €100 million; on 2 April 2026 the Government adopted a report on the arbitration and the reopening, and the resort opened again on 1 July 2026.

Miločer park and the next coves

Behind Miločer beach and Kraljičina plaža lies Miločer park, laid out around the villa that was the summer residence of the Karađorđević royal family: Lebanon cedar, eucalyptus, mimosa, Japanese medlar, cacti, agave and pittosporum grow among the local Mediterranean plants. The walkway from Sveti Stefan runs through it.

• To the north-west: Miločer (King's beach), Kraljičina plaža and, beyond the park, Pržno.
• To the south-east, towards Petrovac: Drobni pijesak, Perazića Do and Petrovac.
• On the Budva-Petrovac road, next to Reževići monastery, the Reževići memorial home occupies the school of 1856 founded by archimandrite Dimitrije Perazić, with a gallery, a library and an ethnographic room.
• Boat tours from Budva pass the islet.

Questions

Can you visit the island of Sveti Stefan?

The islet is a hotel. Since the July 2026 reopening it is mainly for guests, with organised visits at set times; the causeway up to it is public.

Is Sveti Stefan beach free?

Partly. Half the length of every public bathing area must stay free of loungers, and parts of the western beach and of Miločer beach are reserved for local residents. Kraljičina plaža is for hotel guests from 08:00 to 20:00.

How do I get to Sveti Stefan from Budva?

By the city bus from Mediteranska street, every 10 minutes between 06:00 and 22:00, or by car: about 9 km and 20 minutes.

When was Sveti Stefan built, and when did it become a hotel?

The Paštrovići fortified the islet in 1442, by tradition; the hotel town opened on 13 July 1960, and the hotel reopened under Aman on 1 July 2026.