Igalosand and fine pebble · 600–1000 m · water ExcellentThe flattest, gentlest shore on the bay: up to a kilometre of sand, pebble and concrete platforms in shallow warm water, with the mud beach of Stara Banja at the Sutorina mouth.Igalo or Njivice?
Two beaches 1.8 km apart, measured the same way. Igalo and Njivice side by side, on the nine things that decide which one your afternoon should go to.
Igalosand and fine pebble · 600–1000 m · water ExcellentThe flattest, gentlest shore on the bay: up to a kilometre of sand, pebble and concrete platforms in shallow warm water, with the mud beach of Stara Banja at the Sutorina mouth.
Njivicerock · 200 m · water ExcellentMontenegro’s last beach going west: rock, sand and concrete to swim from below a hamlet of 102 people, with Prevlaka and Croatia 4 km across the water.The short answer
Choose Igalo for
- sand underfoot rather than pebble
- water that stays shallow a long way out
- room — it is half again as long
- loungers, food and somewhere to change
Choose Njivice for
- pebble, and the clearer water that comes with it
- real depth close to shore
- quiet
Measure by measure
| Measure | Igalo | Njivice |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | sand and fine pebble | rock |
| Entry | gentle | rocky |
| Depth | shallow | deepens quickly |
| Shade | umbrellas for hire | umbrellas for hire |
| Character | organised | organised and free sections |
| Length | 600–1000 m | 200 m |
| Latest water | Excellent | Excellent |
| Crowd | busy in season | quiet |
| Getting there | by road | by road |
Bold marks a measure where the two differ.
Each in our own words
Igalo
Igalo is a spa town’s beach, and it behaves like one. The main strand — about 600 m by our guide, 1 km by our list — is sand and pebble with concrete platforms, a gentle entry and water that stays shallow and warm, which is why the Institute Dr Simo Milošević was put here in 1949 and why toddlers and physiotherapy patients share it. West of the Institute, at the mouth of the Sutorina, the cove of Stara Banja is where the black mineral mud is dug and applied. Loungers are €8–14, there is no step anywhere between the bus stop and the water, and the Pet Danica promenade starts at the Institute door.
This is not a clear-water beach: the bay is shallow and warm rather than transparent, the promenade behind it is busy, and Stara Banja is mud on purpose.
Njivice
Njivice is one long public beach, Kraljičina plaža, below one resort on a side road west of Igalo — rock, patches of sand and concrete platforms rather than pebble, a naturist section partitioned off at one end, and water the open sea flushes rather than the inner bay. It faces north-east, so the view is the whole Herceg Novi riviera under Orjen, and the summer boats to Dobreč, Žanjice, Mamula and the Blue Cave leave from this shore. Regulars are families with small children and older visitors after a quiet stay; there is a year-round bus to Herceg Novi and nothing at all after dark.
There is one resort, one beach bar and no restaurant choice or nightlife — the nearest is Igalo, 4 km away — and the entry is rock and concrete, not sand.