Stoliv
No beach at all — concrete platforms and pontoons on the captains’ waterfront of Donji Stoliv, facing Perast across flat water, with the chestnut woods of the upper village behind.
Our verdict
Stoliv is honest about what it has: the village guide says it "does not have any beaches itself so all sunbathing has to be done on the pontoons", and that is the swim — off concrete, into deep, calm bay water, with the church of the Name of Mary at your back and Perast and its islets straight across the strait. It is the end of the boka-shore-road walk from Kotor and the quietest swimming stop on the Vrmac shore. Bring everything; the waterfront sells nothing.
- swimming
- quiet
- photography
Stoliv, in facts
The shore
Facilities
Access
Rules and character
Facts verified September 28, 2026 · Length: Our 25 Best Beaches list — a nominal figure: OpenStreetMap maps no beach at Stoliv, only piers on the Donji Stoliv waterfront (ways 207657678, 207657679, 207657690); the swimming is off concrete platforms and pontoons · Facilities from OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · 6 more still to check on the ground
Stoliv in pictures
Map
The shaded water is the official bathing zone for station Stoliv 01 — the stretch JP Morsko dobro actually samples, not an outline of the beach.
Getting there
7.3 km
Kotor
7.6 km
Tivat airport
14 km
Herceg Novi
Straight-line distances — Montenegro's roads are mountain roads, so the drive is longer.
- On the The Boka Shore Road walkThe Boka Shore Road
- By busKotor local bus along the Prčanj–Stoliv shore road (a morning run to Kotor)
- By carOn the Prčanj–Stoliv shore road, 4.9 km beyond Prčanj (about 9 minutes); park on the road under the campanile of the Name of Mary; the Kamenari–Lepetane ferry is 4.8 km further on
- 1 min on footflat — Straight off the shore road onto the waterfront wall and the pontoons
Today at Stoliv
Which way the beach faces is computed from the OpenStreetMap coastline, so onshore and offshore mean this shore and not the region. Forecast by Open-Meteo
Water and awards
Excellent
Latest official sample September 29, 2026: Excellent
Sea 20.0 °C when the sample was taken
7 of 10 samples Excellent across the 2026 season
Official result from JP Morsko dobro, station Stoliv 01
Calm, clean bay water per the hub; no Morsko Dobro result held for Stoliv
No award we can cite for this beach. Absence is information too.
Know before you swim
- Entry is off concrete platforms and pontoons straight into deep water: no gentle shore for children, and ladders cannot be relied on
- The pontoons double as moorings — small boats come alongside where people swim
- The shore road runs directly behind the waterfront wall and is where you park
- No shade, water, toilets or food on the waterfront: bring everything
When the water is warm
Stoliv was at its warmest, 27.1 °C, on September 1, 2026, and at its coldest, 20.0 °C, on September 29, 2026. Every point is a real sampling visit with the temperature read on the spot, not a monthly average copied from somewhere else.
Hollow points are the 3 samplings that came back below Excellent.
See all 10 samplings
| Sampled | Sea | Result |
|---|---|---|
| September 29, 2026 | 20.0 °C | Excellent |
| September 15, 2026 | 24.5 °C | Good |
| September 1, 2026 | 27.1 °C | Excellent |
| August 21, 2026 | 24.5 °C | Good |
| August 4, 2026 | 24.8 °C | Excellent |
| July 21, 2026 | 25.2 °C | Excellent |
| July 7, 2026 | 22.6 °C | Excellent |
| June 25, 2026 | 22.6 °C | Sufficient |
| June 9, 2026 | 21.1 °C | Excellent |
| May 26, 2026 | 20.2 °C | Excellent |
Season by season
Stoliv has been sampled 69 times since 2020: 44 of those readings Excellent, 25 below it.
How warm the water got, season by season. The average is of the July and August samplings only — a fixed window, so a year the inspectors happened to come early does not read as a cold one.
A handful of seasons is a record, not a trend: the spread here is what a few dated readings look like, not evidence of a sea warming or cooling. A hollow point marks a season that recorded a sampling below Excellent.
| Season | Samplings | Excellent | Below | Jul–Aug mean | Warmest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 24.7 °C | 25.7 °C |
| 2021 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 26.1 °C | 27.9 °C |
| 2022 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 24.7 °C | 26.7 °C |
| 2023 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 25.1 °C | 26.4 °C |
| 2024 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 24.6 °C | 25.9 °C |
| 2025 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 24.4 °C | 25.7 °C |
| 2026in progress | 10 | 7 | 3 | 24.3 °C | 27.1 °C |
Licensed as
The state leases this coast lot by lot. Stoliv is tendered as 3 lots covering about 196 m of shore, each with an official category.
Also licensed here: a mooring platform in the water off the beach.
| Category | Lots | Shore |
|---|---|---|
| Family bathing | 2 | 109 m |
| Hotel beach | 1 | 87 m |
About 2,018 m² in total. This is what has been licensed, not what we saw: the number of sunbeds, toilets and showers on a lot is fixed in the signed lease, which is not published. JP Morsko dobro tenders
Nearby beaches
Stoliv and its neighbours
The same nine measures for the beaches you could reach the same day. Bold means it differs from this one.
| Measure | Stolivthis beach |  Bajova Kula2.4 km |  Ljuta4.5 km |  Lipci5.1 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | concrete platforms | pebble — differs | concrete platforms | pebble — differs |
| Entry | steep | moderate — differs | steep | rocky — differs |
| Depth | deep at the edge | deepens quickly — differs | deep at the edge | deepens quickly — differs |
| Shade | none | natural — differs | none | none |
| Character | wild | organised — differs | wild | wild |
| Length | 100 m | 118 m | 10–30 m — differs | 20–50 m — differs |
| Latest water | Excellent | Excellent | —no official sampling point — differs | —no official sampling point — differs |
| Crowd | quiet | quiet | quiet | quiet |
| Getting there | by road | by road | by road | by road |
Stay near Stoliv
All stays in Stoliv →
Questions
- Is there a beach at Stoliv?
- Not really. The hub and the village guide both say the same thing: small pebble strips and concrete bathing platforms along the waterfront, with sunbathing off the pontoons. OpenStreetMap maps piers here but no beach.
- Where are the chestnuts?
- On the slopes above the waterfront, around Gornji Stoliv at 200–250 m: old sweet-chestnut woods with trees said to be more than 400 years old, and a harvest still marked locally in autumn. The stone path up takes about 40 minutes.
- Can I walk here from Kotor?
- Yes: the boka-shore-road corridor runs 10.2 km from Kotor through Muo, Glavati and Prčanj and ends at Stoliv. There is a morning bus back to Kotor.
Sources
- montenegro.com — Stoliv hub (/cities/stoliv) and its source notes: Discover Montenegro on the pontoons, the boka-shore-road corridor, the bus run to Kotor, Commons frame identification
- Our "25 Best Beaches in Montenegro" list, entry 24
- OpenStreetMap — pier ways 207657678, 207657679, 207657690, 207657685; village node 717410785 (Nominatim)