Žanjice
uvala Žanjic
A 300-metre white-pebble bay near the tip of Luštica, twenty minutes by boat from Herceg Novi and the departure point for the Blue Cave.
Our verdict
Žanjice is the beach the Herceg Novi boats are built around: a broad pebble bay facing west over the bay mouth, with olive groves behind, two restaurants, showers and toilets, and loungers at €12–15. The water is open-sea water and our list rates it among the clearest on the coast. It is also a boat station — taxi boats from Herceg Novi land all day, and the Blue Cave boats leave from the beach — so it is never the quiet cove that Mirišta, ten minutes along the path, still is.
- swimming
- snorkelling
- photography
- sunset
Žanjice, in facts
The shore
Facilities
Access
Facts verified September 28, 2026 · Length: Herceg Novi municipality: over 300 m long, up to 15 m wide, room for more than 1,000 bathers (hercegnovi.me/izletista); our 25 Best Beaches list also gives 300 m · 10 more still to check on the ground
Žanjice in pictures
Map
The shaded water is the official bathing zone for station Žanjice — the stretch JP Morsko dobro actually samples, not an outline of the beach.
Getting there
6.9 km
Herceg Novi
12 km
Tivat airport
16 km
Kotor
Straight-line distances — Montenegro's roads are mountain roads, so the drive is longer.
- By boatTaxi boats from the Herceg Novi quay, €8–10 return and about 20 minutes; from the beach, boats to the Blue Cave (€5–8, about 30 minutes) — since 2026 motorboats stop outside and you swim or paddle in
- By carAbout 30 minutes from Herceg Novi round the bay and across the Luštica peninsula on narrow roads; parking €3–5 and full early in July and August
Today at Žanjice
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 22.3 °C when the sample was taken
10 of 10 samples Excellent across the 2026 season
Official result from JP Morsko dobro, station Žanjice
Nine official samples in 2026, nine Excellent, from 9 June to 15 September — the cleanest full-season record on this coast, and open-sea water at the bay mouth rather than inner-bay water
No award we can cite for this beach. Absence is information too.
Know before you swim
- The car park fills by mid-morning in July and August and the last stretch of road is narrow and winding, with nowhere to turn
- Taxi boats and excursion boats land on the beach all day — swim inside the buoyed zone
- The bay opens west to the open sea: a westerly or south-westerly puts swell straight in and the Blue Cave trips stop
- Pebble underfoot and rock at both ends — swim shoes for children
When the water is warm
Žanjice was at its warmest, 27.7 °C, on September 1, 2026, and at its coldest, 20.1 °C, on June 26, 2026. Every point is a real sampling visit with the temperature read on the spot, not a monthly average copied from somewhere else.
See all 10 samplings
| Sampled | Sea | Result |
|---|---|---|
| September 29, 2026 | 22.3 °C | Excellent |
| September 15, 2026 | 25.1 °C | Excellent |
| September 1, 2026 | 27.7 °C | Excellent |
| August 18, 2026 | 25.9 °C | Excellent |
| August 4, 2026 | 26.4 °C | Excellent |
| July 21, 2026 | 26.4 °C | Excellent |
| July 7, 2026 | 22.9 °C | Excellent |
| June 26, 2026 | 20.1 °C | Excellent |
| June 23, 2026 | 23.6 °C | Excellent |
| June 9, 2026 | 23.1 °C | Excellent |
Season by season
Žanjice has been sampled 69 times since 2020: 58 of those readings Excellent, 11 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 | 7 | 2 | 23.8 °C | 25.8 °C |
| 2021 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 25 °C | 26.6 °C |
| 2022 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 24.3 °C | 25.5 °C |
| 2023 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 25.2 °C | 26.8 °C |
| 2024 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 23.2 °C | 33.7 °C |
| 2025 | 10 | 10 | — | 24.3 °C | 25.5 °C |
| 2026in progress | 10 | 10 | — | 25.4 °C | 27.7 °C |
Licensed as
The state leases this coast lot by lot. Žanjice is tendered as 3 lots covering about 334 m of shore, each with an official category.
| Category | Lots | Shore |
|---|---|---|
| Family bathing | 3 | 334 m |
About 4,860 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
Žanjice and its neighbours
The same nine measures for the beaches you could reach the same day. Bold means it differs from this one.
| Measure | Žanjicethis beach |  Mirišta0.5 km |  Meljine Beach6.1 km |  Savina6.1 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | pebble | pebble | pebble | pebble |
| Entry | moderate | moderate | gentle — differs | moderate |
| Depth | deepens quickly | deepens quickly | shallow — differs | deepens quickly |
| Shade | umbrellas for hire | trees and umbrellas — differs | umbrellas for hire | umbrellas for hire |
| Character | organised | organised and free sections — differs | organised | organised and free sections — differs |
| Length | 300 m | 200 m — differs | 30 m — differs | 200 m — differs |
| Latest water | Excellent | Excellent | —no official sampling point — differs | Excellent |
| Crowd | busy in season | quiet — differs | busy in season | busy in season |
| Getting there | by road | on foot — differs | by road | by road |
Stay near Žanjice
All stays in Luštica →
Questions
- Žanjice or Žanjic?
- The same place. Žanjice is the beach, and the form the municipality and the Morsko Dobro monitoring station use; uvala Žanjic is the cove it sits in, and the form on many English signs and boat boards.
- How do I get to Žanjice without a car?
- Taxi boats from the Herceg Novi quay, about 20 minutes and €8–10 return, running all day in season. Driving takes about 30 minutes round the bay and across the peninsula, and parking is €3–5 if there is any left.
- Can I visit the Blue Cave from Žanjice?
- Yes — boats leave from the beach, about 30 minutes and €5–8. Since 2026 motorboats must stop outside the cave; you swim in or go in a craft without a motor, when the sea allows.
Sources
- Our 25 Best Beaches in Montenegro list (entry 15)
- montenegro.com — Luštica city hub (pebble bay, boats from Herceg Novi, Blue Cave water taxis, tours May–October)
- montenegro.com — Herceg Novi city hub (taxi-boats from the town quay in season)
- montenegro.com — Krašići guide (/blog/krasici-la-dolce-vita-rest): pale pebble, exposure to weather and boat traffic, slow roads
- OpenStreetMap — beach way 207493809 (surface pebblestone)