Head south out of Petrovac and within about a kilometre the road tips over a low headland and the whole of Buljarica opens below you: a wide bay, an arc of sand and fine pebble running for more than two kilometres, and behind it a flat green plain with almost nothing standing on it. On a coast where every workable cove has been built on twice over, Buljarica is the obvious exception, and that is the reason to come.
The beach measures over 2,250 metres end to end, which makes it one of the longest continuous stretches on the Montenegrin littoral. It is also one of the few in the Budva municipality where, in the middle of August, you can walk for ten minutes and leave the umbrellas behind. The bay faces south-west and the bottom shelves gently, so the swimming is easy at the northern end near Petrovac and gets wilder, with more open water and occasional swell, as you move down towards the far rocks.
An untouched jewel, and why it stayed that way
The hinterland of Buljarica has largely kept its natural appearance and is very sparsely populated. Where you would expect a strip of apartment blocks there is instead a broad alluvial field of reeds, poplars, drainage channels and rough pasture, hemmed in by wooded hills. The plain is low, damp and prone to standing water, which for a long time made it awkward to build on, and the bay sits just far enough off the Adriatic highway to have escaped the ribbon development that swallowed the coves nearer Budva.
What is there is modest and scattered: a handful of pleasant buildings offering rooms, a couple of interesting restaurants, and the auto-camps set back among the trees, which have given Buljarica a summer identity of its own. Generations of campers from the region have come here with tents and vans for exactly the reasons that keep large developers interested, and the two visions of the bay have coexisted uneasily for years.
Buljarica has a great deal of potential for nautical tourism, golf and other activities, and plans for the bay have been drawn and redrawn for decades. Most people who know the coast agree that Buljarica will eventually change its present appearance and become a very attractive location oriented towards elite tourism. Nothing on the ground moves quickly, though, and for now the field is still a field.
What to do once you are there
Swimming and doing very little is the honest answer, and it is a good one. Beyond that, the wetland behind the beach is worth an early hour with binoculars: the reedbeds and channels of the Buljarica field are one of the last undeveloped coastal plains in the country and attract migrating and wading birds in spring and autumn. Tracks run inland from the beach road through olive terraces and scrub towards the old hamlets on the slopes, and the headlands at either end of the bay give you clean water off the rocks and a view back along the whole curve.
Petrovac, one of the most agreeable seaside towns on this part of the coast, is a short walk or a two-minute drive over the hill, and it supplies everything Buljarica deliberately lacks: a promenade, a small harbour, shops and a proper choice of places to eat. From the Petrovac side you also look out at the islets of Katic and Sveta Nedjelja, which sit just offshore.
Getting there
Buljarica lies on the main coastal road between Petrovac and Bar, roughly 17 kilometres south of Budva and a similar distance north of Bar. Any bus running the coastal route will drop you at Petrovac, from which the bay is a straightforward walk. Driving is simplest: turn off the highway at the marked descent and follow the lane down to the beach road, where parking is informal and fills up by late morning in July and August.
Tivat is the nearest airport and Podgorica the second option; both are within an easy drive on the Adriatic highway, and our Montenegro airport guide sets out the transfer choices.
When to come
June and September are the best weeks here. The sea has warmed by mid-June and holds its temperature well into October, the camps are lively but not full, and the light in early autumn over the field behind the beach is worth the trip on its own. July and August bring the regional crowd and the bay does get busy at its northern end, though its sheer length absorbs more people than you would expect. Out of season the plain floods in places and most of the seasonal places close, but the walking is excellent and the beach is yours.
If you have the chance, stop at Buljarica while it still looks like this.
