Herceg Novi, Montenegro: The Complete Travel Guide to the City of Sun and Stairs

Perched where the Adriatic meets the Bay of Kotor, Herceg Novi is a cascading botanical garden of a city where ancient fortresses rise from lush Mediterranean greenery and steep stone stairways wind past palm trees, orange groves, and centuries-old churches. With around 200 sunny days per year and layers of Bosnian, Ottoman, Venetian, and Austrian history, it has a character unlike anywhere else in Montenegro.

Suggested Itineraries: How Many Days in Herceg Novi?

Herceg Novi works equally well as a relaxed multi-day base or a single full day on a Bay of Kotor road trip. Because the Old Town is compact and most sights are within walking distance, you can see the highlights quickly, but the surrounding coast, mountains and islands reward a longer stay. As a rule of thumb, allow 3-4 days to enjoy the town without rushing.

One day in Herceg Novi

Start with a morning coffee on Belavista (Herceg Stjepan) Square, then climb up to Kanli Kula for panoramic views before exploring the Old Town, the Clock Tower (Sahat Kula) and Forte Mare. Walk a stretch of the Šetalište Pet Danica seafront promenade, stop for fresh seafood at a konoba such as Konoba Škver, and finish with an evening drink at one of the waterfront cafés like Fabrika or Koffein.

Two days

Add a half-day boat trip to the Blue Cave, Žanjice beach and Mamula Island, then spend the afternoon at the ⁠Savina Monastery and unwinding in Igalo, home to the famous healing sea mud and the Dr Simo Milošević Institute spa.

Three to four days

With more time, take a day trip deeper into the Bay of Kotor (Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks), hike in the Orjen mountains, tour a local winery, and visit the village of Rose on the Luštica Peninsula. This is also enough time to factor in a slower pace for the town's many staircases, which give Herceg Novi its nickname “the city of stairs.”

Old Town and Fortresses

Herceg Novi is the city of stairs, and it earns the nickname the moment you leave the waterfront. The Old Town climbs the hillside in a labyrinth of narrow stairways, arched passages and small squares shaded by oleander and bougainvillea; locals give directions in skalinade rather than street names, and roughly a thousand public steps stitch the town to the sea. You will also see the slogan “100,001 steps” on souvenirs and in guidebooks; nobody has ever counted them, so read it as a boast rather than a figure. Comfortable shoes are not optional.

The four fortresses are the town's own defensive system, read from the water upwards, and they are priced very differently:

Two of those cells are empty because there is nothing to put in them. Forte Mare and Kanli Kula are programmed by the municipal institution JUK Herceg Fest rather than run as ticketed monuments, and neither the tourist organisation's attraction pages nor the Herceg Fest programme publishes a standing admission price; summer hours move with the season too. Ask at the fortress door, or call Herceg Fest before you plan an evening around it.

Sahat Kula (The Clock Tower)

The natural starting point for any exploration is Sahat Kula, the Ottoman clock tower that serves as the main gateway into the historic quarter and the symbol of Herceg Novi. Built in 1667 by order of Sultan Mehmed IV, this 16-metre octagonal tower was designed to announce the hours of daily prayer. Clock faces decorate all four sides, and the tower appears on the city's coat of arms and flag. Pass beneath its archway and you step from the modern town into centuries of layered history.

Forte Mare

Directly below the Old Town at the waterline sits Forte Mare — the sea fortress. Visible from almost every position in town, it rises, as its name suggests, vertically above the Gradska plaža (town beach) and the harbour, Škver. Its foundations date to the 14th century, but the structure reached its current form during Ottoman rule, when cannons and defensive walls were added. Venice took the town on 30 September 1687 and gave the fortress the Italian name it still carries; Austria then raised and reinforced the upper works, which is the silhouette you photograph today. It became a summer stage in 1952 and films have run there every season since, which makes it one of the oldest working open-air cinemas in Europe. The 1979 earthquake damaged it badly and the rebuild followed a 1984 project. Today it is a cultural venue with a summer cinema, a cafe built into the fortress walls and an uninterrupted view down the throat of the bay toward Mamula and Luštica — which is, after all, exactly what it was built to watch. In the immediate vicinity you will find the Kusturica cineplex-cinema "Aurora", the house of the painter Voj Stanica, the pool of the water polo club "Jadran", and — of course — good restaurants.

Kanli Kula

Climb higher and you reach Kanli Kula, whose Turkish name translates ominously as "bloody tower." Built in 1539 at 85 metres above sea level, in the wave of Ottoman fortification that followed the recapture of the town, this massive fortress served as both defensive stronghold and prison under Ottoman rule. From its gun emplacements the Turks controlled the town and the entrance to the bay. Where Forte Mare guards the sea, Kanli Kula guards the land.

Since 1960, Kanli Kula has been reborn as one of the most spectacular open-air amphitheatres on the Adriatic. The interior was adapted as a summer stage in 1960 and rebuilt as an amphitheatre by 1966. The tourist organisation puts the seating at 1,000, expandable to 1,500, and the bay glitters a long way below it; the programme runs to film screenings, concerts, opera and theatre right through the summer. Watching a performance here as the sun sets over the water is an experience that stays with you.

Spanjola (The Spanish Fortress)

At the very top of the Old Town, in what was once the Upper Town, the Spanish Fortress commands the highest ground, and its dimensions are genuinely impressive. The Spanish captured Herceg Novi from the Ottomans in 1538 and began building this hilltop fortification. They held the town for only nine months before the Turks recaptured it, but they left behind the foundations of a fortress that still bears their name. The Ottomans completed the construction a decade later.

The climb to Spanjola is steep — the fortress sits at about 170 metres, above the Savina district — and the reward is a 360-degree panorama taking in the entire bay, the surrounding mountains and the open Adriatic. It is also the only fortress in Herceg Novi whose price is certain: there is no ticket office and no opening time. Nothing has been garrisoned here in a century, the curtain wall is breached in places, the interior is roofless and there is a good deal of spray paint. It is the one place in town where you can put your hand on sixteenth-century military engineering that nobody has tidied — and the one where nobody will stop you falling off it, so keep away from the wall heads in wind and take a torch if you go near dusk. Underground passages once connected Spanjola to both Kanli Kula and Forte Mare, forming an integrated defensive network. Walkers heading further inland and uphill can make use of the Mountain House – Subra, the base for hiking in the hills behind the town.

Squares, Churches and Streets

Curiously, Herceg Novi has two main squares. The lower one is Trg Nikole Đurkovića, formerly Salt Square — a reminder of the trade the town was founded on. Walk up from it through the Clock Tower and you arrive at Belavista Square, the “beautiful view” square, in the heart of the Old Town.

Belavista is dominated by the Orthodox Church of St. Archangel Michael, built in the Byzantine style with elements of the Orient and unique for its stone iconostasis. The square is a real architectural medallion: everything the town needs is gathered there in a nutshell — the church, the city Archives, the Library, Radio Herceg Novi, an art gallery, a pharmacy, cafeterias and private houses.

Down the stairs from Belavista you reach the Catholic Church of St. Jerome, which holds a rich treasury, and the church of St. Leopold Mandić, the Novljanin. On the same cascade plane stands the Music School — and everywhere, palm trees and vegetation. In the street-staircase named after the writer Marko Car grows a kind of dinosaur tree, a Ginkgo biloba. In the church of St. Ascension of Christ, in the former suburb of Toplo, Petar II was once taught to read.

The main street, Njegoševa, runs from the square all the way to Igalo, and it is where the everyday life of the town happens: exclusive boutiques, the City Tavern, the City Park, the Main Post Office, tourist agencies and churches all line its length. Njegoševa is crossed again and again by staircases — the streets-stairs for which the city is famous.

A Botanical Garden by the Sea

For centuries, the city has been perceived in all its grandeur and beauty from the sea. For just as long, sailors brought home seeds of unusual plants, exotic trees and fruits, which is why Herceg Novi became a real botanical garden over time. Built on cascading terrain, the City of Greens nestles like an amphitheatre, with a privileged view of the open sea and of two opposite peninsulas, Luštica and Prevlaka.

Between those peninsulas there are events every day: sailors set out to compete in regattas, fishermen head out to have their catch on the market the next morning, and tourist boats stream toward the most famous picnic spots — Žanjice, Mamula, the ⁠Blue Cave. In summer the water area is very lively, and yachts and large cruise ships attract the attention of anyone who has sought peace in a coastal restaurant garden. The city port is called Škver, which means Shipyard, because a shipyard used to stand there.

To the left and right the promenade stretches from Igalo to Meljine: about 7 km, laid along the bed of the old Zelenika railway, and free from end to end. The 5 km and 6 km figures still in circulation predate the final section. The municipality completed the walk on 20 June 2025 by opening the last 1.7 km, Hotel Plaža at Savina to Hotel Lazure in Meljine — a €1.5m job that paved and lit the promenade along its whole length for the first time since it was built. Counted with its spurs, from Njivice in the west to Bijela in the east, the walkable seafront corridor runs 18.1 km. At an unhurried seaside pace — call it 78 metres a minute — the 7 km core is about an hour and a half one way, and it is flat: this is the one walk in Herceg Novi with no stairs in it. Along it sprouts the largest outdoor exhibition of exotic plants in the country: rare and unusual species from all continents, various palm trees, cacti, bananas, magnolias, ornamental shrubs, mimosas, wild oranges, camellias, pittospores, oleanders and eucalyptus.

The City of Writers

Herceg Novi is also known as the City of Writers. In the idyllic silence of Novi worked Aleksa Šantić, Simo Matavulj, Ivo Andrić, Mihailo Lalić, Stevan Raičković, Dušan Kostić and Zuko Džumhur. Andrić's house is now the Writers' Club, and in its immediate vicinity stands the Native Museum. Many contemporary writers can still be found in the city's bookshop, Knjižara So, on the main square.

Savina Monastery

A 20-minute walk east of the Old Town, set among dense Mediterranean gardens on a wooded hillside and on one of the most beautiful viewpoints in the bay, Savina Monastery is one of the most important Serbian Orthodox monasteries on the Adriatic coast. Though the site dates back to the 11th century, its current form took shape in the 17th and 18th centuries, when monks fleeing the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina found refuge here.

The complex contains three churches. The oldest is the Small Church of the Dormition, traditionally dated to 1030 from an inscription added in 1831. The Church of St. Sava Srpski, perched on a nearby hill, is believed to have been built by Saint Sava himself in the 13th century. The centrepiece is the Great Church, dedicated like the small one to the Assumption and built between 1777 and 1799 by Nikola Foretić of Korčula, in a blend of Byzantine, Romanesque and Dalmatian Baroque. Its iconostasis, painted by Simeon Lazović, is a masterpiece of Serbian Baroque art. Much of the treasury arrived with monks fleeing the Ottoman conquest of Herzegovina, who brought it from the monastery of Tvrdoš.

The monastery treasury and library house a crystal cross attributed to Saint Sava from the 13th century, a handwritten Gospel from 1375, ornate silver-gilt icons, and historical documents spanning centuries. Beyond the churches, the terraced gardens of centuries-old cypresses, towering palms, and fragrant Mediterranean shrubs create an atmosphere of deep tranquillity with beautiful views down to the bay. The monastery is worth the walk not only for its treasury but for its extraordinary beauty and its spiritual and cultural significance.

Visitors should dress modestly — covered shoulders and knees — and keep a respectful silence, particularly during services. Entry is free and there is no ticket office; donations are welcomed. No standing opening hours are published: the churches are normally open through the day and the treasury is shown at the monastery’s discretion, so a weekday morning is the safe bet. It is about a 20-minute walk east of the Old Town, or a few minutes off the coast road by car; there is no charge for either.

Museums and Galleries

Beyond its fortresses, Herceg Novi has a surprisingly rich cultural scene for its size:

• City Museum (Mirko Komnenović Museum): archaeological, ethnographic and maritime collections housed in a historic villa with a botanical garden.
• Mikhail Bulgakov Museum: opened in 2020, the first international museum dedicated to the Russian writer — a unique draw reflecting the town's long ties to the Russian community.
• Ivo Andrić House: the seaside residence of the Nobel Prize-winning author, now the Writers' Club, a cultural venue and garden stage; the Native Museum stands nearby.
• ⁠Villa Galeb: the former summer residence of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, on the waterfront in Igalo.
• Art galleries: the “Josip Bepo Benković” gallery and the Sue Ryder gallery showcase regional and international art.

Beaches

Herceg Novi sits at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor, so the water here is among the cleanest in the bay, refreshed by open Adriatic currents. You will not find the long sandy stretches of the Budva Riviera, but the beaches have their own character — pebbly coves backed by pine forests, concrete bathing platforms, and remote spots accessible only by boat.

Town and Igalo Beaches

The main town beach, Gradska plaža, sits directly below Forte Mare and the Old Town — a concrete and pebble affair, perfectly adequate for a quick swim and steps from cafes and restaurants.

Igalo is the family end, and worth being precise about, because it is constantly described as sandy and it is not. The national tourist board measures the Igalo shore at 1,500 metres and it is pebble and concrete bathing platforms, not sand — what makes it work for children is the gradient rather than the surface: the water shelves so gently that a toddler can wade a long way out. The therapeutic mud collects at the western end, at Blatna plaža — Mud Beach, which the tourist board lists with a mud surface of 9,000 m². Using it costs nothing; two sunbeds and an umbrella on an organised stretch of the Igalo shore run about €8–14. Two other names circulate locally for the mud beach, Stara Banja and “the beach by Tito’s villa”, so do not be thrown if a local uses one of them.

Zanjice Beach

On the Lustica Peninsula, across the narrow strait at the bay's entrance, Zanjice is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the entire Bay of Kotor. This stretch of white pebbles runs about 300 metres and slopes gently into extraordinarily clear turquoise water, with views out to Mamula Island. There is good infrastructure — sun loungers, restaurants, and changing facilities. Most visitors reach it by taxi boat from the Herceg Novi waterfront, a 20-minute ride that is half the fun. It is also the beach stop on the scheduled half-day excursion below, and from the beach itself a local shuttle runs out to the Blue Cave and back with a swim stop for about €10–15.

Miriste Beach

Adjacent to Zanjice but quieter and more secluded, Miriste is a peaceful pebble cove with outstanding snorkelling. You can swim out to a small island with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Miriste, and the nearby ruins of the Arza Fortress make for interesting exploration. A small beachside restaurant serves grilled calamari and simple local dishes.

Lustica Peninsula Beaches

Beyond Zanjice and Miriste, the Lustica coastline harbours numerous smaller coves reachable only by boat or on foot along coastal paths. These are the spots for travellers who want solitude and pristine water without any infrastructure.

Igalo and Health Tourism

Adjacent to Herceg Novi and connected by the waterfront promenade, Igalo has been a destination for health tourism since long before wellness became a buzzword. The combination of a mild Mediterranean climate, mineral-rich sea mud, and natural mineral springs has attracted visitors for centuries.

Institut Dr Simo Milosevic

The centrepiece of Igalo’s health tourism is the Institut Dr Simo Milošević, founded in 1949 and now one of the largest institutions for physical medicine and rehabilitation in southeastern Europe. It counts 767 accommodation units and about 19,000 users a year on its own front page, and rather more on its history pages, so read those as scale rather than as a count. Originally a bath and climate spa, it has grown into a full medical rehabilitation centre: the physiotherapy college it opened in 1976 became the Faculty of Applied Physiotherapy in 2004, which makes the Institute a member of the University of Montenegro.

Unusually for a clinic, it prices its programmes in public. On its last published list, therapy came as a daily package on top of the room in three tiers — roughly €45, €57 and €74 a day as the programme intensifies — with a half-board room from about €64 per person per day out of season, climbing through the summer. The packages are only for guests staying at the Institute, and single treatments are not listed, so ask when you write with your dates.

The Healing Mud and Mineral Springs

The therapeutic mud, known locally as igaljsko blato, collects in the shallow waters along the shore. The Institute dates the scientific confirmation of its properties to 1935, at Vichy in France, though locals had used it for joint pain, skin conditions and rheumatic complaints for generations. Today you will still see people wading into the shallows at Blatna plaža to smear the dark, mineral-rich mud on their skin, and the state tourist board is explicit that this is a free treatment on a public beach: 9,000 m² of it, at no charge, a few hundred metres from a clinic that charges for the same mineral.

Natural mineral springs called igaljske slatine emerge along the shoreline and have long been consumed for digestive and metabolic benefits. The institute offers hydrotherapy, balneotherapy, electrotherapy, thalassotherapy, tailored exercise programmes, massage, aromatherapy, and rejuvenation treatments. You do not need to be a patient to enjoy Igalo's health benefits — public beaches provide free access to the mud and mineral waters.

Boat Trips

One of the highlights of any visit to Herceg Novi is getting out on the water. The town's position at the bay entrance means immediate access to dramatic coastal scenery, and a half-day boat trip is one of those experiences that defines a holiday.

The classic route leaves the Pet Danica promenade or Škver harbour and heads south along the Luštica coastline to Mamula Island, the Blue Cave and Žanjice beach — the three famous picnic spots in the water between the Luštica and Prevlaka peninsulas. What it costs depends entirely on which of three quite different products you buy, and the ranges get quoted interchangeably, so here they are separated:

Prices checked September 2026. Plan against the scheduled fare. The €15–25 you will see quoted for a “short trip” is the beach shuttle or a share of a private hire, not the timetabled boat.

Mamula Island

Mamula is a small rocky island dominated by an imposing circular fortress built in the 1850s by the Austrian general Lazar Mamula. The fortress has a dark wartime history — it was an internment camp under Italian occupation — and it is no longer a ruin under scaffolding: the conversion is finished and the island now operates as a hotel, Mamula Island by Banyan Tree. Boats circle it slowly, which is time enough to photograph the stone walls rising straight out of the water. The excursion boats do not land: the hotel runs its own transfer across from Mirišta on Luštica for guests.

Blue Cave (Plava Spilja)

The Blue Cave is a sea cave where sunlight enters through an underwater opening and refracts through the clear water, bathing the interior in an ethereal blue glow. It is now a protected site and viewing only: boats bring you to the mouth for the look, then anchor in the clear water behind the cave for the swim. The effect is most dramatic on sunny mornings, which is the argument for the 09:05 departure from Škver over the 12:40 — by early afternoon the light is higher and the cave is fuller. It is a genuinely magical experience and one of the most photographed features on the Montenegrin coast.

Rose Village

Many trips pass by or stop at Rose, a tiny fishing village at the tip of the Luštica Peninsula — and you can also just go, on a taxi boat from the Herceg Novi waterfront: about ten minutes across, €5–10 each way, and the only right way to arrive. Rose was Venice’s quarantine port before Meljine took the job, and it is now essentially a lunch with a hamlet attached: grilled fish on a single waterfront, reckon €40–70 for two, tables close enough to the water to feel the wake of the next boat. With its stone houses and unhurried air it feels like a place time forgot. Some tours also visit a nearby former Yugoslav submarine tunnel carved into the cliffs — a fascinating Cold War relic.

The Herceg Novi Riviera

Herceg Novi anchors a broader riviera stretching 25 kilometres along the northern shore of the Bay of Kotor. A series of smaller settlements, each with its own character, are connected by the coastal road and waterfront promenade.

Meljine, three kilometres east and the eastern end of the 7 km seafront promenade, has its own beaches, a handful of restaurants, and the Lazareto — a former quarantine station that is one of the oldest such facilities in Europe. Zelenika, further east, takes its name from a Mediterranean evergreen plant and contains the first hotel ever built in Montenegro, dating to 1902. Kumbor, whose name derives from the Italian conborgo (suburb), has some of the best-positioned waterfront restaurants on the riviera. Djenovici claims a history stretching to the Greco-Roman period and offers a quiet, authentic base. Baosici has a proud maritime heritage — during the peak of Boka's seafaring tradition, this small settlement had over 30 ships and 50 maritime captains. Bijela, the easternmost settlement, is the starting point for the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry crossing to the other side of the bay.

Portonovi & Luštica Bay: The New Luxury Riviera

In the last decade the Herceg Novi Riviera has become one of the Adriatic's fastest-rising luxury destinations. At Portonovi, in Kumbor, a superyacht marina is paired with the One&Only Portonovi resort and an Espace Chenot wellness spa, drawing a high-end international crowd each summer. Across the bay, the sprawling Luštica Bay development combines a marina, an 18-hole golf course, the Chedi hotel and residential villages on the peninsula. Together they have shifted Herceg Novi's profile upmarket while the Old Town keeps its laid-back, authentic character — a contrast that makes the area appealing to very different kinds of traveller.

Where to Eat

Herceg Novi punches above its weight when it comes to dining. Fresh Adriatic seafood, Montenegrin mountain cuisine, and lingering Italian, Turkish, and Austrian influences make for an exciting food scene. Seafood dominates the menus: fresh fish, grilled octopus, mussels, black risotto, fresh salads dressed with locally produced olive oil, and the local speciality buzara.

The Pet Danica promenade and the Škver harbour are lined with restaurants selling fresh-caught fish, grilled squid and seafood risotto with a bay view, most of them buying directly from local fishermen; inside the Old Town walls, terraces are tucked into stone buildings on the steep streets, serving Montenegrin dishes alongside lighter Mediterranean ones. What it costs, at street prices in the summer of 2026:

The Portonovi column is nine kilometres up the same shore, and it prices in the yachts. That gap is the single most useful thing to know about eating on this riviera.

Gradska Kafana

No dining guide would be complete without Gradska Kafana, the City Tavern — the city's grand cafe and restaurant housed in a handsome Empire-style building on Njegoseva street. It has been serving diners and bohemians since 1924. The upper floor houses a coffeehouse with a terrace; the lower floor is the restaurant proper, with Montenegrin specialities, Italian-influenced dishes, and excellent seafood. Both terraces face the sea with magnificent bay views.

Konobas

For the most authentic experience, seek out the konobas — traditional taverns serving home-style cooking. Expect dishes like buzara (shellfish in wine, garlic, and breadcrumbs; some kitchens cook it in a tomato-based sauce with garlic and white wine), black risotto, fresh grilled fish, and Njeguski steak stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. A full meal with local wine rarely exceeds €20–30 a head.

Other names worth seeking out include Konoba Kruso (seafood with bay views on the Pet Danica promenade), Konoba Feral (Mediterranean and grilled meats), and Tri Lipe (traditional Montenegrin fare).

Do not leave without sampling fresh grilled fish with olive oil and lemon, Njeguski prsut (dry-cured ham), riblja corba (fish soup), and a glass of Vranac, Montenegro's signature red wine.

Wineries and Wine Tasting

The hills above the bay and the nearby Luštica Peninsula support a growing number of small family wineries, several within easy reach for a tasting. The Savina neighbourhood in particular has gained attention for its winemaking:

• Savina Winery: set beside the historic Savina Monastery, known for whites and rosés.
• Castel Savina: producing award-winning Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rose wines [25][26].
• Delić Wines: a respected boutique producer focused on indigenous Montenegrin grapes.
• Damarius & Malvasija Karaman: Luštica-area cellars producing the local Malvasija white among other varieties.

Tastings usually pair the wines with local cheese, olive oil, prosciutto and figs — a relaxed way to spend an afternoon away from the coast.

Nightlife and Culture

Herceg Novi is not a party town in the way that Budva is, and that is a large part of its appeal. Instead of nightclubs, you get al fresco cinema in a sea fortress, open-air opera in a medieval amphitheatre, and long evenings at waterfront cafes watching lights dance on the bay.

Mimosa Festival (Praznik Mimoze)

Held annually since 1969, the Mimosa Festival is Herceg Novi’s signature cultural event and one of the most important tourism-promoting festivals in the region. Celebrated across February and March, it marks the arrival of spring with the blooming of the city’s mimosa trees – fragrant yellow-flowered plants originally brought from Australia by Boka sailors.

Festival highlights include:

• Festive parades and masquerades through the Old Town streets
• “Fešta od mimoze, ribe i vina” (Feast of Mimosa, Fish, and Wine) – a gastronomic celebration attracting approximately 20,000 visitors annually
• International flower exhibitions
• Sports events including swimming championships, the Mimosa Cup in archery and shooting
• Concerts, folklore performances, and art exhibitions

The month is a carnival as much as a flower show: masquerade balls, brass-band processions and majorettes along the promenade, and at the end a life-size effigy burned on the waterfront to see winter off. The mimosa flower has become the enduring symbol of the city itself [19][21][22].

Do not book flights around a specific parade until the programme is out. Herceg Fest posts it each January and it moves with the bloom and with the carnival calendar; what holds every year is that the programme runs through February and into March, and that the Fešta od mimoze, ribe i vina is the weekend to aim at.

Herceg Novi Film Festival (Montenegro Film Festival)

The most significant film festival in Montenegro and one of the most important in Southeast Europe, the Herceg Novi Film Festival has been held for over three decades. It showcases more than 60 productions across feature film, documentary, and student film competition programs under the slogan “All colors of film.” Feature films are screened in the atmospheric setting of Kanli Kula fortress, while documentaries are presented in the garden of the House of Nobel laureate Ivo Andric [23].

It is run by JUK Herceg Fest, the municipal institution that has programmed the town’s culture year-round since its founding in 1996, and it holds the status of an event of special importance for Montenegro’s culture. Herceg Fest dates the idea of a festival on Kanli Kula to 1987, when the First Yugoslav Festival of Film Directing was held there. Admission is by event ticket rather than by fortress ticket, and the price is set per edition.

The Festival Calendar

Herceg Novi programmes almost every month of the year. Herceg Fest runs eight of the festivals below; the Music Scale Festival and Sunny Rocks are town fixtures it does not:

The Music Scale Festival takes its name from the town’s streets-stairs and is one of the brands of the city; Forte Mare carries additional concerts and the summer cinema alongside the fortress programme at Kanli Kula. Exact dates and ticket prices are set per edition and go up on hercegfest.me.

Cafes and Evening Life

Herceg Novi has two main squares and gets called on it: the lower one, Trg Nikole Đurkovića, is the everyday square and the social heart of the town, while Belavista up through the clock-tower gate is the one with the church and the view. Both fill on summer evenings, when tables spill across the paving and along the promenade. Locals linger over espresso at €1.30–1.80, rakija and conversation, and visitors are warmly welcomed. Several waterfront bars stay open late with cocktails and live music, but the vibe stays mellow — this is not Budva, and that is the point.

Day Trips from Herceg Novi

Herceg Novi’s position at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor makes it an outstanding base for exploring the region. Road distances and driving times below are Rome2Rio’s measured figures; bus fares are the ranges its listed operators charge.

Kotor

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the best-preserved medieval centres anywhere in the Mediterranean, with the San Giovanni fortress climb rising behind it. Kotor (about 60 minutes) is 38 km round the bay’s northern and eastern shore, or rather less if you use the Kamenari–Lepetane ferry to cut the corner; buses run all day for €6–16.

Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks

A tiny baroque town of palaces and bell towers on the eastern shore, and among the most photographed settlements in the country. Perast (about 45 minutes) is 25 km along the coast road; buses cost €7–20. The boat shuttle out to Our Lady of the Rocks leaves from Perast's own waterfront: the island is man-made, and the church on it holds a wall of votive paintings left by sailors and a tapestry a local woman is said to have stitched over twenty-five years using her own hair.

Risan

The oldest settlement on the bay, and once the capital of the Illyrian queen Teuta, with the best Roman floors in the country. Risan (about 40 minutes) is 21 km along the shore and the closest of these trips; buses cost €3–10. Its main attraction is well-preserved Roman mosaics from the 2nd century, including a rare depiction of the Greek god Hypnos.

Dubrovnik

The Croatian border at Debeli Brijeg is about 9 kilometres from Herceg Novi and the road to the city measures 47 km in all — 53 minutes of actual driving. Dubrovnik (about 90 minutes) is the honest planning figure, because the difference is the border, and in July and August the border is the whole story: it can be twenty minutes or it can be an hour and a half. Go early. Buses cost €7–24 depending on operator. Dubrovnik's magnificent walled Old Town makes for an unforgettable day trip.

Mount Orjen

Mount Orjen rises to 1,894 metres directly behind Herceg Novi — Veliki kabao is the highest point of the coastal Dinarides and of the whole Montenegrin littoral, and this is one of the wettest places in Europe. A dense network of marked trails leads through forest, meadow and karst, with summit views far out over the Adriatic. There is no entrance fee for the nature park and no gate; the Mountain House at Subra, above Španjola, is the usual base. Water is the thing to carry: the karst holds none of that famous rainfall at the surface.

Two more places are within easy reach and are not covered above. Budva and its Riviera (about 70 minutes) sit on the open coast beyond the bay, and are the noisy counterweight to everything Herceg Novi is. The marina town of Tivat (about 50 minutes) is much closer if the ferry is running, and Porto Montenegro is the reason most people go.

Herceg Novi and Kotor Compared

Kotor is the most famous and, according to many, the most beautiful city in Boka Kotorska. According to others, it is Herceg Novi. The difference between these two centres is that Kotor is dominated by stone palaces, mostly from the Baroque era, while Herceg Novi is dominated by villas. Whoever loves Herceg Novi loves it because of the garden ambience, the exceptional sunshine throughout the year, and the fact that from almost every terrace you can see two blues: the sea and the sky.

Where to Stay

Herceg Novi offers accommodation ranging from waterfront hotels to private apartments and stone houses in the Old Town.

Old Town Area puts you at the centre of the action, steps from fortresses and restaurants. Several boutique hotels and renovated stone apartments offer atmospheric stays, though the steep streets may challenge those with mobility concerns. Igalo is the family and wellness end: flat waterfront, the gentlest gradient on the bay and the Institut Dr Simo Milošević at hand — pebble and concrete bathing platforms rather than sand, which matters less than the fact that there are no stairs. Savina, by the monastery, is quieter and residential with long views down the bay. Meljine is the eastern end of the promenade, three kilometres out: five minutes by car, and about forty on foot along the seafront — not the fifteen minutes often quoted for it.

Six places to start, one for each way of using the town: