Ćetković Apartments - Stoliv

Ćetković Apartments sits in Donji Stoliv, just 5 metres from the water on Montenegro's Bay of Kotor coast, roughly 10 km from both Kotor and Tivat. This one-bedroom apartment sleeps two, with a double bed in the bedroom and a separate living area whose three-seater sofa converts to an extra bed if needed. There is one bathroom and a fully equipped kitchen, plus two balconies looking out over the sea and access to a spacious shared front terrace. Air conditioning, TV with satellite, a DVD player, a safe and internet are all provided, and room maintenance is included in the stay. Parking is directly behind the house, and the garden and yard are set up for slower days with loungers, a barbecue grill and a ping-pong table. Airport transfer can be arranged on request. Rates start from 62 EUR per night — a straightforward waterfront base for a couple exploring the bay.

About the area

Donji Stoliv is the lower half of a village that grew in two storeys. The shore settlement is a single line of houses and gardens along the water, a few metres from the sea in places, with slipways instead of a beach and the Vrmac ridge climbing steeply behind. Above it, reached by a stepped path through chestnut woods, stands Gornji Stoliv — largely abandoned since the villagers moved down to the water last century, its houses roofless, its church of St Elias still standing. The climb takes around forty-five minutes and delivers the best free view of the inner bay on this shore.

The village name is usually read as 'a hundred olives', after an old custom that expected a young man to plant that many trees before he could marry, and the terraces are still thick with ancient olives, camellias and figs. Kotor is roughly ten kilometres one way, Tivat and its airport about the same the other, so the whole bay falls within twenty minutes. Directly across the water you look at Perast and the two islets. Evenings here are exceptionally quiet: no promenade, no bars, just the sound of water against stone and the lights of the far shore coming on one by one.