A sand beach built for loungers, not late nights
Bečići sits immediately east of Budva, and the two are often talked about together, but they serve different trips. Budva old town is where the bars, the clubs and the crowds concentrate after dark. Bečići is the beach you go to if you want a full day of sand, a lounger, and a swim that doesn’t involve picking your way over rocks — and you’re happy to leave the nightlife to Budva, a short taxi or walk away.
The beach itself runs for close to 2km along a gentle curve of coast, backed by a promenade and a near-continuous run of hotels. It is fine sand rather than the pebble and rock that dominates most of the Bay of Kotor, which is the main reason people make the trip out from Kotor at all. If you have spent a few days picking your way into the water at Perast or Dobrota, Bečići is the corrective.
This page covers what the beach and the town actually offer, what the hotel stock is like, how to get here from Kotor, and where Bečići falls short — mainly, if you came to this coast for nightlife or old-town atmosphere, Bečići has neither.
Where Bečići fits on the Budva Riviera
Bečići is one stop in a short chain of resort settlements east of Budva: Budva old town, then Bečići, then Rafailovići, then the approach to Sveti Stefan and Petrovac further south. They run into each other along the coastal promenade, and in practice you can walk between Budva and Bečići in well under an hour.
That makes Bečići a reasonable base for a coastal stay: close enough to walk into Budva old town for dinner or a look at Budva Old Town, far enough that the hotel strip itself is calmer at night. It is also within easy striking distance of the rest of the riviera — Rafailovići and the Sveti Stefan viewpoint are a short drive or bus ride further south, and Jaz Beach is a similar distance north-west of Budva if you want to compare sand beaches on the same day.
For a day trip from Kotor, Bečići works well paired with a walk around Budva old town, since the two are adjacent and the contrast — sand and loungers on one side, stone streets and bars on the other — is part of the point.
The beach: length, sand, water
Bečići’s beach is consistently described as around 2km of continuous sand, which is unusually long for this coast — most Montenegrin beaches are short coves measured in a few hundred metres. The sand is fine rather than coarse, the seabed shelves gradually rather than dropping off, and the bay is sheltered enough that the water stays calmer than more exposed stretches further south.
Most of the beach is organised into sections attached to the hotels and beach bars that line the promenade, each running its own row of loungers and umbrellas. A lounger with umbrella generally runs €8-15 a day depending on the season and the section — closer to the water and closer to Budva tends to cost more. There are free, unmanaged stretches of sand too, but they have no shade infrastructure of their own and fill up by mid-morning in July and August.
Water quality is generally good, and Bečići’s Blue Flag status has been held in various recent years, though it is worth checking current signage rather than assuming a flag from a previous season still applies. As with the rest of the coast, occasional jellyfish blooms happen in summer; they are a nuisance rather than a serious hazard, but worth checking with your hotel or a lifeguard station before a long swim.
Hotels: 1970s-80s resort stock, renovated to varying degrees
Bečići’s identity as a resort dates back to former Yugoslavia’s tourism expansion in the 1970s and 1980s, when the strip was developed with a run of large hotel complexes aimed at package tourism rather than independent travel. That history still shows in the built environment: long, block-form hotel buildings set back from the beach behind a promenade, quite different from the stone architecture of Kotor or Perast.
Since the 1990s war years and the tourism recovery that followed, most of these hotels have been renovated, some more than once, and ownership has changed hands repeatedly — several properties along this stretch have had Russian, Montenegrin and international investment at different points. The result is a mixed picture: some hotels are genuinely modern behind an older shell, others have had cosmetic updates only. It’s worth checking recent guest photos rather than trusting a hotel’s marketing images, which tend to lag behind the actual state of the rooms.
What this hotel stock is good at is exactly what package and family travellers need: reception desks used to group check-ins, on-site restaurants, direct beach access, and rooms built in blocks rather than boutique conversions of old townhouses. If you want a characterful stone building with three rooms and a view, that’s Perast or Prčanj on the bay, not Bečići.
Bečići hotel stock at a glance
| Type | What to expect | Typical guest |
|---|---|---|
| Renovated 1970s-80s tower hotels | Direct beach access, on-site restaurant, lift, sea-view rooms cost more | Families, package bookings, all-inclusive |
| Smaller pensions set back from the beach | Cheaper, 5-10 minute walk to the sand, less resort infrastructure | Budget independent travellers |
| Newer apartment blocks | Kitchenette, no beach section of their own, buy a lounger separately | Self-catering, longer stays |
Getting to Bečići from Kotor
Bečići is about 25-27km from Kotor by road, and the drive takes roughly 35 minutes in normal traffic, following the coast road through Tivat and around to Budva before the short final stretch east. In July and August, allow extra time — the Kotor-Budva corniche is narrow and slows down considerably with holiday traffic, and Budva’s own streets back up near the old town.
Public buses run along the coastal route between Kotor, Tivat, Budva and on to Bečići and Petrovac, though there is no centralised online booking system and schedules thin out outside peak season — check at the Kotor bus station rather than relying on an app. A taxi from Kotor is a straightforward but pricier option; fix the price before you get in, since meters are rarely used with visitors even though they’re required by law.
If you’re staying in Bečići rather than day-tripping, Tivat Airport (TIV) is the closer option at around 25 minutes by car, useful if your flights are seasonal; Podgorica (TGD) is the year-round alternative but adds well over an hour.
What Bečići doesn’t have
The trade-off for Bečići’s sand and loungers is that it has essentially none of Budva old town’s atmosphere. There’s no walled historic centre, no maze of stone streets, and the restaurant and bar scene is built around hotel terraces and beachfront chains rather than the concentrated nightlife of Budva. If you came to this coast expecting to walk out of your hotel into an old town at 9pm, Bečići will disappoint — you’d need to walk or taxi into Budva for that.
It’s also worth being honest that the architecture along the promenade is functional rather than attractive. The hotel blocks are not the postcard image of the Adriatic that draws people to Perast or Kotor Old Town, and some visitors find the strip a little charmless outside the beach itself. That’s the deliberate trade for a long, easy, sandy beach with proper facilities — you’re choosing function over character.
Food and drink
Eating in Bečići is dominated by hotel restaurants and a run of beachfront and promenade places aimed squarely at tourists — pizza, grilled fish, pasta, ice cream, mostly priced above what you’d pay in a small inland konoba. A simple plate at a non-touristic restaurant elsewhere on this coast runs €8-15; expect the Bečići beachfront to sit at the higher end of that range or above it. For a cheaper or more characterful meal, walking into Budva old town or heading a little further to Rafailovići widens the choice.
If you want the coast’s actual food identity rather than resort-strip pizza, save it for elsewhere on a Kotor-based trip: grilled fish and calamars, prosciutto and cheese from Njeguši, and Vranac and Krstac wines are far better sampled in Kotor old town or a konoba inland than on the Bečići front.
Prices: a day at Bečići
| Item | Typical price |
|---|---|
| Sun lounger with umbrella (beach section) | €8-15 per day |
| Coffee | €1.50-3 (beachfront costs more than a back-street café) |
| Beer (Nikšićko) | €3-5 on the beachfront |
| Simple restaurant meal | €10-18 on the promenade |
| Hotel room, 3-4 star, summer | €90-180 a night (€50-100 outside peak season) |
| Apartment, summer | €50-100 a night (€30-50 outside peak season) |
These are broadly in line with the rest of the Budva Riviera, and a step above equivalent prices in Kotor’s old town or the inner bay, where competition from local restaurants keeps things cheaper.
Bečići versus Kotor’s beaches
If your comparison point is swimming in the Bay of Kotor itself, the difference is straightforward: the bay’s coves near Dobrota, Prčanj and Stoliv are pebble and rock, calmer and closer to Kotor, but you’ll want water shoes and the beaches are short. Bečići trades that proximity for length of sand and a genuine resort infrastructure of loungers, showers and beach bars. Neither is objectively better — it depends on whether you’d rather stay in the bay for the afternoon or make the 35-minute trip out to Budva’s riviera for a full sand beach day.
Combining Bečići with a Budva day trip
Because Bečići sits right next to Budva, most visitors from Kotor treat it as one stop within a broader Budva day rather than a destination on its own. A workable plan: drive out mid-morning, spend two to three hours on the beach at Bečići, then walk the promenade into Budva old town for lunch and a look around the walls before heading back to Kotor in the late afternoon, ahead of the worst of the return traffic.
If you’d rather see the coastline from the water, a boat trip is the other common way to take in this stretch. A boat tour to Budva covers the same coastline from offshore, which gives a different view of Bečići’s hotel strip and the bay beyond it than the beach itself does.
For a longer look at the riviera by sea, a Budva riviera boat tour extends further along the coast past Sveti Stefan. If you’d rather paddle than sit in a boat, a small-group kayak tour to Sveti Nikola island launches from this stretch of coast and gets you into the water rather than just looking at it.
Practical notes
Parking along the Bečići promenade is limited and mostly paid in summer, similar to the pressure you’ll find trying to park near Kotor’s old town — hotel guests generally have designated parking, but day visitors should expect to circle or use a paid lot back from the seafront. As everywhere on this coast, don’t leave valuables visible in a parked car.
Registration with police within 24 hours of arrival applies here as everywhere in Montenegro; hotels handle it automatically, but if you’re renting an apartment independently, confirm the host has done it. Tap water is safe to drink. Sockets are the standard European type C/F, 230V.
FAQ: visiting Bečići
Is Bečići beach sand or pebble?
Sand, and mostly fine sand rather than coarse gravel. That puts it in a different category from Kotor’s pebble and rock coves, where you generally want water shoes. Bečići’s seabed shelves gently, which is why it suits small children.
How far is Bečići from Kotor?
About 25-27km by road, roughly 35 minutes by car via Tivat and Budva, or slightly longer by bus with stops. It is a straightforward day trip, and also works as a base if you want beach time with Kotor and Perast a short drive away.
Is Bečići good for families?
Yes, it is one of the better family options on this coast. The beach is long and sandy, the water is shallow near shore, and most hotels along the strip are family or package-oriented rather than nightlife-focused. It lacks Budva old town’s late-night bars, which most parents count as an advantage.
Do you need to pay for sun loungers in Bečići?
Most of the beach is divided into sections run by hotels and beach bars, and a lounger with umbrella typically costs €8-15 a day depending on season and how close you are to the water. There are free public stretches, but they fill up early in July and August and have no shade structures of their own.
Is Bečići walkable from Budva old town?
Yes, it is about 2-3km along the coastal promenade, a 30-40 minute walk, or a short taxi or local bus ride. Many visitors base themselves in Budva old town and walk to Bečići for the beach, or the reverse: stay in a Bečići hotel and walk into Budva for dinner and the old town at night.
Are the hotels in Bečići old-fashioned?
Many were built in the 1970s and 1980s as part of former Yugoslavia’s state tourism push, when Bečići was one of the first planned resort strips on this coast. Most have been renovated since, some more thoroughly than others, so it is worth checking recent guest photos before booking rather than assuming a name equals current condition.
Can you swim in Bečići safely with kids?
The main bay is sheltered and shallow close to shore, which is why it draws families. As with the whole Montenegrin coast, check for the purple flag or lifeguard signage during jellyfish blooms, which happen occasionally in summer, and keep an eye on boat traffic near the marked swimming lanes.
