Ulcinj

Ulcinj has the only long sandy beach on the Montenegrin coast — Velika Plaža runs about thirteen kilometres, while the rest of the country's beaches are short and shingle. That is the only reason needed, and it explains why the crowd here differs from Budva's.

The old town stands on a rocky headland above the sea and was a corsair base in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries — Cervantes is said to have been held here for a time. Inside the walls today are houses, two small museums and a few taverns, and it is best in the evening, once the lights come on and the day visitors have gone.

Velika Plaža begins a few kilometres south-east of town and runs to the mouth of the Bojana. The sand is dark grey and fine, the sea shallow far out — which is why it suits children, and why it is windy, so in recent years it has become a kitesurfing beach. Facilities are at the northern end; the rest is mostly empty.

Ada Bojana is a sand island at the river mouth, between a channel and the sea, and has been known for decades as a naturist resort — which most of it still is. The restaurants on the river side, on wooden platforms over the water, serve fish from the Bojana.