Tivat Activities: Marina, Bay and Hills
Land at Tivat Airport on a clear day and the approach curves so low over the bay that you can pick out individual yachts before the wheels touch down, and that view turns out to be a fair preview of the whole town.
Porto Montenegro sets the pace
Porto Montenegro’s stone quays hold more than 450 deep-water berths, built over a former Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav naval yard, and walking them past megayachts and the boutiques of Strada Navale costs nothing but time. For a look at the bay from the water instead of the dock, a private speedboat run from Tivat to the Blue Cave and Our Lady of the Rocks covers both the swimmable sea cavern and the island church in one 3-hour outing.
Climb inside a Cold War submarine
The Naval Heritage Collection, in a restored 19th-century sawmill inside the marina, holds the 50-meter Heroj P-821 submarine alongside 300-plus naval artifacts. You duck through the actual hatches, sit at the control panel, and walk the torpedo bays; check Porto Montenegro’s own page for the current ticket price and hours.
Up into the hills
Above the marina, Gornja Lastva’s 14th-century stone cottages sit at 300 meters on Mount Vrmac, reachable on foot through olive groves, and pushing on to the 768-meter summit (Sveti Ilija) puts Tivat Bay on one side of you and Kotor’s fjord on the other. Back down at sea level, a Lustica Peninsula olive farm tour covers the 300-year-old groves behind the region’s olive oil.
Slow it down
Plavi Horizonti’s shallow, sand-bottomed cove on the Lustica side is the calmest swimming in the area, and Pine Promenade’s evening korzo past the moored tall ship Jadran is the closest thing Tivat has to a nightly ritual.
Wetlands at the edge of town
The Tivatska Solila reserve, a Ramsar-listed former Venetian salt pan at the head of the bay, puts flamingos, herons, and ospreys on view from two timber towers, free of charge, for anyone willing to walk the gravel path; Parks Dinarides’ page on the reserve covers what else lives there.
The verdict
Porto Montenegro and the submarine are the two things not to skip; everything above the marina, Gornja Lastva, Vrmac, Solila, rewards travelers willing to walk uphill or slow down, which is most of what Tivat offers once you’re past the yachts.
Before you go
Summer afternoons on Mount Vrmac push past 30 degrees Celsius with little shade, so save the ridge hike for early morning. For the bay’s faster-paced water sports, see the adventure sports guide .