On our first full day in Montenegro we headed to what appeared to be the closest beach to where we were staying in Kotor, – Plavi Horizonti beach, which is close to Tivat.
It’s a small and relatively quiet place with plenty of parking (at a cost of €3 for the day).
Plavi Horizonti beach is situated in a beautiful natural cove and is part sand, part small pebbles. There aren’t many, if any, truly sandy beaches in Montenegro and Plavi Horizonti is as close to what you could really describe as ‘sandy’ that we found.
It was an ideal beach for children because the water was completely flat and calm (as indeed it was at every other beach we visited in the region) and it was shallow for a long way out, gradually deepening very slowly so you can happily watch the children playing in the sea from the shore safe in the knowledge they’re not going to get out of their depth or in trouble.
Once you’re in the sea, it’s soft sand underfoot and beautiful clear water.
The best thing about Plavi Horizonti beach for us was that, if you ventured off over to the right towards the rocks at the edge of the cove, the water deepened and there were tons of colourful fish swimming around.
We had our snorkels and face masks and they made all the difference. It was fine splashing around in front of the main beach area, relaxing on the calm water on the lilo, but venturing off to the rocks with the snorkels was even more fun.
We spent hours there, following fish around and exploring the rocky coves. We were glad to have bought swimming shoes with us though, which not only made it easier to clamber around the rocky area but were also protection against the many, many spiky sea urchins on the rocky area (there were none at all in the main sandy area but all rocky under-sea areas around Montenegro had lots of them so be careful near rocks and invest in some swimming shoes to be on the safe side).
Plavi Horizont was certainly a popular, but not overly-busy beach and nothing like the crowded, built-up beach areas of the nearby Budva region.
There’s a bar / restaurant there, a shaded wooded area if you need to cool off and tons of easy parking right near the beach. It’s a beautiful, relatively quiet, comfortable and safe beach and was a great first day to the holiday, easing us in to the local area and letting us relax after the previous day’s travelling.