Is Herceg Novi worth a visit?

Herceg Novi is one of the youngest settlements in Montenegro. That said it still has a very turbulent history that began in the 14th century. Today it feels like a tourist town, with hotels lining the seaside promenade, a packed sailboat harbour and several yachts anchoring nearby. It is favoured by local tourists and known within the country as a spa destination.

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Overview of my stay in Herceg Novi

• The pretty side of Herceg Novi
• The ugly side of Herceg Novi
• What to do in Herceg Novi?
• Dinner at Konoba Škver
• Perla Hotel – my experience
• The way back from Herceg Novi
• So… is Herceg Novi worth a visit?

The pretty side of Herceg Novi

As you read in the first paragraph Herceg Novi is very much a local tourist town today. Some areas of it are much prettier than say Budva or Kotor, without the huge crowds of international tourists you have in those two cities. I would say it has the most “Mediterranean flair” of all the cities I visited in Montenegro.

The ugly side of Herceg Novi

Allegedly a third of all tourism overnight stays happened in Herceg Novi until the Yugoslav Wars, the first of which was in 1991 and the last ended a decade later in 2001. Since then some parts of the city that weren’t destroyed in the wars have fallen to ruin. Many former hotels are closed and will probably remain like that forever.

On top of that it’s probably not a good time to visit in shoulder season, since seemingly everyone has checked out for the rest of the year already. Many places are also already closed for the winter, despite temperatures still being well above 25° C. Though I can’t say it’s going to be any better in the high season. As you can see from the pictures trash isn’t being cleaned up, many places are boarded up – either for the autumn/winter or forever, who can say.

What to do in Herceg Novi?

Herceg Novi has no less than six Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries you can visit, with Savina Monastery being the most well known one.

Directly at the sea is the Forte Mare, a several stories high fortress from the 1380s you can walk up and take in the view over the bay entrance and on a good day all the way to Croatia.

Around the city you can find several small wineries offering tastings, for example Delic Winery, Savina Winery, Damarius Winery and Malvasija Karaman Winery. Visiting all of them will rack up high expanses in taxi costs, but if you like wine I recommend visiting at least one of them if you have the time.

Dinner at Konoba Škver

A recommendation from many other blogs on Montenegro was the restaurant Konoba Škver. They specialise in seafood and the owner has connections to several fishermen, so the fish is always fresh and what kind you can get depends on the catch of the day.

I had mussels in Buzara. Buzara is a traditional seafood dish with garlic, prepared in either a red or white wine based sauce. The mussels came with white wine sauce and were served with bread, oil, grated parmesan and one and a half lemons cut into quarters.

Next was a seafood plate with Black Risotto. A dish eaten all along the Adriatic Coast in different versions. Usually it’s made with cuttlefish ink, rice and pieces of cuttlefish inside. The colour is a little off putting, but it’s actually delicious. I also had grilled shrimp, sepia and a mash made from potato, spinach and onion on the plate, as well as the other half of the second lemon.

I was told by the waiter that Niksicko is the beer of choice in Montenegro. It’s manufactured in Niksic and its brewery was the first to open in the late 1800.

Perla Hotel – my experience

I had booked the last night in the country at Perla Hotel in Herceg Novi to end the week on a high, to enjoy some “affordable luxury” and to sip a local wine from the balcony overlooking the bay at sunset. Instead my stay was somewhat of a nightmare. Klick here to skip to the review, which is basically me complaining, since my one star google review of them keeps disappearing.

1. The pool was ice cold and it was obvious that it hadn’t been cleaned recently (leaves in the water, algae along the steps).

2. I took one of their complementary bikes into town to eat dinner. As I got close to the city the back-wheel started swerving. I continued on slowly. I locked the bike outside the restaurant. When I came back after dinner and took the bike back to the hotel I was barely a minute out of the city when the handlebars fell out of the mount to one side and I off the bike. When I tried to put it back I got black grease all over my hands and opted to just push the bike back instead of risking injury.

At the hotel I told them about it and the reaction was “Are you injured? No? Then what is the problem? Sorry. We will fix the bike.” They didn’t even tell me where I could wash my hands without being prompted to.

3. I woke up in the middle of the night from a bad smell. It smelled like raw sewage. Getting up sleepily I stuck my head outside in case the smell came from there and I had to close the window. The smell didn’t come from there. It came from the sink in the bathroom. Since it was almost 3 AM I didn’t go down to reception and instead plugged the drain and filled the basin with water to stop more sewage smell from coming up.

4. After that night I really looked forward to a hot shower in the morning. I turned on the showers rain head… and the water began spewing out of the pipe above the head and towards the ceiling and walls. So I turned it off again and showered with the hand held shower head.

5. When I told reception about both those things the conversation went like this:

“Well, why didn’t you say so after checking in?”

“Because both problems weren’t there at check-in? The smell started during the night and I only turned on the rain shower head this morning?”

“And what do you want me to do about it?”

“Acknowledge it happened? You can come up to the room to smell it for yourself and to check the shower. Some sort of compensation would also be appropriate since the room is 150€ a night and not only is the shower mess, the room stinks and the bikes your hotel offers are also dangerous to use.”

“You can move to another room.”

“Why would I do that when I’m checking out in two hours?”

-shrugs and stays silent, looking at me like I am making all of this up for fun-

I wish it had stopped there.

6. I went to breakfast. The coffee machine didn’t dispense any milk. I made the staff aware of that. Someone came, tried the machine, it produced about five drops of milk for a Latte, then a sign flashed on the screen “deep clean of the milk system is necessary”. The staff pressed on the screen to make it disappear, then told me the machine was fine.

The selection at breakfast was extensive, sadly the pastries and grits were hard, the cut fruit was dry at the edges and the only fresh option was an omelette.

7. My one star google maps review of this place (since I booked directly with them and thus can’t post a review on any booking platform) keeps disappearing. Do with that information what you will. Luckily I have a blog so nobody can stop me from making any of this public.

The two positives:

1. The view from the balcony was breathtaking, the second (2) picture was taken at sunrise.
2. At breakfast I could see dolphins swimming through the bay from the terrace (3).

The way back from Herceg Novi

From Herceg Novi you can take the Lepetani-Kamenari-Ferry so you don’t have to drive all around Boka Bay again as you leave. You can reach Tivat Airport within an hour, or stop for a coffee at Capulus Duo in Tivat (they have parking spots, great coffee and nice outdoor seating) before continuing your drive to Kotor, Budva or Podgorica.

So… is Herceg Novi worth a visit?

That depends on what you want on a holiday. Herceg Novi is certainly worth a visit if you like visiting churches and monasteries, like to relax in a hotel without leaving it much, like going for walks, like eating seafood and like visiting small wineries.

There isn’t much more to do. And with it having such a narrow focus on tourists who want these things you can’t expect to find anything else around.

It’s not a good time to visit during shoulder season, since seemingly everyone has checked out for the rest of the year already. Though I can’t say if it’s going to be any better in the high season.

I think I would have enjoyed my time there a lot more if the hotel hadn’t been such a disaster.

If you have limited time in the country I wouldn’t include Herceg Novi in the itinerary. Instead use that day somewhere else and save over two hours of driving time.

Everything I earn through affiliate Links in ALL the posts in the category Montenegro will go to the charity “Kotor Kitties” that takes care of street cats in Montenegro. That means YOU can also give to the charity, without spending an extra cent! Just book a tour through my blog you’d book anyway and a portion of the price goes to help the cats!