Anyone looking for an esoteric break this summer would do well to consider a tiny Adriatic island once favoured by Yugoslav communists, Hollywood A-listers and royalty, that has reopened to non-residents after a long period of closure.
Sveti Stefan, on Montenegro’s Budva Riviera, has been subject to controversy for years because its beaches had become part of a private resort and were no longer accessible to locals. The island was shuttered in 2021 due to the protracted legal dispute.
But, under a new agreement, resort operator Aman will be up and running on the island from 1 July 2026 for the summer season. Euronews has reported that locals will enjoy free access to two of the three beaches in the resort’s vicinity (Sveti Stefan and King’s), while one of them (Queen’s Beach) will be reserved exclusively for Aman guests.
The Aman Sveti Stefan resort is a 5-star franchise boasting 33 stone cottages and suites, with private pools, and a spa with “state-of-the-art fitness facilities and two hydrotherapy suites.” There is also accommodation at the Villa Miločer on the mainland opposite the island. The Villa Miločer’s suites will be open earlier than the island, from 22 May, and can be booked all year round.
According to a post on social platform X by Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, the terms of the negotiation will see the state earning a 10% share of the resort’s profits. The agreement also means that no further permits for construction will be awarded in Miločer Park.
This last point perhaps makes the existing resort and its setting even more special. A fortified 15th-century island connected to the mainland by a short spit, it was a Venetian Protectorate for centuries. Tito’s communist regime chased out the remaining residents in the 1950s to turn the island into a playground for the elite, with a casino fir for James Bond, housed in a former monastery church.
Famous guests of the past include film stars such as Orson Welles, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, and Kirk Douglas. The UK’s Princess Margaret, known for her hard partying lifestyle, also stayed there. Meanwhile, the 1930s mainland villa, set among cedar, pine, and olive trees, with terraces draped with wisteria and a library, was once the summer residence of Queen Marija Karađorđević.
To join this illustrious list of guests, would-be visitors will need to set aside a holiday budget of at least €1,500 a night in May for the villa, or over €7,000 per night on the island itself.
