06Open seaAcross the bay from Tivat
Luštica. A cove of your own.
A green peninsula between the bay and the open sea — olive groves, old stone villages and a coastline full of coves that are easiest to reach by boat. Boris knows which one is quiet today.
Two shores
Calm on one side, wild on the other.
Luštica separates the calm Bay of Tivat from the open Adriatic: thirteen kilometres of green hills at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor. From the Tivat promenade you look straight across at it.
Its bay side is gentle. Fishing villages such as Rose, Bjelila and Krašići sit by quiet water, and above them olive groves climb between dry-stone walls to old stone villages with some twenty small churches. Only a few hundred people live here all year round.
Its sea side is wild: cliffs drop straight into the open sea, hollowed into caves like the Blue Cave, with pebble coves in between — Žanjice, Mirište and Dobreč, which has no road down to it at all. The water there is as clear as the open sea, and the easiest way in is by boat.
- The bay side: calm water and fishing villages
- Olive groves between dry-stone walls
- Old stone villages and small churches
- Obosnik, the highest point — almost 600 m
- The sea side: cliffs, caves and clear coves — a swim from the boat
- of hills, olive groves and villages
- 47km²
- from end to end
- 13km
- of coastline, full of coves
- ≈ 35km
- small churches in its villages
- ≈ 20
Getting there
From Tivat, round the tip of Luštica.
Every trip starts on the Tivat promenade. The course crosses the bay along the quiet north shore of Luštica, slips through the Kumbor Strait, rounds Rose at the tip of the peninsula and runs down its sea side, past Dobreč and Mamula, to the cove of Žanjice.
- TivatDeparture from the promenade 0 km
- Kumbor StraitInto the outer bay 8 km
- RoseOld fishing village at the tip of the peninsula 12 km
- DobrečA pebble cove with no road down to it 15 km
- MamulaIsland fortress from 1853 17 km
- ŽanjiceLuštica’s long pebble beach, facing Mamula ≈ 18 km
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
Tours that go there
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3 hprivate
BookOpen sea & swimming
Blue Cave Tour
Into an old submarine tunnel, past the island fortress of Mamula and out to the Blue Cave, where the water glows electric blue — swim right in — and on to two more sea caves nearby.
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5 hprivate
BookYour route, your rhythm
Custom Tour
Five hours or more, your way. Pick the stops — Kotor’s old town, a hidden beach, an island church, the Blue Cave — and Boris will shape the route around you.
Two or three coves in one day? A Custom Tour also comes in 8 hours.
On the spot
Find your cove, then slow down.
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Swim where no road goes
There is no road down to Dobreč, so the cove is reached from the sea: the boat drops anchor, and you swim ashore or simply stay in the water.
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Look under the surface
Over the rocks and pebbles of the sea side the water is clear enough to watch the fish swim beneath you — bring a mask.
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Stroll the quay in Rose
The old fishing village at the tip of Luštica: stone houses on the water and a harbour where, in Venetian times, ships’ crews waited out their quarantine. On a Custom Tour there is time for a coffee on the quay.
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Carry on to the Blue Cave
The Blue Cave is on Luštica’s own sea side: from Žanjice, round Cape Arza, and you are there in a few minutes.
- Best light
- Late afternoon, when the sun sinks towards the mouth of the bay and the stone houses of Rose turn gold. Mornings are the calmest time on the sea side.
- Sea & weather
- The sea side is open to the wind and the swell. When it blows, Boris simply turns into a sheltered cove on the bay side — the beauty of a peninsula with two shores.
- Swimming
- The coves are pebble and rock rather than sand: water shoes make getting in easier, and a mask turns a swim stop into a look at the sea floor.
- Going ashore
- On the Blue Cave Tour you swim from the boat. On a Custom Tour Boris can drop you on a beach for an hour or two — or on the quay in Rose.
- Bring along
- Swimwear, sunscreen and a hat — there is little shade out on the water. Towels are on board.
Keep exploring
Around the entrance, three more stops.
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Blue Cave
Swim in the glowing blue water
A sea cave on the Luštica peninsula where sunlight comes up through the water and turns it electric blue. Swim right inside — when the sea is calm enough.
≈ 22 km from Tivat
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Mamula
Island fortress from 1853
A round fortress on a tiny island at the mouth of the bay, built in 1853 by the Austrian general Lazar Mamula. You pass it on the way to the Blue Cave.
≈ 17 km from Tivat
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Herceg Novi
Old town and fortresses
The town at the entrance to the bay, founded in 1382 by the Bosnian king Tvrtko I — fortresses, stone stairways and an old town that faces the sea.
≈ 14 km from Tivat
Find a cove of your own. Boris knows the quiet ones.
Open daily 09:00 – 23:00