Car Rental at Luštica Bay

A new resort on the old peninsula

Luštica Bay is a large-scale development on the inner, eastern side of the Luštica Peninsula, built on a sheltered cove roughly 12 km by road from Tivat Airport. Car rental from Tivat puts the marina gate about 15 minutes away in normal traffic, one of the shorter airport-to-accommodation runs on this side of the bay. The project, developed by the Egyptian investment group Orascom Development Holding, covers a site of 7 million square metres (of which only around 10 per cent is built upon) and sits within a broader landscape of olive groves, Mediterranean scrub, and old stone farmhouses that remain largely unchanged outside the resort boundary. Construction began around 2014, with the first marina and hotel buildings opening in 2018 to 2019 and further phases following through 2022 and beyond. As of 2025, over 600 residents call Luštica Bay home, and the development is still far from its stated eventual target of 6,000 residents, 3,000 apartments, and more than 300 villas.

The design language is Adriatic-vernacular: local stone, terracotta tiles, stepped buildings following hillside contours, narrow lanes between the blocks. The aim was a built-from-scratch version of a historic bay village rather than a tower-block resort, and the result reads quite differently from the concrete mass developments of the 1980s Montenegrin coast. Whether the village atmosphere of the concept translates into the lived experience depends somewhat on the season: in July the promenade is genuinely animated; in November it can feel quiet and half-empty even with the residential population present.

The marina and waterfront

The marina at Luštica Bay currently accommodates 115 berths for yachts up to 45 metres, with expansion planned. The waterfront promenade is lined with restaurants, cafes, and a provisions shop serving boats at berth. The beach club below the marina offers loungers, food service, and swimming in season. The cove the resort occupies is sheltered from the outer bay swell by the surrounding headlands; the water inside the marina basin is calm even when the outer bay is choppy. The inner-cove position gives the waterfront a collected, almost Italian-riviera feel, closer in atmosphere to Portofino than to the exposed south-facing beaches of the Budva coast, which can be rough when the Jugo wind is running.

The resort is positioned explicitly above Porto Montenegro in terms of price point and exclusivity, though the comparison is somewhat awkward given that Porto Montenegro (in Tivat, 10 km north) serves much larger superyachts and has been operational longer. Luštica Bay's offer is more land-based: residential real estate, hotel stays, and golf, with the marina as atmosphere rather than the primary product. Prices for apartments and villas in the completed phases reflect the premium positioning: waterfront units in Marina Village are among the most expensive residential property in Montenegro.

The Chedi hotel and accommodation

The Chedi Luštica Bay is the principal hotel on the marina waterfront, a five-star property operated by GHM Hotels that opened in 2019. It has 111 rooms and suites, indoor and outdoor pools, three bars, a spa, and a fitness centre, all directly on the promenade. The Chedi operates a water taxi service for guests travelling between the marina and the outer beach areas. Beyond The Chedi, the resort's accommodation is primarily privately owned apartments sold through the Orascom development programme, many of which are let short-term through the summer. A second hotel is in planning for the later phases of development. The overall accommodation capacity at the resort remains limited relative to the ultimate build-out vision, which makes high-season availability tight and prices correspondingly strong.

Luštica Bay car rental

The resort is 12 km from Tivat Airport via the Radovici junction and the peninsula road. The drive takes 15 to 20 minutes in normal conditions. The road from Radovici to the resort entrance gate is signed. Tivat town centre is 10 km away, with the Porto Montenegro marina, the main supermarkets (Idea and Voli), and the hospital. A Tivat Airport car hire is the most practical starting point for reaching the wider bay from Luštica Bay: Kotor is 28 km by road, around 40 minutes; the Kamenari–Lepetane ferry gives a shortcut to Herceg Novi that cuts the total driving to about 35 minutes by avoiding the full bay circuit.

Within the resort, the four designated neighbourhoods (Marina Village on the waterfront, Centrale as the urban hub, The Peaks on the hillside above, and Horizon on the outer slopes) are connected by internal roads and paths. A car is useful for reaching the outlying neighbourhoods and the golf course area, which sits on the higher plateau above the developed zone. The peninsula road from the resort entrance also connects west to Krasici and then to Rose at the tip, a useful extension of any day based at the resort.

The golf course

Luštica Bay is developing Montenegro's first full golf course, an 18-hole design by Gary Player Design spanning 86 hectares on the peninsula's higher ground. The course stretches 6,519 metres, plays to a par 72, and sits on terrain with gradients of 25 to 30 per cent, challenging topography that was part of the design brief. The course occupies the plateau above the resort buildings, with views south toward the outer bay and the open Adriatic. The first nine holes are planned to be playable from 2026, with the full 18 completing in 2028. This would make Luštica Bay one of a very small number of golf destinations in the Western Balkans and the only one in Montenegro.

Wider day trips from the peninsula

Luštica Bay is a workable base for day trips around the Bay of Kotor. The Kamenari ferry terminal is 14 km north by road, giving access to Herceg Novi and the Croatian border in under an hour. Kotor old town is 28 km away via the southern bay road through Tivat. The full inner-bay circuit (Tivat, Kotor, Risan, Orahovac, Kamenari ferry, Herceg Novi) covers around 80 km of bay road and works as a half-day loop. For the outer coast, the peninsula road west from the resort leads to Krasici and then to Rose at the tip, a 30-minute drive to the bay entrance viewpoint. The Plavi Horizont sandy beach is 2 km from the resort on the same road, making it accessible in five minutes by car on a beach day. Car hire from Tivat Airport extends the day-trip range to Kotor, Perast, and the full northern shore with ease.