Budva Travel Forum

has anyone been to the hotel queen of montenegro. what is it like. we are thinking of going next year 2007 and could do with some information. what is the area around becici like and also the hotel food, rooms, facilities and beach area. are there any interesting trips to do and also can you visit the little island offshore. are there water taxis available or boats to rent.thanks for any information.

Old name of Queen is Panorama. Hotel was renovated and renamed a year ago.
It is situated near from famous beach of Becici.
Unfortunately there are no big quantity of small islands in Montenegro.
Mostly trips to mountains and canyons.

We’ve just returned from a two-week holiday at the Queen. We really enjoyed our holiday and overall were impressed with the hotel. The refurbishment work is still not complete – there is work being done on the sixth floor and some landscaping work in progress. Alarmingly some guests moved rooms when water was found dripping down over the light switch. However the continuing refurbishment work didn’t really impact upon us.

The bedrooms were fine consisting of twin beds and a sofa bed. My lad aged 13 slept on the sofa bed for a couple of nights and found it to be very comfortable The furniture is of good quality and the rooms are well sound – proofed. We heard no noise from the corridor or next door. The rooms have air – conditioning, a safety box and fridge/mini – bar. There is a flat screen television monitor receiving 45 channels from across Europe. Every room has a balcony, which is big enough to seat 4 people.

The food was very good and for the first time on a package holiday we weren’t buying meals away from the hotel. The food is served buffet style. The kids as they missed breakfast, brought snacks at the hotel for lunch. The prices were pretty reasonable – 1.50E for a plate of chips and 3.50E for a ham and cheese baguette.
A lot of people changed for the evening meal so I would recommend that guests pack some smart casual wear. I was disappointed that tea/coffee was only available at breakfast and not for the evening meal.

Drink prices at the hotel were reasonable by UK standards but expensive for the locality. At the hotel a beer and three cokes cost 9.50 E. Elsewhere at the resort we paid no more than 7E for the same round of drinks. Entertainment is provided on the hotel patio each evening. Once a week a group from Cetinje undertakes local folk dances. They are well worth seeing. For the other nights the entertainment is provided by a local soft rock band playing Abba, Eagles covers. OK for a couple of nights but the band played the same playlist each evening. Even in August it got chilly on the patio so I would recommend that a sweater be taken.

The swimming pool is large and accordingly never gets too crowded. Unfortunately there is a shortage of sunbeds/deck chairs around the pool. If you haven’t got a towel on the chairs by 0830 then forget it for the day.

The staff were friendly and keen to help. For instance our coach to the airport left at 0430 in the morning. Without a request the hotel had made up a meal pack for us to take to the airport.

The local beach is about 300 metres from the hotel. It’s a nice beach but don’t be taken in by the claim that “it’s the most spectacular beach in the Med.” There is a “Queen of Montenegro Hotel” section on the beach. Even as a resident you have to pay10E for two sunbeds and a parasol. We used this section of the beach as the free areas were heaving. Slightly less crowded on the beaches towards Budva. The beaches in Budva itself are even more crowded. The area between the hotel and the beach largely consists of litter strewn scrubland.

The hotel is actually in Rafilovici. There appears to be no real centres to either Becici or Rafilovici. If you turn left at the beach towards Rafilovici there is a large number of restaurants and bars. If you turn right there is small number of shops and restaurants and bars. There is a lot of construction work going on the beach front in Becici. It takes about an hour to walk into Budva. The old town is well worth a visit.

It proved difficult to get into Budva in the evening. The road system got gridlocked and the buses were full when they reached the local bus stop. We found the best way into Budva was to walk along the beach promenade to Rafilovici and got on the mini – train at the terminus. Again if you waited at the local stop the train was full. There is a standard one way fare of 2E. By the tram terminus at Rafilovici there is a boat that goes to Budva old town. The boat we got left about 2030 and cost the same as the train. The cost of a taxi from the hotel to the old town is 10E.

We found the buses from Budva to other areas of Montenegro to be cheap, frequent and reliable. We went to Cetinje and Kotor. The cost of each of these journeys was only 2.50E. Kotor is a mini – Dubrovnik and well worth a visit. If you’re interested in Montenegrin history then Cetinje is a must. We also went to Dubrovnik and rafting on the River Tara using local travel agencies. Both these excursions are recommended. Using local agencies saved us about a third when compared to prices booked through the reps of the UK tour operators.

Overall we were pleased with the hotel and would view it as a sound four star hotel. Montenegro is a good value destination and we never felt that we had been ripped off.
Due to crowding I would recommend that school holidays be avoided if possible