Budva is Montenegro's main beach resort and its most touristy town. In July and August it is very busy — packed beaches, thumping nightclubs, and hotel prices that would make you wince. Come in May, June, or September and it's a genuinely enjoyable place: a small walled old town on a rocky peninsula surrounded by water, warm sea, and a relaxed pace.
The old town survived the 1979 earthquake imperfectly but is now well-restored, with stone streets, Venetian-era walls, and a citadela at the tip of the peninsula. In summer it hosts the Budva Theatre City Festival, which has been running since the 1980s and remains one of the bigger cultural events on the coast.
The beaches immediately in front of the hotel strip — Slovenska obala — are crowded. The better beaches are south of town: Mogren beach (a short walk from the old town walls, a local favourite), and the string of beaches continuing south toward Sveti Stefan. Bečići and Rafailovići are popular with families; Pržno is smaller and quieter. The uninhabited Sveti Nikola island offshore is reachable by water taxi and has several good swimming spots.
Budva has good restaurants in and around the old town, and the nightlife is genuinely lively in summer — Top Hill above the town is one of the Adriatic's most celebrated open-air clubs. It's also a reasonable base for day trips to Kotor (30km north) and Cetinje (35km inland).