Budva, Montenegro

Budva is a relaxing little beach town on the coast of Montenegro, commonly a vacation spot for Russians, but with some jawdropping scenery and idylic towns and beaches nearby. Budva itself is a bit touristy, but there is a great hostel here and everything is so close that there is no reason to stay elsewhere. Randomly, there are carnival rides on the street along the beach and while I was out with some people I met at the hostel, we gave it a spin... And came out dizzy. It's too bad it started raining when we showed up at the beach bar. The musicians stopped playing and everyone went home. Could have been worse. While it rained a lot (very atypical for this area right now) and Budva doesn't have too much itself, I'm happy I stopped here because the hostel I stayed at was awesome and it is an easy place from which to do daytrips. Left is Sveti Stefan viewed from the road coming in to Budva and right is a picture of the spinning carnival ride taken without flash:

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Although it can be daunting, getting to Budva from Tirana is not too bad of an ordeal. The easiest way to get to the coast of Montenegro is to take a bus to Shkodra, Albania ($3/300lek, 2 hours, depart at 9:00 and 12:00, take the 12:00). The bus leaves near the train station in the north part of town. Follow Blv. Zogu directly north of Skendeberg Square to the train station, where the street dead ends. Then take a right, then your first left and down a block the buses leave for Shkodra. Any taxi driver will know where this is as well, just say "autobus, Shkodra". Once you arrive in Shkodra, you will be dropped off in the central square and near here, around Rozafa Hotel, a minibus will be leaving for Ulqin ($7/5€/700lek, 1.5 hours). Ask around for who is driving, don't be put off by people telling you there is no minibus, this is untrue. Be adament and tell them 5€ minibus, Ulqin (pronounced Ulchin). They usually leave around 15:00 or when full (there is also one around 9:00 I am told). Taxis will charge around 15€ per person for the same trip. Once in Ulqin, ask for the autobus station and they'll point you to it. From here there is a proper timetable and a bus leaves for Bar, Budva, Kotor, and onwards into Bosnia at 17:00 ($9/6€, 1.5 hours). They'll charge you to put your bags down below ($1.40/1€) but you could try to avoid this and bring them in the cabin with you if it isn't full. You'll arrive at the Budva bus station and I headed to Hippo Hostel ($21/15€ for a dorm), a great little hostel on the outskirts of Budva. Getting here is a long walk (20 min) but just get the directions off hostelworld and you'll be fine. Budva is more or less in the center if the coast, has plenty of accomodation, and is a "major" transit hub in the area, making it a good place to base your stay in Montenegro out of, even if you don't spend more than one day actually in the town.