Monaco has a problem.
It’s just two square kilometers and cannot expand—it has been reclaiming land from the sea for decades because there is nowhere else to go.
The same problem extends along Europe’s established Rivieras.
Saint-Tropez cannot widen its harbor. Cannes, Antibes, Portofino and Porto Cervo are already built out. Their prices carry a century of the world’s wealthy competing for the same fixed supply of coastline.
And their marinas were created for an earlier generation of boats.
The yachts keep getting bigger. The harbors can’t.
So, where do the wealthy go next?
They sail around the boot of Italy…up the Adriatic…and into Europe’s new Riviera: the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro.
Europe’s Old Rivieras are overcrowded and overpriced, and their marinas weren’t built for a new generation of superyachts. That’s why many of the super-rich are now looking beyond them.
I founded RETA in 2008 to bring together a group of like-minded international real estate investors. By combining our buying power, I can negotiate prices and terms from developers that individual buyers could never hope to get alone.
Like the urgent new opportunity I’ve negotiated for RETA members in the Bay of Kotor…
Today, let me explain why the emergence of this new Riviera creates such a compelling opportunity…
This is Europe’s New Riviera—one being built for the 21st century. And it’s here that I’ve negotiated a stunning new off-market deal.
The Old Rivieras Are Full
Monaco remains one of the richest and most glamorous places on Earth.
But it is now the most expensive prime residential market in the world.
According to Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2026, $1 million buys just 172 square feet of prime residential real estate there.
That’s little more than the size of a single room.
And Monaco is not alone.
The Côte d’Azur is still synonymous with glamour. Nice, Cannes, Saint-Tropez and France’s famous “Bay of Billionaires” continue to attract wealthy visitors from across the world.
But this coast is increasingly crowded.
Last year, a record 15.23 million passengers passed through Nice airport. The wider Côte d’Azur welcomed more than 12 million visitors, who generated close to 70 million overnight stays.
Then there are all the people arriving by road, rail, private jet and yacht.
The money hasn’t disappeared. Far from it.
But these established Rivieras are crowded, prohibitively expensive and facing a problem they cannot solve.
You cannot create more coastline.
Antibes has the historic charm, marina lifestyle and international appeal that define a mature Riviera—and its property prices reflect that. The Bay of Kotor is at a much earlier stage in its transformation.
The shortage is particularly acute at sea.
Between 2016 and 2022 annual superyacht sales rose 62%. That’s a two-thirds jump in six years.
Over the same six years the largest yacht sold in a year grew from 98 meters to 123. Marinas cut for a previous generation of boats simply cannot take them.
Building a superyacht is one thing. Finding somewhere to keep it is another.
That problem helped send the world’s wealthy searching for a modern alternative.
They found it in Montenegro.
Built on the site of an old naval base, Porto Montenegro is now an international playground of superyachts, luxury hotels, restaurants and designer stores—all created for a new generation of wealth.
A Riviera Built for the 21st Century
The Bay of Kotor has everything a Riviera needs.
Mountains fall almost vertically into deep blue water. Centuries-old Venetian towns line the shore. The sheltered bay provides a natural harbor deep enough for the largest yachts afloat.
And unlike the established Rivieras, its modern luxury infrastructure has been built for the way wealthy people travel and live today.
Porto Montenegro has 512 berths taking yachts from 12 metres to 250 metres, and it holds Five Gold Anchor Platinum accreditation — the highest rating in the world for a marina. It’s the only marina in Montenegro that regularly handles boats over 70 meters. Another hundred berths break ground next year, and the masterplan runs to 850.
Surrounding the marina are two hotels, a yacht club, an international school, more than 170 shops and restaurants, and over 750 residences.
Elsewhere around the bay, Portonovi combines a superyacht marina with Europe’s first One&Only resort.
Luštica Bay is developing an entire new coastal town around another marina, The Chedi hotel and Montenegro’s first championship golf course.
One&Only…Regent…SIRO…The Chedi…Hyatt Regency…
These are not brands that choose destinations on a hunch. Before they commit hundreds of millions of dollars, they study accessibility, tourism, room rates, seasonality and future demand.
They have already planted their flags around the Bay of Kotor.
Billions of euros have followed.
Just south of Dubrovnik, the Bay of Kotor is anchored by three luxury marina communities—Portonovi, Porto Montenegro and Luštica Bay—with Kotor Old Town and Tivat Airport close at hand.
It Was Always Meant to Be a Riviera
Here’s the part many people don’t know.
The Bay of Kotor is not an undiscovered backwater that suddenly got lucky.
For centuries, it was one of Europe’s fashionable addresses.
Under Venetian rule, wealthy sea captains built grand palaces along the waterfront at Perast. During the Austro-Hungarian era, resorts and wellness retreats around Herceg Novi attracted Europe’s imperial elite.
Kings, tsars and aristocrats knew this coastline.
Then two world wars and almost half a century of communism closed it off from international wealth and investment. Montenegro only regained its independence in 2006.
My point is, this coastline isn’t discovering wealth for the first time. It’s returning to something it already was, before two world wars and half a century of communism interrupted it. The Austrians knew exactly what they had here. So did the Venetians before them.
Eighty years on the wrong side of history. That is the only reason this coast is not priced far higher.
The baroque palaces lining Perast’s waterfront were built by wealthy sea captains during the bay’s centuries under Venetian influence. This coastline is not discovering wealth for the first time.
The Gap the Big Money Left Behind
The ultra-rich have financed an extraordinary transformation around the bay. And much of the new development has been aimed at the very top of the market.
€998,000 for a one-bed at Porto Montenegro. €850,000 for a one-bed at Portonovi. €14 million for a branded villa. Very little was built for the market beneath—the people I call the “mobile affluent”—people like me and I expect you—who want the beauty, the glamor and the amenities, and have no intention of paying a million for one bedroom.
That’s the gap. And on a bay where almost nothing new can be built, a deal that fills it doesn’t come along often.
In fact, in 11 years of looking, I’ve found two.
My senior scout Eoin Bassett on the ground at Royal Town Kotor. After 11 years of searching this coastline, this is only the second deal we’ve found that makes the RETA grade.
Just Two Deals in 11 Years
I’ve been seriously scouting this coastline since 2015.
In all that time, I’ve found only two deals here that made the RETA grade.
The first was in July 2024 and to give you just one example of how that’s working out, a two-bed condo RETA members could own for €354,201 listed in March this year for €519,115. That’s an uplift of €164,914.
Now we finally have our second deal.
On Wednesday, August 26, I’ll open it to RETA members
Wishing you good real estate investing,
