Own on Europe’s New Riviera From €245k

The French Riviera is running out of room. There’s only so much waterfront in Monaco. And in Saint-Tropez, the yachts have gotten bigger, but the old harbor is still the same size.

So where are the ultra-rich going today?

Across the Adriatic from Italy lies Montenegro’s Bay of Kotor, where mountains plunge into sheltered waters and centuries-old stone towns line the shore. It’s also where One&Only opened its first European resort and where superyachts now dock at a former naval base.

I’ve been following this coast since 1997. And now this is Europe’s new Riviera.

But what does it cost to own here?

I just released a new video on my YouTube channel showing you what three different budgets buy on the bay.

And here, I’m going further. I’ll give you links to those and similar listings. And tell you what I think is the best opportunity on the Bay right now.

But first, the story of how the super-rich found this place…

A few years ago a Canadian billionaire had a problem most of us would like to have.

He’d made his fortune. He’d bought the yacht. And now he wanted to sail the Mediterranean the way a man of his means should be able to sail it.

But he couldn’t.

There was nowhere to put the boat.

Monaco: a hundred meters of berth, if you could get it, at a price that would make your eyes water. Saint-Tropez in July: a waiting list. Cannes. Antibes. Portofino. The same answer everywhere he looked. The Western Mediterranean had run out of room for the big boats of the people who could afford big boats…

So he did what men with helicopters do…

He went scouting…

His name was Peter Munk and he flew east, across to the far side of Italy, and then south down the Adriatic—past the Croatian islands, past the honey-colored walls of Dubrovnik—and kept going.

Then, beyond Dubrovnik, the land opened up in front of him.

A bay pushing deep into the mountains like a Norwegian fjord. Bone-white medieval towns stacked up the hillsides, built by the Venetians when Venice ran this coast. Water so sheltered and so deep it was almost unnaturally still. Mountains dropping four thousand feet straight into the sea.

Lord Byron got here two centuries before the helicopter did. He wrote that at the birth of our planet, the most beautiful meeting of land and sea must have happened at this coast.

He was right. And outside of sailing circles, almost nobody had found it.

The Canadian didn’t drop anchor and sail on. He bought a derelict Cold War relic—a Soviet submarine base, cut into the rock of the bay—and spent serious money turning it into a superyacht marina. Not a modest one. Fifteen thousand captains and crew have voted it the number one superyacht marina in the world.

Then came the rest of it. A One&Only. A Hyatt Regency. A Banyan Tree in a restored island fortress out in the middle of the bay. And this May, a Mövenpick—151 rooms, plus 66 branded residences priced from €385,000 to €3.65 million.

This is how the great Rivieras have always emerged: first the pioneers with serious money…then the infrastructure…then the professional and comfortably-off people I call the “mobile affluent”…and finally everyone else.

The interesting thing is that, beyond the polished marina enclaves, much of this coastline still feels remarkably early.

The world is arriving.

You can see how much the bay has changed on the departures board at Tivat. The airport handled 1.34 million passengers in 2025, up 19% in a year. Summer flights now connect the bay directly with cities like London and Madrid.

In Tivat, the old naval shipyard is now Porto Montenegro, a marina built to accommodate some of the world’s largest yachts. A whole waterfront neighborhood has grown up around it, with apartments, shops and restaurants. On the nearby Luštica Peninsula, a new coastal town is taking shape, with a marina and beaches already in place and a golf course in the works.

Tourism is booming in Montenegro. From 2011 to 2025, Montenegro’s tourist arrivals doubled.

Here’s what three budgets buy around the bay…

€245,000 for a sea-view one-bed in Bijela

This apartment is just under 800 square feet, with a separate bedroom and a terrace looking out over the water. The complex has just 12 apartments in two buildings.

Along with the shared pool, there’s a barbecue area and a playground. See the listing.

The stone house in Muo that I show in the video has since been sold. I found this one a little farther along the same shore, with two terraces, a garden and direct access to a pier.

The house is about 1,120 square feet. There are two bedrooms downstairs and three upstairs, with a bathroom on each of those floors. The garden and garage sit on a lot of about 8,750 square feet, and you can look across the water toward medieval Perast and its two islands. See the listing.

And then there’s my luxury pick…

This villa has more than 4,500 square feet over three floors, with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a two-car garage. Every bedroom looks out over the bay. Outside, there’s a pool, a hot tub and a private pier.

Kotor’s old town is just under three miles away along the waterfront promenade, with cafés and restaurants along the way. See the listing.

And that’s far from the only multimillion-euro house here.

The bay has plenty of homes for the superyacht crowd. There’s far less for buyers who want a pool, a spa and a view of the bay at a price well below what the big marinas charge.

But I’ve recommended condos on this coast to members of my Real Estate Trend Alert (RETA) group here.

In July 2024, I brought members an off-market opportunity in the Royal Town Kotor community. Members could own two-beds from just under €349,000. Since then, a two-bed there has been listed at around €519,000.

And just recently, I brought members a second deal in this community.

They could own studios from just under €169,000. And two-beds from just under €363,000.

For me, this is the standout buy on the Bay of Kotor today.

And it’s an example of the kind of opportunity I regularly bring to RETA members in some of the world’s most beautiful and desirable places.

Wishing you a good real estate investing,

P.S. I’ve just returned from a scouting trip to Punta del Este, a glamorous beach city on Uruguay’s Atlantic coast. There I see a similar opportunity to profit from owning the kind of real estate the mobile affluent want to own. RETA members, watch your alerts for my full report in the coming days.