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Budva (Serbian Cyrillic: Будва; Italian: Budua) is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 10,000 inhabitants, and is a centre of Budva municipality. The coastal area around Budva, called Budvanska rivijera, is the centre of Montenegro's tourism, and is well known for its sandy beaches, diverse nightlife, and beautiful examples of Mediterranean architecture.

Budva is 2,500 years old, that makes it one of the oldest settlements on the coast of the Adriatic sea.

There is vast archeological evidence that places Budva among the oldest urban settlements of the Adriatic coast, while numerous written testimonies provide historical facts dating back to the 5th century BC A legend tells that Budva was founded by Cadmus the Phoenician, a hero exiled out of Thebes, Greece, finding a shelter in this place for himself and his wife Harmonia.

Two other civilizations also left innumerable traces: the Greek and the Roman. Upon the fall of the Roman empire and its division into east and west, the defensive barrier which separated the two powers happened to run across this area, subsequently making a lasting impact on the history and culture of this town. In the Middle Ages, Budva was reigned by a succession of Doclean kings, Serbian and Zetan aristocrats
The Venetians ruled this town nearly 400 years, from 1420 to 1797. Budva, called Budua in those centuries, was part of the Albania Veneta and was fortified by powerful venetian walls against the Ottoman conquests. Most of the population spoke the venetian language until the beginning of the nineteenth century, according to the historian Luigi Paulucci in his book "Le Bocche di Cattaro nel 1810" (The Bay of Kotor in 1810).

In the very turbulent years to come, Budva saw a change of several of its supreme rulers – Austria, France and Russia. A union of Boka Kotorska (and Budva) with Montenegro took place for a brief period (1813 – 1814), but from 1814 until 1918 Budva remained under Austrian Empire. After WWI, in 1918 Budva came under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and was later annexed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1941.

World War II claimed many lives from the people of this area in the fight against fascist conquerors. Budva was finally liberated from Nazi rule on November 22, 1944 and after belonging again to Yugoslavia, now is part of the newly independent Montenegro.

A catastrophic earthquake struck Budva on April 15, 1979. Much of old town was devastated, but today there is little evidence of the catastrophe – almost all the buildings were restored to their original form
The Old Town in Budva has many different tales and stories of its origin. Scholars and Historians believe it to be originally an island, which later joined the shore to form a sand isthmus. The Old Town, along with the city of Budva was said to have been discovered by a Greek sailor by the name of Boutoua. Eventually the Roman Empire took over the whole Montenegrin coast influencing it greatly.


Much of the architecture in the Old Town is of Venetian origin. Doors, hinges, windows, balconies and many other small but noticeable things seem to hold the Roman style of the Republic of Venice. There are also three main churches in the old town. The first is St. Ivan's which was built in the 7th century AD, second St. Mary's of Punta dating from 840 and the third, The Holy Trinity, which was built in 1804. The venetian walls of the Old town are a famous tourist attraction.