We are contemplating a holiday to Montenegro next year, possibly to the resorts of Sveti Stefan or Petrovac. We would like any recommendations or advice on these two resorts.

Montenegro is interesting, beautiful and if you're the right kind of person, could be a great destination. Sveti Stefan looks like a wonderful place to stay (Sophia Loren was a big fan). However, you don't say where you are from, where you've been so far and how long you'd want to be there. If it's a long trip, I'd combine it with some travel in Croatia.

There is some good feedback on Sveti Stefan on Virtualtourist.com

I only did a day trip from Dubrovnik and found Montenegro beautiful and fascinating. But to me the beach resorts were really tacky -- lots of "communist era" cheap hotels that look like they are in bad need of repair. Of course those resorts might be nice however.

I did Montenegro for a month in ... 1982... It is a very interesting and beautiful region. Kotor and the Kotor bay are beautiful, some nice villages also, like Perast and Dobrota...

Beaches where indeed a bit tacky and quite spoiled by cigarette filters...

Sveti Stefan was in this time a very successful Club Med resort. I don't know how this has evolved.

I reckon you could spend 3 or 4 days in Montenegro and then head to the Croation coast.

But how has all this changed since 1982?

Things have changed quite a lot since 1982. The war and a major earthquake did a lot of damage and much is still damaged. Kotor has a lot of charming places and things and Sveti Stefan looks beautiful and well maintained.

Hey Baldrick, I was in Kotor in 1974! Beautiful area, but can imagine it must be very different now. We took a bus all the way to Thessaloniki -- what a ride.

Anyone else remember the small, quirky film titled "Montenegro?" Funny, I was just thinking about it yesterday.

Grasshopper, I was there just after the earthquake, and helped with surveys on the damage caused by it on the local monuments.

I was there in 1965 driving from Germany to Athens via Budva, Kosovo and Macedonia. The roads were very rough in those days and the scenery great when you could afford to take your eyes off the road. You felt that towns like Pec and Pristina in Kosovo were hardly changed since the Middle Ages. Now not much better I guess due to being ravaged by the war several years back.

Harzer