September–November is flamingo season at the Ulcinj Salina — and October is one of the most beautiful times to experience it. At sunrise, the enormous empty salt pans turn silver and pink, with flamingos feeding in the shallow water and migrating birds moving across the wetlands around them. Instead of treating the Salina as another sightseeing stop, we make it the main event: two unhurried hours inside the reserve, with time to watch the birds properly, walk, photograph, and stop for a small picnic.
Then the landscape changes completely — from salt pans to the Bojana River, wild sandy beaches, fresh fish, kayaks and the old stone streets of Ulcinj. It feels less like an organised excursion and more like spending one exceptionally good autumn day on the southern Montenegrin coast.
OPTION 1 — FULL-DAY FLAMINGO & ADA BOJANA EXPERIENCE
🌅 05:00–06:00 — Departure from iTiS Villa, Sutomore
We start the day with a quick coffee & croissants, and leave early in the morning by comfortable Range Rover, while the coast is still dark and almost completely empty.
🦩 06:00–07:00 — Flamingos at sunrise
We arrive at the Ulcinj Salina around sunrise.
This is the part worth getting up early for. The Salina is enormous, flat and almost otherworldly in the first light: shallow water, huge open skies and lines of flamingos appearing pink against the grey-blue wetlands. Autumn migration means there is much more happening here than one species — but the flamingos are very much the stars.
🌿 Around 2 hours — Exploring the Salina
We spend approximately two hours exploring the reserve, birdwatching, taking photographs, stop for a small picnic and simply enjoy how quiet the landscape is.
In September–November the Salina becomes a stopover and winter home for an extraordinary variety of migrating waterbirds. Depending on the day and water levels, besides flamingos we may see:
- Dalmatian pelicans,
- Eurasian spoonbills,
- glossy ibises,
- black-winged stilts,
- herons,
- shelducks,
- plovers,
- sandpipers,
- gulls,
- terns
– often gathering in large mixed flocks across the shallow pools. Autumn migration means the landscape is constantly changing: birds arrive from across Europe, rest and feed here before continuing south, while others settle in for the winter so there is always something else moving, feeding or suddenly taking flight across the Salina.
Plants and wildlife.
Autumn gives the Salina a completely different botanical palette from spring: its salt-loving glasswort (Salicornia) reaches its peak in late summer and autumn and turns striking red, while sea lavender (Limonium) is another characteristic autumn plant, alongside silvery-green Suaeda, sea rush, reeds and tamarisk around the channels.
The pools and embankments are not only bird habitat: the Salina supports European pond turtles, Albanian water frogs and Eurasian otters, while golden jackals, large legless sheltopusik lizards and other Mediterranean reptiles occur in the surrounding Salina/Bojana wetland landscape. September is the easiest part of this window for seeing reptiles active in the warmth; by November they are far less conspicuous, while otters and jackals remain present year-round but are much more often detected by tracks than actually seen.
🛶 Ada Bojana
From the Salina, we continue south toward Ada Bojana, from controlled salt pans and thousands of birds to the completely different landscape of the Bojana river delta meeting the Adriatic — a triangular island bordered by two river arms and the sea, with roughly 3 km of sandy beach. Montenegro’s tourism authority lists autumn as the season for it.
Ada Bojana beach is a huge, wild stretch of very fine dark mineral sand, completely different from the rocky coves of most of the Montenegrin coast.
We inflate the kayak and paddle along the river, surrounded by fishermen’s houses, wooden platforms, reeds and open water. This whole area exists because river and sea meet here, creating unusually rich conditions for fish, which brings us to our next stop.
🐟 Lunch at the historic Miško fish restaurant
We drive down toward the Bojana and eat at Misko - najstariji riblji restoran na Bojani -The Oldest Fish Restaurant on Bojana.
Miško is the first and oldest fish restaurant on Ada Bojana, opened in 1991 and still run by the same family, specialising in local fish and Mediterranean seafood beside the river.
🏰 Old Ulcinj & sunset
In the afternoon we return toward Ulcinj and walk through the narrow stone streets of the Old Fortress and Old Town.
We finish the day above the Adriatic, watching the sunset from the famous steps of the old city, having homemade wine and fruit — or coffee, if you prefer.
By this point you’ve gone from flamingos standing in silver water at dawn, to kayaking along the Bojana, dark sand and the open sea, a huge fish lunch, and finally wine among centuries-old stone walls at sunset.
That is a very good day in Montenegro.
Included for two people
- Range Rover transfer from/to Sutomore
- Entrance to Ulcinj Salina
- Organisation and guide
- Kayak
- Homemade wine and fruit for sunset
OPTION 2 — FLAMINGOS AT SUNSET & OLD ULCINJ
A shorter and slower version for guests who don’t want the full-day programme.
🏰 Afternoon — Old Ulcinj
We leave Sutomore during the day and start with a walk through the Old Fortress and historic streets of Ulcinj, when the light is already beginning to soften.
🦩 Flamingos at sunset
Before sunset, we drive to the Ulcinj Salina and spend time walking through the reserve and watching the flamingos as evening settles over the salt pans.
Sunset gives the place an entirely different character from daytime: long reflections across the shallow water, birds gathering and feeding, and almost nothing on the horizon except wetlands and mountains.
🐟 Dinner at Miško
After the Salina we drive to Miško on the Bojana for a fish dinner, then return to the villa in Sutomore.
It is compact enough to fit into an afternoon and evening, but still gives you the three things that make southern Ulcinj special: the ancient city, the extraordinary wetlands, and the fishing culture of the Bojana.
Included for two people
- Range Rover transfer from/to Sutomore
- Entrance to Ulcinj Salina
- Organisation and guide
GOOD TO KNOW
- Pet-friendly. You are welcome to bring your dog, or leave your pet comfortably at the villa under supervision.
- Groups of 3+ receive a discount. Comfortable transport with a licensed passenger carrier can be arranged for larger groups.
- Children: participation and programme are arranged individually depending on age.
- Additional activities, including Skadar Lake birdwatching tour, diving the reefs around Petrovac / Volujica, horseback camping and yoga retreat high in the mountains, yacht dinner, sea/lake guided fishing trips, can all be organized separately within your stay with us in Sutomore.
STAY AT iTiS VILLA
Stay in Sutomore in the centre of the Montenegrin coast and use the villa as your base for exploring the country.
Immediately next door you have a grill & pizza restaurant, bakery, fresh fruit and vegetable market and supermarket.
Within 1 km:
- pine forest directly beside the sea
- mountain hiking trails
- rocky coves and sandy beaches
- ruins of two historic fortresses
- Sutomore’s central seaside promenade
- restaurants, cafés, bars, pharmacies, gym
- railway and bus station
You can wake up in Sutomore, watch flamingos at sunrise near Albania, kayak down the Bojana, eat fish beside the river and drink wine above the Adriatic at sunset, come home to your own quiet apartment that evening, and maybe even join other guests for a terrace movie night.
View Studio 211