Tivat Airport to Budva: taxi, transfer or bus (2026)

Tivat is a small airport: one arrivals hall, one exit onto the forecourt, taxi rank to the right. There are four ways to get to Budva, and they differ less in price than in who sets the fare and when you find it out.

Taxi at the rank. Cars queue, you take the first one. The driver names the price; there is a board of “recommended fares” by the rank, but it is not binding, and summer and night prices run higher. You leave immediately, but you learn the price standing next to the car, which is a bad moment to negotiate.

A request through Budva Taxi App. You enter the airport and your address, see an approximate fare on the local tariff, and publish the request to registered drivers nearby. A driver chooses whether to accept; you pay them directly in cash and the app takes no commission from you. You can send the request before your flight — the driver confirms the pickup.

A pre-booked transfer through an aggregator (Kiwitaxi, Welcome Pickups, Suntransfers and others). Fixed price, driver with a name board, card payment in advance. Convenient with children or a group; the intermediary’s commission is in the price, so longer routes cost more than a taxi.

The bus. The cheapest option, with two caveats: no bus leaves from the terminal itself — the nearest stop is about 1.5 km away on the Adriatic Highway — and there is almost nothing after 22:00. Details below.

After passport control and the baggage belt you walk into the single arrivals hall. There is an ATM (euro), a currency exchange and car-hire desks. People inside the hall may offer “cheap taxi” — they are not the drivers from the rank; decline politely.

Turn right outside for the taxi rank. Official cars carry a yellow TAXI roof sign and a registration plate beginning with TX. Before your suitcase goes in the boot, give the address and ask the price for the whole car; if it does not suit you, walk to the next car.

If you sent a request through the app in advance, the driver messages you in the chat with their position — usually the car park 50 metres from the exit. Match the plate to the one shown in the app.

There is no bus stop at the terminal. The nearest is on the Adriatic Highway (Jadranska magistrala), about 1.5 km on foot along the road shoulder — 20 minutes with a suitcase — or a 5-minute taxi to Tivat bus station (€5–7). Blue Line and other operators run to Budva every 30–60 minutes from roughly 06:00 to 22:00; a ticket is €3–4.50 and some drivers charge €1 per bag.

The ride takes about 40 minutes and ends at Budva bus station, 15 minutes on foot from the Old Town or €3–5 by taxi. If your hotel is in Bečići or Rafailovići, bus to Budva plus a local taxi is usually cheaper than a taxi from the airport, but an hour slower.

The bus makes sense in daylight, with light luggage and no hurry. With children, at night or in rain, the €40–50 saving is rarely worth it.

Late easyJet and Jet2 rotations from the UK, and connections via Istanbul or Belgrade, often land in Tivat after 22:00. There are no buses then, the exchange desk is closed, and three to five cars wait at the rank asking more than the daytime rate — €70–80 to Budva is common.

The calmest option is to send a request through the app before you fly, with your flight number: the driver confirms the pickup and waits if the flight is delayed. Without a confirmed request, agree the fare at the rank before getting in, exactly as in daytime.

Montenegro uses the euro. Most drivers take cash only; UK cards work in the arrivals-hall ATM, so withdraw before you walk out. Contactless payment in taxis is rare outside pre-booked transfers.

Through Budva Taxi App you also pay the driver directly — the app takes no commission from the passenger and does not hold your money. Tipping is not expected; rounding up is the local habit.

“Tivat Airport taxi stand is a big scam” is one of the most-read Tripadvisor threads on Montenegro. The patterns are simple and repeat every season.

Budva — 21 km, 35–45 minutes through Tivat and along the coast, the last stretch a descent to the bay. From the airport it is simpler to go straight to the hotel than to the bus station.

Bečići and Rafailovići — 25–28 km, 40–45 minutes. The big package-holiday hotels are here; drivers know them by name.

Sveti Stefan and Pržno — 34 km, about 50 minutes, through Budva on the Adriatic Highway.

Kotor — 9 km, 15–20 minutes in the opposite direction from Budva. If you are staying in Kotor, a taxi beats every bus and transfer on price.

Tivat is closer to Budva (21 km against 59 km) and to Kotor, with a dense summer schedule that thins out to a handful of routes in winter (November–March). Podgorica runs year-round; Budva is 60–75 minutes away through the Sozina tunnel, a taxi at the terminal costs €50–70 and there is no bus from the airport.

If fares to both airports are similar, choose Tivat. If Podgorica is more than €40–50 per person cheaper, the taxi pays for itself for two travellers.

Tivat has direct flights from the UK between April and October: British Airways from Heathrow (from May 2026, three times a week), easyJet from Gatwick, Luton, Manchester and Bristol, Jet2 from Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford. Podgorica is served year-round by Ryanair from Stansted and by Wizz Air, which opened a base there in March 2026.

UK passport holders do not need a visa for stays up to 90 days. Tivat’s passenger numbers grew 19% in 2025 to 1.34 million, so expect queues at the rank on peak Saturday afternoons.