This Stunning New Hotel Will Have You Adding Montenegro to Your Summer Travel Plans
You probably don’t have a fortress in mind for your next holiday. Maybe not even Montenegro. But this tiny Balkan country sitting on the coast of the Adriatic Sea is home to what is arguably Europe’s hottest hotel opening this year: a 19th-century stronghold-turned-luxury hotel – and it’s sitting on its own island to boot.
Originally a fortress built in 1852 by Austro-Hungarian general Lazar Mamula, the hotel spent time as a military base and WWII prison before being left abandoned on its tiny islet in the Bay of Kotor. Egyptian businessman Sami Sawiris, who previously developed Montenegro’s high-end Luštica Bay, took on Mamula Island as something of a passion project, handing the keys over to architectural firm MCM London and Piotr Wisniewski of Berlin-based weStudio to carry out a sensitive restoration with minimal intervention.
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Despite being a protected building, the design teams were able to create a collection of new entry-level Garden Rooms (starting at $550 a night) on top of the horseshoe-shaped fort wall, and the highest-category Panoramic Suites (coming it at around $2,970 a night, off-season), which enjoy the highest vantage point atop the circular tower. The remaining Sky Suites and Sea Junior Suites can be found sitting under the fortress’s ancient stone arches, some of which still sport the original decorative frescoes that took nine months to restore. Wisniewski’s contemporary interiors link each space together and nod to the hotel’s natural surroundings: think earthy hues inspired by stone and sand, organic materials, and bespoke furnishings finished with curved lines to mirror Mamula’s circular structure. Locally crafted ceramics, vintage Egyptian rugs, and the odd piece from design house Gubi add the finishing touch, while in the bathrooms, dressed in various shades of marble, standalone tubs sit against a backdrop of endless water.
The opening of a property like Mamula looks set to drive Google crazy with a surge of searches for Montenegro — after all, how often do you get to stay in a fortress? — but a host of global luxury brands have already bypassed the neighboring tourist hotspots of Croatia, Italy, and Greece to settle down in the Balkan nation in recent years. Aman was the first to spot the country’s luxe appeal, opening Aman Sveti Stefan in 2010. Although the property closed in 2021, there are rumors swirling that a reopening might be on the cards. Over in Tivat, where (another) former military base has been transformed, this time into the sleek Porto Montenegro marina, you can find the Regent Porto Montenegro, which has been watching over Montenegro’s incoming yachts since 2014. The Chedi Luštica Bay made its entrance in 2018, followed by Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Montenegro and One&Only Portonovi in 2021 — the latter’s European debut in Montenegro drove sales to the country by 354 percent, according to Carrier’s 2023 Luxury Trends Report released this year. And just before Mamula drew up its portcullis in April, the family-owned La Fleur launched in Tivat in 2022 as the town’s first boutique five-star property.
And there’s more to come. Also in the pipeline in Porto Montenegro is Boka Place, a village within the marina slated to open in 2024 with a 96-room hotel from SIRO, the new fitness and wellness hotel group which will make its debut later this year with SIRO One Za’abeel, Dubai. Over in Luštica Bay, the long-term plan is to offer luxury travelers a choice of seven international hotel brands, two marinas, and the country’s first 18-hole golf course all within the next 15 years.
While yachting is a major driving force behind Montenegro’s high-end appeal — see again Porto Montenegro — there’s more here for luxury seekers to discover beyond the swanky marinas and five-star branded hotels. “Montenegro is something of an unexplored destination for well-versed travelers who have already done Italy, the Balearics, or the South of France. There’s a little bit of a sense of adventure and exploration here,” says Henning Schaub, Mamula Island’s general manager. “There’s Venetian architecture, Austrian-Hungarian palaces, Orthodox churches, Mediterranean cuisine… things that luxury travelers are already familiar with, because they’ve probably already been all over Tuscany, but in Montenegro you can experience it in a place which isn’t as overcrowded”.
With its storied history, nearly 200-year-old architecture, and the restored remains of still-beautiful frescoes, Mamula offers an introduction to this all under one roof — or rather, under a few vaulted stone ceilings. And with its deserted-island setting, overcrowded it certainly isn’t. Then there’s the food: Mamula tapped Erica Archambault, of Paris’s ultra hip Michelin-starred Septime, to craft the produce-driven Mediterranean menus found in each of the three restaurants, which range from Archambault’s contemporary riff on French classics at the Pool Deck to a sophisticated six-course menu at fine-dining restaurant Kamena. There might not be a Michelin Guide here like in neighboring Slovenia, but if there were you could imagine Archambault’s name might be in it.
To complement guests’ time at Mamula, the hotel has designed a range of off-island excursions to offer an authentic, and often exclusive, experience. “It was important for us to reflect every traveler’s interest and to create niche and bespoke tours that provide lasting experiences, and access to things you cannot easily arrange on your own,” says Schaub. This could be getting behind the usually closed doors of Tito’s villa to bracing morning swims in the nearby Blue Cave, before heading back to Mamula for an outdoor yoga class and soothing natural spa treatments with lapping waves as the soundtrack. “Guests who understand and appreciate what we’re doing here also love the scenery,” says Schaub, “That’s another thing that makes Montenegro as a luxury destination really stand out: the beautiful nature.” mamulaisland.com
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