Valdanos Bay Beach - Ulcinj MontenegroOnly four kilometers or four nautical miles northwest away from Ulcinj, located between Mavrijan and Mendre, lies a narrow horseshoe Valdanos bay. Its protective gardens suddenly droop and sink deep into the sea, while the beach is pebbly, covered with pebbles of 1-20cm diameter. It is 600m long and approximately 20m wide.

It stretches in the northwest-southeast direction in the length of 2500 m between the hills of Mavrijan (398m above sea level), Bijela Gora (327m above sea level) and Mendra (162m above sea level). Valdanos is connected to Ulcinj by a 4 km asphalt road and by 2 km of the Bar-Ulcinj highway.The Valdanos Bay beach stretches in the north-east direction, it is 324m long and 11m wide, and it encompasses an area of 3564 m2.
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Unlike other bays, Valdanos is sheltered from southern and northern winds, that is, because of squall weather it served as ships’ shelter (harbor). In the bottom of the bay, was located a quarantine. In order to protect residents of Ulcinj from diseases, by which crew might had been infected during navigation, ships had previously to stand a certain time in quarantine when approaching. It is recorded that in 1833 an ‘infected’ ship, which sailed from Alexandria to Valdanos, had remained in quarantine for 40 days ordered by port authorities of Ulcinj.

Once it was main port of Ulcinj pirates and an area of many sea battles. Well-informed people claim that the bay hides remains of sank ships of antiquity and middle ages. Located between two hills, Mavrijan and Mendre, Valdanos is a real nature reserve of olives.
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Valdanos can be reached by land or by sea. Both ways are interesting and beautiful, and no matter which one is chosen, the beauty of the nature wouldn’t otherwise be experienced. The best choice, in order to fully experience the adventure, is to come by land and by sea in return. There is also built an open military resort. Valdanos valley is covered with the oldest planted trees, olive trees, to which a diligent life of Ulcinj residents was attached and tied up together. Ulcinj’s olive grove with 80000 trees, after that of Bar, is the second one on the Adriatic coast. It is unique because the greatest part of it, almost 75% is located in one complex. An olive tree is 300 years old on the average, some of them dating from the time of Ancient Greece (5th century BC). Famous Ulcinj oil was a trading commodity on equal terms with gold. Olive oil from the area of Ulcinj arrived by trading channels to Venice, Rome, Cairo, Skadar, Skopje, Duklja, Prizren, …
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During harvest time, when gathering olives, olive groves reverberated with the sound of voice, where various friendships and loves were struck up, as an opportunity to see the next bride. According to tradition, a guy could not get married, until he had planted at least one olive tree.

Valdanos bay is five kilometer long from seastrand to the city. There is a paved road along the bay edge, an end of which connects with a highway Ulcinj-Bar, and another end that connects with city roads. In the southeastern corner of the bay is a small pier for boats and yachts. There are also traces of urbanization, but there were no archeological research until now.
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Green world of the bay make olive groves, woods of holm oak and other evergreen and deciduous trees. There is a cave, ‘Vezirova Brada’, on the slope of the hill Mendre, where the earliest attempt of artistic expression is located, unique prehistoric monument on Ulcinj seacoast. In front of the entrance of Valdanos Bay, at the foot of the limestone hill Mavrijan is located a cave ‘Vucja jama’, which was created under the influence of wave action, above which rises a vertical rock ‘Vilina greda’, while along the bay are two springs: ‘Borova cesma’ and ‘Vilino vrelo’ (Kroni i zanave).

Its protective gardens suddenly droop and sink deep into the sea. There is also a very beautifully arranged pebbly beach, covered with large pebbles. In the background, the beach is covered with dense undergrowth and pine trees. Those tourists who are looking for relaxed and calm holidays, and because of that decide to spend part of their vacation in the bay of Valdanos will not certainly fail, for in addition to swimming, sunbathing, resting under the shade of ancient olive trees, they can easily come to an opportunity for camping, tours of the surrounding gardens, exploring the entire cove like real archaeologists, hikers, botanists… Besides enjoying the ideal shade of olive trees, you can explore underwater, looking for shipwrecks or admiring the diverse marine world.

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