Nammos to Open New Resort in Montenegro

Nammos Hotels & Resorts has confirmed its first move into the Adriatic, partnering with Smokva Bay to build a fully integrated luxury destination on Montenegro’s Budva Riviera, just ten minutes from the island of Sveti Stefan.

The agreement was signed at a pop-up event hosted at Sveti Stefan, where Carolyn Turnbull, CEO of Nammos Hotels & Resorts, and Fredrik Jonsson, CEO of Smokva Bay, put pen to paper in front of partners and guests. Petros Stathis, Chairman of Nammos, and Vadim Verhovski, Chairman of Smokva Bay, stood alongside them for the signing, which doubled as a first showcase of the Mediterranean sensibility the new resort intends to bring to the Montenegrin coast.

For a brand that began life as a modest fish taverna on Psarou beach in 2003 and only opened its first hotel, in Mykonos, in 2024, the Montenegro project marks a rapid acceleration. Nammos Resort Montenegro is scheduled to open in 2029 and will comprise 117 keys across 47 hotel suites, 61 branded residences and nine branded villas, positioned at Smokva Bay on a stretch of coastline framed by mountains on one side and open Adriatic on the other.

Stathis, who has invested in Montenegro for a number of years, described the deal as a natural extension of a belief he has long held in the country. “Our partnership with Smokva Bay represents an exciting new chapter in the evolution of Nammos Hotels & Resorts,” he said, noting his conviction that Montenegro remains one of the Mediterranean’s most compelling luxury destinations still to be fully realised.

Design will draw on Cycladic architectural language, translated for a different coastline. Expect sculpted, whitewashed forms, natural materials and an emphasis on the connection between built and outdoor space, alongside the residences’ focus on natural light and sea views. It is a formula that has served Nammos well in Mykonos, where the brand’s blue-and-white aesthetic and barefoot-luxury positioning became shorthand for a certain kind of European summer.

The dining and social programming will follow a similar template. Alongside a beachfront Nammos Restaurant, the resort will house Nalu, an all-day Mediterranean dining concept, Ilios Lounge for cocktails, and a rooftop pool bar looking out over the Adriatic sunset. At the centre of the site, Nammos Village will function as a gathering point for art, retail and wellness, while the broader development will include hiking and mountain biking trails, a spa, fitness facilities, swimming pools and private dining venues.

Jonsson framed the partnership as an opportunity to build something genuinely integrated rather than another hotel drop-in. “Smokva Bay is a rare opportunity to shape a truly integrated luxury lifestyle destination on the Adriatic, with Nammos bringing a powerful global brand layer and a proven ability to create exceptional lifestyle experiences across the hotel, branded residences, high-energy dining and curated retail, creating enduring value and setting a new benchmark for the region,” he said.

The choice of location is a deliberate one. Sveti Stefan, the fortified island village turned resort just down the coast, has carried Montenegro’s tourism identity since the 1960s, when the Yugoslav government converted it into a hotel town that drew Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe and a steady stream of European royalty through the following decades. It fell into disrepair during the Yugoslav wars before being restored under Aman Resorts. Nammos’s arrival nearby signals a bet that the Budva Riviera’s next chapter belongs to a newer generation of luxury brands rather than the legacy hotel names that built the region’s reputation.

In the meantime, the brand isn’t waiting until 2029 to introduce itself. A Nammos Restaurant pop-up is running at Sveti Stefan through the rest of this season, offering al fresco dining with views across to the island, effectively previewing the atmosphere the full resort will aim to deliver.

Behind the build, the masterplan is being delivered by Mereha Developments, a UAE-based firm whose leadership has worked on Atlantis The Royal in Dubai and the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland, giving the project credentials on the construction side to match the brand ambition on the hospitality side.

For those travellers who already know Nammos through its Mykonos beach club or its more recent hotel opening, the Montenegro announcement extends the brand’s footprint well beyond the Aegean, adding an Adriatic outpost to a portfolio that also includes Nammos venues in Dubai, Limassol and Cannes. It is a reminder of how far the Psarou beach taverna has travelled in just over two decades, and of how much further its owners intend to take it.

Read also Eight of the World’s Best Bars Battle It Out at Zuma Mykonos

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