Mamula

Mamula is a small circular island, 200 metres across, standing in open water at the mouth of the Bay of Kotor between the tips of the Luštica and Prevlaka peninsulas. Austrian general Lazar Mamula ordered the fortress built in 1853 as part of the empire's coastal defence line against naval incursions; its three-storey circular design wraps the entire shoreline of the island in basalt and limestone walls, with 25 gun embrasures facing out across the entrance channel. During World War II it served as a Fascist internment camp for Yugoslav partisans and civilians — a history marked by a small memorial plaque. The fort stood abandoned for 70 years until the Orascom consortium opened the Mamula Island Hotel in 2023: a 32-suite five-star property with a subterranean spa, three restaurants and two sea-level pools built into the former barracks, kept architecturally intact inside the casemates. Day visits are available on guided tours (reservation only, July to October); otherwise the island is reachable only by private transfer from Herceg Novi marina, 25 minutes across open water.