Ulcinj · With kids

The town beach directly under the old town walls: a small sandy bay with shallow water, loungers and pedalos in season, and food and shade a few steps behind it. It is the easy option if you are staying in town without a car.

Kite centre on Velika Plaza that runs children's classes alongside its adult courses, with VDWS- and IKO-certified instructors teaching daily from 11am to sunset between May and mid-September. If the wind does not come you are not charged for the lost lesson.

Fine dark sand and water that stays shallow a long way out, with beach bars, canopies and reed umbrellas concentrated at the northern end. The sand gets genuinely hot underfoot by midday, so the umbrella rows are worth the money rather than an upsell.

The river island is a nature reserve with restaurants and a designated naturist beach; the stilt restaurants and the kite side are separate from it, but families sometimes arrive not expecting the naturist stretch. Ten kilometres south of the beach strip and effectively car-only.

The water is warm from June onward and stays warm into September, but the whole region holidays here in late July and August, which is when queues, prices and beach crowding peak. Either shoulder gives you the same sea with far less of everything else.