The newly opened Regent Hotel may seal nautical nirvana Porto Montenegro’s reputation as the go-to playground for the world’s jet-setting glitterati.
Article by Nick Scott
“The Monaco of the southern Adriatic” is what Canadian gold magnate Peter Munk has predicted the luxury, mega-yacht-lined marina utopia Porto Montenegro will one day be known as. He’s probably biased – he bankrolled the whole development – but bookies must have slashed the odds on his prophesy coming true when it emerged that the first hotel to open its doors there would be the latest from swanky globe-spanning resort chain Regent Hotels & Resorts.
Unlike most of Europe’s most lavish hotels, this one’s a new build, and Reardon Smith – the architects behind recent restorations and rebuilds at London’s Savoy, Grosvenor and Four Seasons hotels – have excelled themselves in making the pale yellow, terracotta-roofed building so sympathetic to the surrounding ornate Italian palaces that bear testimony to Boka Bay’s 400 years under Venetian rule.
There are 51 rooms and 35 one- to three-bedroom residences with kitchens on offer. Some overlook the aquatic oligarch’s playground to the front - a setting now so adrip with the spoils of oil and mineral extraction, it’s barely fathomable that it was once a navy port and dry dock for Yugoslav and Soviet warships - while those more into pastoral aesthetics than people watching will opt for the back rooms which take in a mountainscape that’s reminiscent of the Amalfi coast. It’s a tricky dilemma in a building nestling on a stretch of coastline Lord Byron described as “the most beautiful encounter of land and sea”.
The hotel’s interiors are as understated as you’d expect: think tactile colours, hardwood floors, artfully scattered geology and an over-riding nautical theme that’s laid on just thick enough not to furrow the brow of the cliché-phobic. The dining options are plentiful and varied – the Dining Room restaurant blends Mediterranean and Adriatic specialties with Fusion-Asian dishes; The Gourmet Corner, replete as it is with pastries, cakes and chocolate truffles, is where one goes to mainline butter; the Italian Garden is open as a dining spot for VIP events; deep-pocketed paramours can even arrange a dining experience on a nearby private island which looks back towards the marina and bay. And that’s before you saunter onto the marina and take in the plethora of eating options there.
There’s also a library bar which will really come into its own in winter, a private pool club, a nightclub and a four-treatment-room spa area with a sauna, steam room, hammam, vitality pool, juice bar and “relaxation room” – arguably a redundant concept in a milieu which, over a couple of days, sends the blood pressure down to a point just above clinical death. The property’s crowning glory, though, is the Regent Residence – 402 square meters of opulent indoor space and half that size again on the outdoor terrace space, the focal point of which is a Jacuzzi with panoramic views of the Bay of Kotor. At the risk of sounding a tad prurient, coming here alone would be devastating.
At the end of the day, of course, the $245 million Porto Montenegro development is weapons-grade mammon – and the Regent is exactly the place to indulge in the whole glorious decadence of the place. It’ll draw not only the über-wealthy, but those of slightly more modest means who feel a frisson of titillation when they hear place names such as St Tropez, Porto Cervo and, of course, the French Riviera microstate on which Munk has his sights
The gradual restoration of Montenegro’s clout as a modern-day jet-setters’ destination began when it gained independence from Serbia in 2006. Eight years on, it now has a perfect focal point in the form of this five-storied hive of terraces, walkways and gardens 