Everyday life in Tivat

Meeting up on Tivat's waterfront needn't mean staying at a cafe table. Friends, neighbours, couples and families with children also come to walk together. For visitors, the waterfront is a place for everyday socialising: you can meet friends for coffee, then carry on talking as you walk.

Pine is one such meeting place. People walk and talk alongside the cafes, and the promenade continues towards Porto Montenegro.

You can use Tivat's supermarkets for groceries and everyday household essentials. This is useful even during a short stay in an apartment, when you need everyday items as well as food. Clothes and shoes are available in town shops and marina retail outlets, so shopping in the city also covers personal needs alongside tourist souvenirs.

The market adds to these options, with a selection that can depend on the day's deliveries. At the fish market on Trg magnolija in August, small fish were in greatest demand, while other species arrived on some days. If you want to choose at the stall, what is available that day matters more than a list of species drawn up in advance. Regular shopping on Sundays is subject to a separate restriction, explained after the city sections.

Tivat's waterfront is a place to meet and walk together. Arriving by car in summer can be quite different from the walk you had planned in the centre: during the summer season, heavier traffic built up at the entrance to the city at certain times, especially at weekends and in the evening. Returning from a day trip could then mean waiting in traffic before joining your friends on the waterfront.

Alongside public places to walk, parts of the waterfront are also used by residents for their boats. Kalimanj is the town harbour, used mainly by local owners of smaller boats. As you walk past, you are also seeing a place where local boats are moored, rather than simply a marina for visitors. For transport routes and other ways to get around, see our practical guide to Tivat.

Walking together on Tivat's waterfront combines exercise with socialising. Couples and families walk together, so you can join in this kind of recreation even on a short visit by heading to the waterfront with your own friends or family. Bocce also brings people together around the game: families and friends join the players, and the gathering can continue after the sporting programme.

The opening of the Bucarska olimpijada in Gradiosnica in July brought together players and many visitors, with music and socialising afterwards. Attending this kind of gathering can mean watching the game with friends without competing yourself. This summer event has its own programme, though, so check the date and whether you can attend the next edition.

Friends also influence where people choose to go for an evening out from Tivat. Some people who regularly spend time in the city go to neighbouring towns to meet their friends.

People also gather in the city for public music events. Residents and visitors were on the waterfront for the concert that opened the tourist season in June. An outing like this lets visitors share an evening with a local audience, rather than choosing only from bars.

Purgatorije offers the theatre side of going out. The festival uses an open-air stage and the main hall at Centar za kulturu Tivat, where a performance took place before an audience in August. Events in the hall continue beyond that summer programme: the October programme announces plays and film screenings. Choose an evening using the current programme at Centar za kulturu Tivat, rather than treating the summer festival as the offering for every visit.

Some work in Tivat takes place before visitors set out to explore. Staff who maintain public areas also have very early duties, while summer brings more work and working in the heat. Watering before dawn and cleaning are part of the working day of people you may meet on an ordinary walk.

Komunalno Tivat staff also have brief encounters with people while cleaning: some greet them and stop to talk, while others walk past without saying hello.

Working remotely for a temporary stay in Tivat can also involve contact with local entrepreneurs. A shared workspace brings together local users, people from abroad who work there regularly and new visitors. They exchange knowledge and skills alongside their work, so during your stay you may meet people who share your professional interests.

Biznis info centar Tivat, in the former municipal building, had regular users from England and India in September, alongside visitors from other countries. The space can be used for a short working visit or a longer stay. It offers a chance to work outside your apartment and meet other users, while getting to know the entrepreneurs there depends on who is working at the time.