Iberostar Waves Herceg Novi

Lovely hotel very clean friendly staff, great entertainment staff and lovely lady who books your taxi boat and trips and lovely food cannot wait to go back.

Stunning views, friendly staff and clean, comfortable rooms. Delicious food with great choices for vegetarians. Fabulous animation team who made our stay so memorable. Special shout out to Esfir, Adam, Omar, Mickey and Mira. You were all fantastic! The all inclusive coffee shop was also a highlight. Overall a very enjoyable stay and we'll be back!

Currently here as I write this - visiting October 2026. THE VIEW IS THE SELLING POINT! The view is definitely the best thing about this hotel - surrounded by mountains 360 degrees and gorgeous seas, and so pretty at night After arriving (bare in mind crossing the border was a nightmare - as we flew into Dubrovnik which was advertised as a 45 minute transfer and took over 3 hours) the staff were helpful despite a big queue, however, we arrived to a terrible smell in our room which we had to call reception for - the smell kept returning every few hours until on day 2 of our stay housekeeping put a cloth over the drain and we were given no other explanation! It put us off using the shower, as it was very eggy! Please be warned this hotel is not access-friendly! Luckily, we were staying in the block nearest the pool so didn’t have far to walk, however, the accommodations further back are up a VERY steep hill - and to access the buffet and beach, there are many steep steps which you can easily trip over, especially as it gets dark by around 5pm. Although the views are incredible and the mornings are warm, with many on the beach and around the pool area, the sun goes behind the mountains around 2pm which blocks all sunlight (and warmth) coming onto the resort - this makes it extremely cold by around 4pm. Sadly, all the resorts selling points are outside (pool bar, beach bar etc) - we were struggling to find an indoor space to shelter from the cold other than the buffet restauant which was only open at selected times. The location is gorgeous but there isn’t much to do around the area at all - totally understand we are visiting out of season, but we did struggle in the evenings because the freezing wind made it totally unbareable to sit outside and enjoy the limited entertainment. In terms of the food, it was ok. The buffet was very repetitive and as a vegetarian there were very limited options available (which I completely expected), but what limited options I had were very dry and lacking any taste. Thank god for bread rolls and cheese haha! We loved the burger van located at the pool bar and this really made a difference to our stay! Roof bar not open, which we didn’t realise, beach bar also open at limited times. Overall - you may have a much better experience in peak season (June/July/Aug) but unfortunately I don’t think location is October friendly, which is 0 fault of the hotels, but its a shame there wasn’t more available as its currently half term. Last point we are animal lovers, but having the hotel dogs begging for food, and using the day beds as their beds was a bit much, if you’re not an animal person just be aware! Anyway the incredible views and trip to the Old Town made our trip, Bye Montenegro :)

Just back after a lovely week in Montenegro with my partner, we stayed at the Iberostar Waves Herceg Novi after recommendation by my parents who had previously stayed last year. The hotel itself, face value, is lovely. It’s giving retro 70s ski resort vibe but in a cool way. Before we arrived I had emailed the hotel team about it being my birthday whilst we would be staying and got a reply to tell me that they would accommodate and upgrade my stay depending on availability. Unfortunately there wasn’t any upgrade or bonus etc but of course that is not a problem. We arrived just after 2pm and check in was a little slow but fine once we got spoken to. A bellboy came and took our luggage and we were staying in the Kometa block on the 4th floor. The location of this block and room was easy for accessing the reception and also the pool area, but it is important to mention that this hotel is over various levels, the restaurant is lower than the pool bar / pool area, and that is lower than reception which is at the top (pic of map attached to review). The beach is the “lowest” level and there is a lot of walking and steps in the hotel grounds so I would be careful if you were someone with mobility issues or had a mobility aid or wheelchair etc. but our block did have a (small) elevator to get to the top floor. Due to the season (October 2026) the rooftop bar was not open and the snack bar / drinks bar at the beach was barely open either. It was slightly disappointing because our only options for drinks was the pool bar which wasn’t great when we had three days of rain (but obvs that is not the hotel’s fault). The views are stunning over the Herceg Novi area and it was great that the hotel provides a boat ride between it and the main old town (run by a company named Petar, who also offered tours in and around the bays via Kotor etc, we did that and it was 90€ for the two of us). The return boat trip to the town and back is 15€ per person or 10€ one way per person. The entertainment the hotel offered was interesting, there was a fire show and then some live music. But there is also plenty of things on during the day like bingo, music quizzes, sports activities and even a casino night on the pool terrace. The food in the only main restaurant was okay, it offered breakfast, lunch and dinner, and each night there was a different themed section of cuisine at the front of the buffet for dinner. Including Mexican, Montenegrin, Seafood etc… However it did get a bit repetitive because there was only that restaurant. There is the Star Cafe which had pastries, coffees etc and the pool snack van which only offered burgers, chips, nuggets, and waffles and ice cream. The burgers were not that great; they didn’t taste very much like a burger. One thing I liked about the hotel was the Iberostar app which was really handy for finding out info about what was happening during the day, checking on the menus for the bar and restaurants, and also for guest relations via reception. There is also a big interactive touch screen by the poolside for finding out event info as well. One criticism about the hotel is that it had a few stray (?) dogs and cats lurking about. The cats were fine but the dogs would be in the pool area by the sun loungers, they’d be play fighting but also begging for food. They looked well looked after and clean etc but I don’t think it was very good to have them near people eating and relaxing, and this is coming from a dog person. I feel like the hotel is in a good area as it is basically right beside the border you need to cross from Croatia (if you, like me, flew in via Dubrovnik). However it is a bit of a trek from Kotor etc. I feel like this hotel would be best enjoyed during the peak summer season where everything is open, the pool and sea are warmer (as it was limb-numbingly cold) and you had access to the rooftop bar, and avoided the rain (as there was lack of cover around the pool bar and was very slippy). I would come back to this hotel if it was perhaps in May—August, but it is too unpredictable in October, but that’s the season I suppose. I wish there was another restaurant option or at least another sit down place you could have three meals a day if you wanted. Anyway, my partner and I enjoyed our stay and I particularly loved the Lady in Red cocktail and will definitely be trying to recreate that at home!

MOST IMPORTANT: THIS HOTEL IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR THOSE WITH MOBILITY ISSUES. We didn't find this mentioned much in many of the reviews we read before going, so whilst we expected some walking, steps, slopes etc. we really did not expect the number of steps and hills we had to climb. The various buildings of the hotel (it's not all joined together) were all on different levels and involved steps and steep slopes constantly. Sadly we had some days of very heavy rainfall during our stay, which rendered the steps incredibly slippery and one of our party slipped, fell and was injured due to this - so this is your tip to be very careful. So, now that is clear let's review the hotel. Reception: the receptionist we found was abrupt and quite cold, not welcoming and didn't engage well in conversation. We appreciate that there is a language barrier but nonetheless a smile would have conveyed much warmth, which was sadly not forthcoming. We were handed a paper map (one per room not per person) and pretty much left to work it all out for ourselves. We had been there two days before discovering a coffee shop! There was also a shop nearby apparently but when I enquired where it was I was told "it's not open now". No further information was given. Entertainment: There is a fairly large entertainment team, however we only saw two of the team members to speak to during our 5 day stay - the rest we saw eating as a group in the dining room. Overall they seemed more concerned with entertaining children than adults. However, there was a screen by the pool which, when it wasn't raining would show a weekly and daily activity programme, which was pretty comprehensive, but hard to memorise and impossible to take a picture of. It would have been useful to have this printed on the same sheet as the map, so we had a point of reference and then an indication of where these things were taking place would have been really helpful. Bedrooms: These were small but fairly well-equipped and generally very clean. Bathrooms were very small and the bath was again not suitable for anyone who might struggle as it was difficult to get in and out of. Housekeeping seemed reasonably efficient most, but not all of the time. They seemed to be keen to get into rooms and clean very early in the day. We had dirty coffee cups left in our room and not replaced, we had a tv that did not work during the whole of our stay and neither did our room phone, so in an emergency we were fairly stumped! In fairness to the hotel, we were offered an alternative top floor room, but this meant a balcony with no roof covering, which would have been horrible during the heavy rain we had - so we had to put up with the lack of working items in our room - very frustrating and not at all what we had paid for or expected. The pillows were old and hard, as were the beds - in fact, the most uncomfortable hotel beds we have every slept in - if 'slept' can be used for nights spent tossing and turning and striving for even a moment of comfort. The bedrooms were also very noisy - footsteps above, or in the corridor outside were a constant disturbance, several instances of sexual activity taking place in neighbouring rooms had to be endured and gave us that slightly 'icky' feeling and many occasions where people having conversations in rooms or outside the building made finding peace quite difficult - almost impossible. Despite all of the negatives, there were some positives.... - the staff were all very friendly (with the exception of the reception staff) - the spa was amazing - the ladies there were lovely, very thorough and definitely very skilled - this is well worth a visit if you are staying at the hotel - the entertainment staff we did speak to were very friendly and cheerful - the hotel is very clean and the pool area is very pleasant - the food in the restaurant is pretty good and the pancakes from the snack van are great too Overall feeling: our stay was average at best. We are grateful that the hotel was very clean and generally well-staffed, but it wasn't comfortable so it wasn't a great stay. Would we recommend or go back: sadly no.