Paragliding Over Budva and Bečići

Where they launch

Brajići is the main one — a launch on the Budva–Cetinje road with the whole bay of Budva, Sveti Stefan and the islands below. The flight is fifteen to twenty-five minutes depending on lift.

The window

The reliable air is morning, roughly nine to twelve, before the sea breeze strengthens. A second window sometimes opens in the late afternoon as the thermals settle.

Midday in summer is usually too strong and too turbulent. Operators who offer you a two o'clock slot in July either know something specific about that day or are selling optimism.

What it costs

The limits nobody publishes

• Weight: usually about 35 kg minimum and 95 – 110 kg maximum, depending on the wing. Ask when booking.
• Age: typically 12 and up, with a parent's consent. Some operators say 16.
• Mobility: you have to run a few steps at launch. Pilots manage this with people who cannot, but tell them in advance.
• Recent surgery, heart conditions, pregnancy: declare them. The landing can be firm.

Choosing an operator

Ask for the pilot's licence and the number of tandem hours. Montenegro has good pilots and it also has people flying without proper certification, particularly at the cheaper end in August.

Also check your travel insurance. Paragliding is excluded from most standard policies as a hazardous activity, and people find that out at the claim rather than the booking.

What it is like

You are strapped in front of the pilot, run four or five steps down a slope, and the ground drops away. There is no falling sensation — the wing is already flying by the time your feet leave. Then twenty minutes of quiet with the entire coast underneath, and a landing on the beach that is usually a walk-out rather than a thump.

It is the single best view of this coastline and it costs about the same as two sunbeds and lunch.