Eighty years ago, on July 16, 1939, the Avala Hotel in Budva was ceremoniously opened. For the small prewar Budva, this was a grand event. Local media note that the main guests at the opening were people from Belgrade.
At the same time, electric lighting appeared in the Old Town, which was one of the conditions for building the hotel. As were the construction of a water supply system, a public toilet, and an access road to the hotel.
“The old Avala was built of stone from the island of Brač. The hall was seven meters high. The evening lasted from seven to nine, when waiters served the guests. Live music was playing. After nine, it moved to the large terrace, which was separated from the hall by a glass partition. The official evening ended at 11 p.m. Those who enjoyed nightlife continued socializing in the bar,” recalls former hotel employee Ljubo Marković, citing stories from older colleagues.
The founder of Avala was Radomir Stojić. He came to Budva in 1933. The site of the hotel was a large vacant lot — the land belonged to wealthy local residents. Stojić managed to negotiate the purchase of the plot. After the deal, he began work. Construction lasted about two years.
To attract tourists, Stojić, a pharmacist by profession, organized the “Budva Friendship Association” in Belgrade, Prague, and Paris. During World War II, German troops entering the city wanted to blow up the hotel. However, the Rajković brothers, co-owners of Avala, managed to save the building. They managed to remove the planted explosives.
For some time, the hotel served as a hospital for Yugoslav partisans. Soon afterward, already during the era of Socialist Yugoslavia, the hotel was nationalized.
“Seventeen years after the war, Stojić came to Budva. No one recognized him. Later, Radomir said that he did not want to take anything from Avala for himself. He hoped that the hotel would open its doors to tourism in Budva,” notes Ljubo Marković, who worked at the hotel for 30 years.
The dreams of Avala’s founder have largely come true. Today, there are dozens of hotels in Budva and nearby Bečići. Every year, they welcome hundreds of thousands of tourists from different countries around the world.A still from the film “Better to Know,” 1960.