Utjeha and parts of the Bar Riviera were left without electricity for up to 28 hours straight - at the very peak of the season. The worst hit was Paljuskovo and the surrounding area. The result is what every host least wants to see: guests packing their suitcases mid-holiday and leaving.

Private accommodation hosts absorb all the anger, even though they have nothing to do with the grid. "There's no internet, phones don't charge, the water pumps don't work so people can't shower. The air conditioning doesn't run in this heat, food spoils in the fridge - and the guests blame us for all of it," said a host from Paljuskovo.

It isn't only the power

Beyond the grid failures, residents and tourists report sewage being discharged into the sea between Njivice and Ulcinj, uncontrolled dumping of waste water from cruise ships close to the shore, and traffic jams lasting hours because bypass roads don't exist. One commenter calculated that the average speed between Sutomore and the other coastal towns is 17 kilometres an hour. Seventeen. In a car, on asphalt, in 2026.

All of this is happening in a country whose economy leans literally on two months of the year. This year, like last year, what is being sold is beds - not infrastructure. The grid, the sewers and the roads are the same as fifteen years ago, only the number of people on them has doubled.

A familiar story on this side of the border too

Macedonians know Montenegro as their second address for the sea - for many families it is the nearest salt water you can reach by car. Anyone who has been to Utjeha or Sutomore knows these aren't luxury destinations, they are places you go because they are affordable. And that is exactly where the system gives way first.

Hosts and tourism workers are demanding an urgent response and investment in basic infrastructure, warning that pictures of disappointed tourists could take the rest of the season with them. The question is who will hear that now, rather than in October when the receipts are counted and the towns are empty for another ten months.