Sveti Stefan began as a fortified fishing settlement in the fifteenth century, and its clustered stone buildings gradually formed one of the most distinctive village silhouettes on the entire Montenegrin coastline. Through the twentieth century the island was transformed into a resort, drawing visitors from across Europe who came for its seclusion and its striking natural setting. Today it remains one of Montenegro's most recognized landmarks, a place where medieval architecture and extraordinary seascape exist in unusually close conversation.

Late spring offers the scene at its most vivid, when the hillside flowers are in full bloom and the sea holds that deepest, most saturated shade of blue before the summer haze arrives.