Kotor & the Bay: the back story

About Kotor & the Bay: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Podgorica Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

About an hour and a half from Podgorica by road, the Bay of Kotor winds deep into the mountains, and at its innermost corner stands Kotor, a maze of stone lanes, churches and palaces inside walls that climb the cliff behind it.

A town of sailors

Kotor grew rich on the sea. For centuries, much of it under Venice, its captains and merchants built palaces and churches, and the Bay of Kotor produced generations of sailors. In 1979 the town and the bay were inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

St Tryphon

The Romanesque Cathedral of St Tryphon, consecrated in 1166, is the heart of the old town, with two bell towers and a treasury. Around it, little squares open one after another, each with its church, café and cats: Kotor is famous for them.

Kotor’s walls climb straight up the mountain behind the town, and the view from the top is one of the finest in the Adriatic.

The walls

Kotor’s fortifications climb the mountain behind the town to the fortress of San Giovanni. The climb, by roughly 1,350 steps past the Church of Our Lady of Remedy, takes about an hour and rewards you with the whole bay at your feet.

Perast

Twenty minutes along the bay, the small baroque town of Perast faces two islets: St George, with its monastery, and Our Lady of the Rocks, an island built by hand, stone by stone, according to legend, by local sailors. Boats take you across.

Our advice: go early or late in the day. In summer, cruise ships can fill the old town at midday. Climb the walls in the cool of the morning with water, take a boat from Perast to Our Lady of the Rocks, and stay for dinner when the day visitors have gone.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Kotor & the Bay: the back story before you go.