Coast guide · about 2.5 hours from Podgorica
The town of steps at the mouth of the bay: the Clock Tower, Kanli kula and Forte Mare, Ivo Andrić’s house, the Bulgakov museum, Savina and Mount Orjen.
Montenegro feature
Between two fortresses, a sunny old town climbs from the sea at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor.
Climb from the Clock Tower to Kanli kula, walk down to Forte Mare and finish with lunch by the sea.
Read the full back story below, then plan your trip.
The back story
A town of steps and gardens at the mouth of the Bay of Kotor, guarded by Ottoman and Venetian fortresses and loved by writers and painters.
Built in 1667
The 16-metre Ottoman clock tower of 1667 that forms the gateway to the old town.
Built in 1539
A monumental fortress built by the Ottomans in 1539 at the top of the old town; its name means “bloody tower”.
Guardian of the harbour
The sea fortress on the waterfront that guarded the town’s approach from the sea for centuries.
Nobel laureate
The house of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Ivo Andrić, between the regional museum and Njegoš’s classroom at Topla.
40 steps from the sea
The town museum, the bequest of Mirko and Olga Komnenović, in a fine house near the sea at Topla.
A first in Montenegro
The first museum in Montenegro dedicated to a foreign writer: the Russian author of The Master and Margarita.
Mountains behind the coast
The limestone massif behind Herceg Novi, a nature park on the borders with Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
An estate with a story
A family winery on the Savina estate near the monastery, whose history the family traced through a Venetian land register of 1753.
In the old town
Mediterranean and European cooking in the heart of the old town, with views over Belavista square.
Perla Group
The Perla Group’s hotel in Herceg Novi, sister of Perla Residence in Podgorica and Hotel Kredo at Marina Meljine.
Road or bus
Herceg Novi is about two and a half hours from Podgorica by road, via Budva and Tivat and the Kamenari–Lepetane ferry, or round the bay via Kotor and Risan.
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