Kotor sits at the innermost fold of the Bay of Kotor, a drowned river canyon where the Adriatic pushes deep between mountains that rise almost straight from the water. The town itself is a compact triangle of stone: a medieval Old Town sealed inside Venetian walls, with a fortress line climbing 280 metres up the cliff behind it. UNESCO listed the whole bay region in 1979, the same year an earthquake shook the town badly, and its restoration since has kept it looking much as it did when Venice ruled here from 1420 to 1797.
It is a place that rewards slowing down. The lanes are too narrow for cars and too tangled for a map to be much use, so the best way in is to let a self-guided audio guide take you square by square, gate by gate, with the story of each landmark told where you stand. Most of what matters lies within a few minutes' walk; the rest, from the fortress above to the islands and mountain villages beyond, is a short climb or a short drive away.
Through the Sea Gate into the Old Town
Everything starts at the Sea Gate, the main entrance cut in 1555 and still stamped with the Venetian lion. Step through and you are on the Trg od Oružja, the Square of Arms, where the town's old Clock Tower has stood since the seventeenth century, its base slightly tilted by the 1979 quake. From here the Old Town unfolds as a maze of palaces, chapels and tiny squares, and the audio guide for each one explains who built it and why the Buća, Pima and Drago families competed so hard for the finest facades.
The Cathedral and the churches of Kotor
The Cathedral of Saint Tryphon was consecrated in 1166, which makes it older than many of Europe's grander cathedrals, and its twin bell towers are the Old Town's landmark. Kotor's other churches are smaller but tell the town's mixed story: the Romanesque Saint Luke's Church, which served both Catholic and Orthodox congregations for centuries, sits on the same square as the Orthodox Saint Nicholas' Church with its black domes. Each has its own audio guide, so you can hear the story of the relics, the icons and the town's two faiths in a few minutes on the doorstep.
Walls, gates and the climb to San Giovanni
The Kotor Town Walls run 4.5 kilometres around and above the town, up to 20 metres high, and the climb along them to the San Giovanni fortress is the single best thing to do here. A serpentine path of roughly 1,350 steps passes the small Church of Our Lady of Remedy, built in 1518, before reaching the ramparts and a view over the whole bay. Below, the River Gate of 1540 and the older Gurdić Gate guard the northern and southern approaches, and the audio guide on the walls tells how this Venetian system kept the Ottomans out for four centuries.
Museums, markets and the cats of Kotor
The Kotor Maritime Museum, housed in the Grgurina Palace, traces the seafaring tradition that made this small town one of the Adriatic's most important ports. The Kotor Cats Museum honours the town's real mascots: cats are everywhere on the stone steps, and locals have kept them as a symbol of the town. Just outside the walls, the Kotor Food Market by the harbour sells smoked ham, cheese and figs from the surrounding villages.
Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks
A short drive along the bay brings you to Perast, a one-street baroque town whose palaces belong to the sea captains who once sailed for Venice. From its waterfront, boats cross to Our Lady of the Rocks, an artificial islet that local sailors began building in 1452 by dropping stones around a rock where an icon was found. Every 22 July the fašinada custom continues the tradition, and the church on the island holds sixty-eight paintings by Tripo Kokolja and a votive tapestry that took a Perast woman twenty-five years to embroider, some of it with her own hair. The audio guide tells that story as your boat approaches the island, with its neighbour, the cypress-covered islet of Saint George, alongside.
Up the Serpentine to Lovćen and Njeguši
The Kotor Serpentine, an old Austro-Hungarian road, twists up the mountainside behind the town through a long series of hairpin bends, each one opening a wider view over the bay. At the top sits Njeguši, the village where Montenegro's royal Petrović dynasty was born and where the country's best prosciutto is cured. Beyond it, Lovćen National Park rises to the Petar II Petrović-Njegoš Mausoleum on the summit of Jezerski vrh at 1,657 metres, the resting place of Montenegro's poet-prince, built in 1971 on the spot he chose himself. On a clear day you can see half of Montenegro from the terrace, and the audio guide for the mausoleum explains why this one man still matters so much to the country.
Getting around
Kotor is small enough to cross on foot in ten minutes, and the Old Town is car-free. The fortress climb takes an hour or two and needs water and decent shoes. Perast is fifteen minutes by bus or taxi, with boats to the islands leaving from its quay. For Lovćen and Njeguši, a rental car or a tour is the practical option; the Serpentine is narrow and the views are best driven slowly.