Kotor, Montenegro
Climb 1,350 steps up the wall and the whole bay opens underneath you.
Why go
The Bay of Kotor looks like a Norwegian fjord that drifted into the Mediterranean, mountains dropping straight into deep still water, and at the far end of it a walled town that has not changed shape since Venice ran it. Inside the walls it is all stone lanes, small squares, cats asleep everywhere. The climb everyone comes for is the fortress: 1,350 steps up the mountain behind the town, best done at seven in the morning before the heat and the cruise ships. Take the boat to Our Lady of the Rocks, an island the locals built themselves by dropping stones for centuries, and drive round to Perast for lunch on the water. Prices here are still half what you pay in Croatia.
Good to know
- Fly into Tivat (TIV), twenty minutes away, or Dubrovnik and drive two hours
- Four nights, with a day trip to Perast and Budva
- Stay inside the old town, or in Dobrota for quiet and a view
- July and August bring cruise crowds and heat, June and September are better
Best May, June and September.
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