Six Day Trips from Kotor, Walked in One Month

I had a month in Kotor in late August, a toddler who naps at one, and a bay that changes character every time the road squeezes between the wall and the water. Six trips earned their place below, and the rule was mine: leave by eight, be back before the nap, and be able to turn around within an hour if the weather flips.

Each pick carries the walking distance or ascent I actually measured, the cost in August, and the single detail that decides whether the day works. Distances are from the north gate of the old town, which is where I started every one of them, and the costs are for one adult unless a line says otherwise.

The bay has one bus company and one timetable that changes in October, so every plan carries a fallback: the return boat from Perast, a taxi number saved in my phone, or simply the decision to walk back down to the water and wait. Nothing on this list needs booking more than a day ahead.

Perast: fifteen minutes of boat, one island

Perast is a stone street 23 kilometres up the bay with nothing to do except eat and look at the two islands in front of it. The boat to Our Lady of the Rocks leaves from the quay every twenty minutes and costs about five euros return, with the church museum another two.

• Leave Kotor by 8:15 to catch the first boat and beat the cruise tenders.
• The street is flat and fully shaded until eleven.

Allow an hour on the island itself. The museum inside the church is small and cool, the climb up the bell tower is 41 steps with a metal handrail, and the view back at Perast is the photograph most people came for without knowing it. Boats stop running earlier than you expect once the afternoon crowd thins, so I buy the return ticket with the first one.

The fortress steps: 1,350 up, done before eight

The climb to St John fortress costs 8 euros, gains about 260 metres and takes me 45 minutes at a walking pace with two short breathers. I start at six in the morning in August, because the stone holds the heat all day and the switchbacks have no shade worth the name.

Down is faster and harder on the knees, so I take the inside stairwell rather than the open path. The view at the top is the only one in the bay that shows the whole wall at once. Take water, because the only tap is at the ticket hut below, and the last twenty steps are a ladder section where a child has to go in front of you.

Lovcen and Cetinje: a road that takes the whole day

The serpentine over Lovcen climbs from the bay to about 1,500 metres in twenty-odd kilometres, and the drive to Cetinje plus the 461 steps to the mausoleum fills a full day. The bus from Kotor leaves mid-morning and returns late afternoon, so nobody drives the switchbacks twice in one trip.

I would not do it with a child under five, and in the end I did not. Above that height the wind at the top is cold even in August.

Herceg Novi: the long bus down the bay

The coastal bus runs from Kotor to Herceg Novi in about 50 minutes for 5 euros, hugging the water the whole way. The town has two beaches within a ten minute walk of the station, a fortification garden that costs almost nothing, and more shade than any other stop on the bay.

The last bus back leaves in the early evening in September, which is the detail I check before leaving the apartment rather than at the station. Buy the ticket at the station kiosk rather than on the bus, and sit on the right side going down, because the road clings to the cliff on the other side and the water view is the whole reason for the trip.

Budva: old town, pebble beach, and the crowd in August

Budva is 22 kilometres from Kotor and the bus takes about 40 minutes for 4 euros. The old town is small and walkable in an hour, and the beach outside the walls is pebbly enough that water shoes matter for children. I go in the morning and leave by two, because the Riviera fills after lunch and the buses home start queueing at the station. The old town has one supermarket sized for a week of shopping, which makes Budva the stop where I do the grocery run rather than hauling bags up the Kotor hill.

Virpazar and Skadar Lake: flat water, long drive

The lake sits an hour and a half inland by car or bus, and Virpazar is the village where the boats leave. A two hour boat trip costs around 20 euros a person and gives flat water, lily fields and a decent chance of pelicans, which is a different day entirely from the fjord.

The road back climbs and curves, so I keep the middle seat free for the child and stop in Podgorica for groceries rather than at the village cafes. The boats leave when they have enough people, so an early arrival is worth an hour of waiting, and the return leg gets rough if the afternoon wind comes up off the mountains.

The month at a glance

Start with the fortress steps on a clear morning, because it is the only trip on this list that is ruined by a cloudy afternoon. The rest of the month can move around the nap, the bus timetable and whoever woke up at five.