Kotor

Two timetables govern this town and only one of them is printed. Ships come up the bay in the morning, berth within sight of the walls and are gone again by evening, and between those hours the lanes inside the old town carry a crowd the place was never built for. Before and after, it is a small working Montenegrin town: cats on the steps, washing strung across the alleys, a stone square that empties not long after dinner.

What the bay actually is

Everyone calls it a fjord and it is not one. No glacier cut this. It is a river canyon that the sea came up into, which is why the mountain walls stand so close and the water runs so deep so near the shore. The distinction is not pedantry — the bay is fed by cold springs, and it swims noticeably cooler than the open Adriatic over the hill.

The town, and the climb above it

Inside the walls is a knot of stone lanes, small enough to cross in a few minutes and disorienting enough that nobody crosses it directly. It is a World Heritage listing that covers the bay's whole cultural region, not the town alone. Behind the houses the fortifications go straight up the hillside in a long stepped climb to a fortress on the ridge, which is a serious effort in summer heat and best started before breakfast or late in the afternoon.

Around the water

Perast sits further along the bay: baroque, low, essentially one street deep, with small boats running out to the man-made islet and its church. The shoreline road is beautiful and slow, and a car ferry across the narrows removes a long detour towards the open coast.

Above the town the serpentine climbs the mountainside in a long stack of hairpins towards the national park and the plateau behind it. The view back down over the bay is the reason people drive it; go early, because the road is single-file in places and patience runs out by midday.

When to come

May, June, September and October are the months this place is set up for. May and June bring green hills, waterfalls still running and a bay that has not yet filled; September and October keep the warmth in the water and hand the old town back at a reasonable hour. July and August are hot, and the bay funnels both the heat and the traffic — the mountain walls that make the view also make the afternoon.

Couples do better outside the peak and better on the far shore than inside the walls, where the mornings belong to whoever has docked.

Is it expensive?

Less than the Adriatic coast to the north, and the euro here does more than it does across the border. The waterfront terraces, the marina end of the bay towards Tivat and anything involving a boat in August are where money goes. Eating one street back from the water, travelling in the shoulder months and staying outside the walls all bring it down quickly.

What is worth paying for

A morning on the water, because the bay is a different place from a boat and the villages along it are easier to reach that way. A car for two or three days, for the serpentine and for the open coast beyond it. And in high summer, a room that faces the water rather than an internal courtyard.

Where to stay

Splurge

A restored stone palazzo inside the walls, or a waterfront house along the bay towards Perast with a jetty and a view across to the far shore. The first suits travellers who want to be in the town at both ends of the day; the second suits anyone who would rather watch it from a distance.

Mid-range

A small hotel in Dobrota, on the water just beyond the walls, walkable into the old town in about a quarter of an hour and quiet once the ships have gone. Carry on round the bay towards Prčanj and the same money buys a larger room and a longer view, at the cost of needing a car or the bus for dinner. Dobrota is the sensible middle here and most travellers should start with it.

Good value

An apartment in Muo across the water or further out along the bay, where rates ease and a balcony over the water comes as standard. You trade the walk for a short drive or a bus, and you get the view of the old town rather than the view from inside it.

The bay at a glance

Availability inside the walls is limited and moves early for the shoulder months, so comparing current stay and experience options across your exact dates is worth doing before anything else is fixed.