The Bay of Kotor sometimes referred to as Boka-Kotorska is one of the most interesting sites in Montenegro. It is on the north of the country, on the border with Croatia.
By its structure the bay is a typical fjord. In most tourist guides it is just called «southernmost fjord of Europe», though some people are sure that the bay is a submerged river canyon. However, externally, in many places the bay is still more like Norwegian fjord than canyon.
When you travel by car or by ship, you can admire beautiful mountain landscapes almost all the time. They are particularly wonderful in the southern part of the bay, in the vicinity of Kotor and Perast, as well as near the islands of Virgin Mary and St. George with their churches.
You can join interesting boat tours of the bay. If you spend your vacations on Budva Riviera (from Budva to Petrovats), you should go to one of these excursions.
The excursion has a fairly variegated program including a stop on a nice beach at the mouth of Kotor Bay. From the beach you can make a short trip to the Blue Grotto – the cave with underwater passage to the sea, which illuminates it with blue light. Then you will go along beautiful rocks and islets. The excursion is ended in Kotor, which would be interesting not only for lovers of medieval architecture, but also for common people wanting to diversify their beach holidays.
Kotor has a very small Old Town. You can easily go around it for 2 hours, though it is worth a longer visit. There survived medieval walls, and not only around the city itself but high in the mountains. In XV century on the rocks towering above Kotor there were constructed strong fortifications, as in that time Kotor was a border town, which was subject to constant attacks.
There is no traffic within the Old Town. The streets are very narrow and paved with highly glossed stone slabs. The age of almost every house in the Old Town is several centuries. They houses are separated by 2-3 meters wide alleys, and only in front of churches there are relatively spacious squares.
One day would be enough to visit Kotor. For the time you can look around the city properly and climb the rocks to see the fortifications of Kotor, as well as to enjoy the bird`s eye view of the city. However, you must be aware that it wouldn’t be an easy task. So, you should adequately estimate your possibilities. And if you don’t want to see all the sites of Kotor in such detail, you can visit it during the tour of the bay. Otherwise, you should go by a regular bus and stay there until the evening.
