Kotor, Montenegro
Discussion
I was there about 3 years ago for a few days. Beautiful little place. I was travelling around the Balkans and hired a car in Dubrovnik and drove there, the roads are in poor condition, the locals drive like madmen, but if you keep your wits about you and expect the unexpected you will be fine. There are buses from Dubrovnik too if you don't want to drive. If you do hire a car then you absolutely must drive up Mount Lovcen, awesome twisty mountain road. Then you have to walk up to the mausoleum on top of the mountain too as it's pretty spectacular.
It was early summer when I went and it was pretty quiet, although I think it has become a lot more popular in recent years. I wouldn't hesitate to go again, friendly locals, good food and drink too. You should definitely hire a car to see the best of the place though. I recommend the place, I stayed at the Old Town Hostel and it was one of the best hostels i've stayed in, so I recommend them too if you're not looking for a hotel.
It was early summer when I went and it was pretty quiet, although I think it has become a lot more popular in recent years. I wouldn't hesitate to go again, friendly locals, good food and drink too. You should definitely hire a car to see the best of the place though. I recommend the place, I stayed at the Old Town Hostel and it was one of the best hostels i've stayed in, so I recommend them too if you're not looking for a hotel.
Yeah I went there in the summer. I drove from Surrey and carried on to Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo etc.
Roads were great everywhere and it was nice having a relatively sporty car (07 Cupra). Incredible roads in Montenegro in particular. Incredibly well sighted, good quality and quiet. Ample overtaking opportunities.
Anyway, Kotor itself... beautiful old walled town. Yeah there are a fair few tourists and it can get a bit crowded when a big cruise ship is in just like any town that has a port in the Med.
Walk up to St John's fortress which overlooks Kotor. A pretty strenuous walk with hundreds of uneven cobbled steps but the view from the top is incredible.
The walled town is lovely but you can probably see it all in a day. It's popular to get a boat out into the bay to see Our Lady of the Rocks chapel which is rather beautiful.
Plenty of other stuff to see and do within reasonable driving distance from Kotor so you could use it as a base and head out to sites.
Montenegro is absolutely stunning with some remarkable scenery. Like I say, a lot of the roads are incredibly quiet so it is perfect for a road trip.
I've been meaning to write up a trip report and put it here. I can do if a couple of people see this and there is demand?
If you want a lot more details, let me know.
EDITED TO ADD:
After seeing BaronVonV8 saying the roads are in a terrible state, I would like to clarify as that conflicts what I just said. It is a fair comment for one stretch of road: Between the border crossing between Croatia/Montenegro and following the road around the bay via Herceg Novi to Kotor. This section is very rutted and rough but the views offered certainly make it worthwhile and I drove all the way round rather than getting the ferry from Kamenari to Leptane.
But I drove from Kosovo across incredible mountain passes diagonally across Montenegro and the roads were all absolutely fantastic with huge sections having been resurfaced in the last year or so. Even the sections that hadn't been resurfaced were in excellent condition.
Roads were great everywhere and it was nice having a relatively sporty car (07 Cupra). Incredible roads in Montenegro in particular. Incredibly well sighted, good quality and quiet. Ample overtaking opportunities.
Anyway, Kotor itself... beautiful old walled town. Yeah there are a fair few tourists and it can get a bit crowded when a big cruise ship is in just like any town that has a port in the Med.
Walk up to St John's fortress which overlooks Kotor. A pretty strenuous walk with hundreds of uneven cobbled steps but the view from the top is incredible.
The walled town is lovely but you can probably see it all in a day. It's popular to get a boat out into the bay to see Our Lady of the Rocks chapel which is rather beautiful.
Plenty of other stuff to see and do within reasonable driving distance from Kotor so you could use it as a base and head out to sites.
Montenegro is absolutely stunning with some remarkable scenery. Like I say, a lot of the roads are incredibly quiet so it is perfect for a road trip.
I've been meaning to write up a trip report and put it here. I can do if a couple of people see this and there is demand?
If you want a lot more details, let me know.
EDITED TO ADD:
After seeing BaronVonV8 saying the roads are in a terrible state, I would like to clarify as that conflicts what I just said. It is a fair comment for one stretch of road: Between the border crossing between Croatia/Montenegro and following the road around the bay via Herceg Novi to Kotor. This section is very rutted and rough but the views offered certainly make it worthwhile and I drove all the way round rather than getting the ferry from Kamenari to Leptane.
But I drove from Kosovo across incredible mountain passes diagonally across Montenegro and the roads were all absolutely fantastic with huge sections having been resurfaced in the last year or so. Even the sections that hadn't been resurfaced were in excellent condition.
Edited by ollie j on Sunday 22 March 18:44
ollie j said:
After seeing BaronVonV8 saying the roads are in a terrible state, I would like to clarify as that conflicts what I just said. It is a fair comment for one stretch of road: Between the border crossing between Croatia/Montenegro and following the road around the bay via Herceg Novi to Kotor. This section is very rutted and rough but the views offered certainly make it worthwhile and I drove all the way round rather than getting the ferry from Kamenari to Leptane.
But I drove from Kosovo across incredible mountain passes diagonally across Montenegro and the roads were all absolutely fantastic with huge sections having been resurfaced in the last year or so. Even the sections that hadn't been resurfaced were in excellent condition.
Spot on Ollie, the poor condition roads comment was aimed mainly at the road around the bay via Herceg Novi, I probably should have specified that rather than making a generalisation. I spent a lot of time on back roads as well which were in poor condition, but extremely quiet and I didn't get any further East than Cetinje. I definitely agree that there are some superb driving roads out there, wish I had something more exciting than the Citroen van-type thing I ended up hiring. If you're going to do a longer trip then I can recommend paying Bosnia a visit too.But I drove from Kosovo across incredible mountain passes diagonally across Montenegro and the roads were all absolutely fantastic with huge sections having been resurfaced in the last year or so. Even the sections that hadn't been resurfaced were in excellent condition.
Edited by ollie j on Sunday 22 March 18:44
The roads aren't that bad. The driving is s
t though, and people just play and socialise in the roads! Consequently the speed limits are very low in town. Beautiful place though, the bay is just stunning and the roads up the mountain see the view just get better and better. I'd consider boating though.
t though, and people just play and socialise in the roads! Consequently the speed limits are very low in town. Beautiful place though, the bay is just stunning and the roads up the mountain see the view just get better and better. I'd consider boating though. Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff