Best Day Trips from Kotor

Kotor is the best base on the Montenegrin coast for day trips: it sits at the head of the bay with buses, boats and hire cars all fanning out from one small walled town, so you can sleep in the same room for a week and see something completely different each day. The six trips below are the ones worth your time - a Baroque island church, a mountain mausoleum, the old royal capital, the liveliest resort on the coast, the Balkans’ biggest lake, and a cross-border run to Dubrovnik. Some are a cheap local bus away; two really want a car. Here is how each one works and which to pick.

Getting around: bus, boat, car or tour?

How you travel decides what is realistic. Kotor has three easy options and one worth paying for:

• Local buses are cheap and frequent along the coast. Buses to Budva leave every 20-30 minutes in season and are perfect for Budva and Sveti Stefan. Perast is a separate hop: the Blue Line bay bus (Kotor-Perast-Risan) runs roughly hourly and takes about 35 minutes. See our Kotor to Budva bus guide and the wider getting around Montenegro rundown for fares and timetables.
• A hire car unlocks the two trips buses barely reach - Lovćen and Lake Skadar - and lets you pair Lovćen with Cetinje in one loop. If you are here to roam, our renting a car in Montenegro guide covers the practicalities.
• Organised day tours take the stress out of the mountain roads and the Croatian border. They are the simplest way to do Lovćen, Skadar or Dubrovnik if you would rather not drive or navigate timetables.

The distance and “from” budget on the summary card are a rough guide for one typical day out, not a fixed route - the cheapest trips here cost a few euros on a local bus, while a Dubrovnik tour is a different order of money. Now the trips themselves, nearest first.

Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks (12 km)

The gentlest day out, and the one to do first. Perast is a perfectly preserved Baroque town of stone palazzi strung along the water just 12 km up the bay, and from its waterfront small boats shuttle out to Our Lady of the Rocks - a man-made island topped by a blue-domed church. A Blue Line bay bus gets you there in about 35 minutes and runs roughly hourly, or you can fold it into a wider Bay of Kotor boat tour that also takes in the Blue Cave. Half a day is plenty here, or you can build the whole bay into one day: our Bay of Kotor day trip loops Perast, the Risan Roman mosaics and the Kamenari ferry into a single circuit without leaving the Boka. The full story of the island and the town is in our Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks guide.

Lovćen and the Njegoš Mausoleum (35 km)

The best half-day inland, and a total change of scene from the coast. The road climbs the famous Kotor serpentine - around 25 tight hairpins with the whole bay dropping away beneath you - into Lovćen National Park, where a tunnel and 461 steps lead up to the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, Montenegro’s poet-ruler, on a 1,657 m peak. The terrace behind the tomb looks out over what feels like half the country. There is almost no public transport up here, so this is a car or organised-tour trip; the serpentine is spectacular but narrow, so drive it in daylight in a small car. Our full Lovćen National Park guide covers the mausoleum, the new cable car and how to visit, and the Bay of Kotor coast road trip has the drive and the Njeguši ham stop in detail.

Cetinje, the old royal capital (40 km)

Just down the mountain from Lovćen sits Cetinje, the historic capital that Montenegro’s rulers founded in the 15th century. It is a low, walkable town of former palaces, foreign embassies and museums gathered around the Cetinje Monastery, with the National Museum of Montenegro spread across several historic buildings - a history-heavy contrast to the beaches. Buses run from Kotor (usually via Budva), but the smart move is to pair Cetinje with Lovćen by car, since the two sit on the same mountain road. Our Cetinje guide has the museums and the monastery.

Budva and Sveti Stefan (40 km)

The classic coast day. Budva is the liveliest resort in Montenegro - a compact Venetian old town on a little peninsula, a run of beaches and the country’s busiest nightlife - and it is an easy 40 minutes from Kotor with buses every 20-30 minutes. Ten kilometres further south is Sveti Stefan, the fortified islet on every Montenegro postcard; the island itself is a private resort, but the view from the road above is free. Do them together as one full day. See the Budva guide for the old town and beaches, and Sveti Stefan for the islet and its viewpoints. If Budva is your base rather than Kotor, our day trips from Budva works the same coast from the other end.

Lake Skadar (55 km)

For a slow, green day away from the sea, head inland to Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans and a national park straddling the Albanian border. From the village of Virpazar you can take a boat cruise among the water lilies and birdlife - it is one of Europe’s top spots for pelicans and herons - and stop at the small wineries on the hills above. It is possible by bus and train to Virpazar, but a car or a tour makes the lake far easier to enjoy. Our Lake Skadar guide covers the cruises and where to start.

Dubrovnik, Croatia (90 km)

The big one, and the longest. Croatia’s walled city is about 90 km up the coast, but the drive takes 2 to 2.5 hours each way because of the border crossing - so this is a dawn-start, full-day commitment. Go by bus or, more comfortably, on an organised day tour that handles the queues. You will need your passport, and standard EU entry rules apply at the frontier. It is a lot of road for one day, but Dubrovnik’s old town is worth it if you have never seen it. Our Kotor to Dubrovnik guide has the buses, the border and the timings.

Which day trip should you choose?

If you only have one spare day, make it Perast (easiest and closest) or Lovćen and Cetinje together (the best inland day, if you have a car). Beach person? Budva and Sveti Stefan. After nature and quiet? Lake Skadar. Only cross to Dubrovnik if you are happy to give a whole day to the road. A rough plan for a Kotor-based week: Perast by boat, a Lovćen-Cetinje drive, a Budva beach day, a Skadar cruise, and Dubrovnik if the itch is there - with the town itself and its city walls saved for the mornings and evenings in between.

Montenegro uses the euro (€); cards are widely accepted, but carry some cash for bus fares, the Perast boat shuttle and small cafés. For where these trips fit into a longer route, browse our other Montenegro routes.

Nearby / read also

• Kotor travel guide - your base, and the city walls climb.
• Where to eat in Kotor - the konobas worth a fish lunch back at base.
• Perast & Our Lady of the Rocks
• Bay of Kotor boat tour
• Bay of Kotor coast road trip - the multi-day version.
• Renting a car in Montenegro