Bay of Kotor and Montenegro Road Trip
The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro
5 Days in Montenegro
Our tour of the Balkans continues. After stops in Sofia, Skopje, Ohrid, and Albania, Montenegro was next on our list.
In some ways, we were following in the footsteps of our daughter Emma and partner Simon, who traveled through the region last summer. The Bay of Kotor was one of their favorites.
After researching different routes and reading our Lonely Planet Eastern Europe guidebook, we too decided The Bay of Kotor would be our first stop. Nestled between the mountains, the lure of the Bay of Kotor was hard to resist.
Taking in the view of the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro
Tirana to Kotor by Bus
The walk to the bus station in Tirana was easier than we had anticipated. We are getting used to carrying our bags when needed. Di has a roller suitcase and a backpack and I have two backpacks, neither weighs more than 10 kg, 22 lbs.
The bus driver welcomed us and tagged our luggage. There was a luggage fee of €2.00 per bag, but as we were unaware of the fee, we had spent all of our cash the night before.
Luckily our driver was flexible and told us we could take out cash and pay when we stopped in Podgorica, the capital city, approximately halfway between Tirana and Kotor.
Once settled in, there was plenty to feast your eye on for the 6-hour bus ride from Tirana to Kotor. The drive along Lake Skadar was especially amazing.
The view of Skadar Lake on the bus from Tirana, Albania, to Kotor i Montenegro
Montenegro’s capital city of Podgorica did not leave a lasting impression but then again we drove right through and only saw the bus station.
We had just enough time to withdraw some cash, pay the driver and grab a quick coffee at the station. Excellent coffee, by the way, €2.40 for two,
Our bus tickets were booked with GetByBus and cost approximately $28.00 each plus €2.00 per bag luggage fee.
Arriving in Old Town Kotor, Montenegro
3 Days in Old Town Kotor
There are plenty of options for accommodation in Kotor. We chose to stay in the Old Town, in a cozy studio suite on the hillside, with an amazing view of the old town and the cruise ships at the dock. A staggering 527 cruise ships were scheduled to stop in Kotor in 2019.
Our friendly host, an Italian woman, welcomed us with a smile to a three-night stay at Studio Max. We fell in love with this studio immediately. It was well laid out, with cozy decor, and the above-mentioned view was top-notch. The price was $26.00 per night plus the tourist tax.
Breakfast was not included but we had a small kitchen and headed out to fetch supplies at the local supermarket. We actually tried to extend our stay but alas, someone else had booked the suite.
The view from our cozy studio on the hillside of Kotor Old Town
Kotor Old Town
It literally feels like you have time traveled when you walk through the narrow streets of Kotor Old Town, a UNESCO world heritage site and cultural inheritance since 1979.
The city is surrounded by city walls and medieval architecture is predominant with churches, monuments, and stairs leading to the distinct hillside tile-roofed homes.
At first glance, Kotor Old Town feels authentic. It is, however rather touristy, catering to the heavy cruise ship traffic. We tried not to get lost and had fun going through the markets, from one town square to the next taking in the atmosphere.
At the Square of the Arms, we settled on Caffe Bar Siempre for our afternoon coffee and paid €7.50 including a tip for a latte and americano.
Finding our way around Kotor
There is an Idea Supermarket near the south gate of the Old Town. We stocked up for three days and planned to have dinners at home, and found yogurts, muesli, and fruit for breakfast.
We wandered the streets at dusk and attempted to walk the perimeter of the Old Town but ran into a dead-end where off-season maintenance and repairs had been started.
We found a route home via the cruise ship dock. We saw two ships while in Kotor and it is a magnificent sight, seeing the ships docked in the narrow harbor with the mountains as a backdrop.
A cruise ship docked for the night in Kotor, Montenegro
Kotor Fortress
After breakfast, we did a couple of hours of travel planning. A cruise ship had arrived at 7 am and it was colder in the morning compared to what we had been used to on this trip so far.
The cruise ship passengers would make for a busy trail to the fortress, so we made plans to head out around 11 am for our hike to the top.
Travel planning-wise, we identified options for our upcoming trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We also booked a car rental for the Christmas holiday period in Denmark. It was a productive morning overall.
A sunny day was upon us and we were peeling off layers as we worked our way up the 1,355 steps. It was busier than we had anticipated as the cruise ship passengers were all working their way down from the fortress.
We took our time and enjoyed the views, trying to be in the moment and not take it for granted. Being surrounded by natural beauty such as this is always a highlight.
A phenomenal hike to Kotor Fortress. 1,355 steps up and 1,355 down.
The crowds thinned out and the weather continued to get better and better. It turned into a truly wonderful experience and was the highlight of our six days in Montenegro.
We had a long rest and picnic lunch at the top. There are two routes to the top. The official path is accessed from the old town and there is a fee of €8.00 per person.
The other path is an unofficial back route. We had read online it was now guarded and people had been refused entry at the top. Not wanting to risk being turned away, we opted for the official route.
A word of caution. This is a strenuous hike and we made several stops to catch our breath on the way up. Our legs certainly had a good workout. We encourage you to assess your fitness level before heading out.
While we were at it, a Norwegian woman ran all the way up and down. Another woman, a self-proclaimed smoker, was huffing and puffing when she reached the top. Our fitness level was somewhere in between.
A cruise ship departs from the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro
Cats of Kotor
The descent was slow as we knew a cruise ship would leave the dock at 3 pm. As a result, we captured the above photo.
There are so many cats in Kotor! We stopped several times as the kittens were very trusting, especially with Di. They crawled right up, sat on her lap, and immediately began purring and trying to catnap. Kotor is famous for its cats and you will even find a cat museum in town.
Several souvenir shops have only cat-themed gifts. Our own two senior cats, Frank and Celine passed away during our 50 countries in 50 months travel project, so it was nice to get in some kitty cuddles.
Di made friends with the kats in Kotor
For the first time during this travel stint, we really felt we were traveling in the off-season. Many places in town were closed and restaurant chairs were piled up outside restaurants and cafés on the outskirts of town.
Having worked in tourism at a ski resort for many years we recognized the end-of-season relief sentiment.
Cocooned in our cozy suite, we made it a workday catching up on photo editing and blogging, only venturing out for a break to find the tourism office to pay our Kotor tourist tax, €1.00 per person per day.
The day was wrapped up with a mediocre dinner at Jelovnik, a main square restaurant in the Old Town. It was a slow night. We split a shrimp and fish platter and both had a glass of wine.
It was fairly expensive and not much food on the plate compared to other places we have been. €34.00, tip included, which is more than we would usually pay for dinners during our travels.
Di exploring in Old Town Kotor
Kotor to Mostar in a Rental Car
Our plans for the next few days included a three-day car rental and the best deals were at the Tivat Airport, 10 kilometers from Kotor. At the taxi stand at the south gate of Old Town, we arranged a €10.00 fare for a ride to the Tivat airport.
At the tiny Sixt counter, a very friendly clerk persuaded us into a €2.00 per day upgrade for a snappier car, a blue Skoda Fabia. “You will love this in the mountains”, she said. I just loved the color and it reminded me of my VW Golf at home.
We had pre-purchased insurance online, which was a mistake. Sixt had a better deal at the counter. We ended up purchasing full insurance for an additional €40.00 as the cross-border green card was included. The mandatory cross-border card alone was €36.00, a difference of €4.00.
We headed out along the coastline of the Bay of Kotor and made what felt like, but probably was not quite as many stops, before we were out of the Bay.
Morten took the essential view shots from different angles as we drove around and up the hill. Our route, P11, R431, M20, R427, M 7.3, E73, M17, M 6.1 through the Vracenovici Border crossing onto the Deleusa border crossing.
It was very good to be independent and on the road again through mountains, plateaus, and flat valleys in beautiful fall colors. It was hard to capture the expanse and greatness with lots of exposed rock on the Montenegro side.
We should have packed some snacks but we did not think of it. Lunch was at a local mountain restaurant just after the summit.
It was delicious and less expensive than Kotor. We had a huge portion of goulash with a ton of meat and stuffed peppers and wondered if we would need to eat again for the next 24 hours. It was that filling.
You can read more from our drive into Bosnia and Herzegovina in this post:
The long and winding road in Montenegro
2 Days in Herceg Novi
After a few busy days on the road in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, we decided to slow things down and booked a couple of nights in the Bay of Kotor again.
This time we chose the north shore in Herceg Novi. The objective was to enjoy a comfortable hotel with good wifi, where we could work and do more travel planning.
When you travel long-term, as we do, there is always an urgent need to be ahead of the game when it comes to planning.
It takes a significant amount of time during our journey to investigate destinations, flights, and other transportation options over land. As we weigh out the pros and cons and check our budget, final decisions have to be made.
Kotor Old Town, Montenegro
In Montenegro for instance, we arrived by bus, rented a car, took a side trip, and just planned a bus ride from Tivat to Bar, where the goal is to take the scenic train from Bar to Belgrade in Serbia. We also booked our next leg, with flights secured to Cyprus.
We spent two nights at Hotel ACD Wellness & Spa and paid $100.00 total including breakfast. The room, the service, and the food were great but the spa was, meh!
One afternoon as we were working side by side in the room, we felt the building shake. It was like a bus coming to a stop and very brief.
We looked at each other and said; that was an earthquake or an aftershock. This was only a day or two after a major quake had hit Tirana.
Blogging / Travel Planning session in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. Working on our travel article from Malta.
One Day in Bar
Our rental car had to be returned by 11:00 am in Tivat. We were indecisive. Do we take the scenic drive around or take the Lepetane to Kamenari ferry, a shortcut?
It was spitting but not really raining that hard but once we saw the ferry we opted to take it. The small car ferry had room for about 15-20 cars, leaves when it is full and is a ten-minute crossing. The cost is €4.50 per vehicle.
A quick pitstop to fill up the car was €29.00, and we were happy we did not accept the rental company's offer of €56.00 for a fill-up.
We returned the car to Sixt and once again our attendant was super helpful. She spoke excellent English and assisted us with our next steps by calling the bus stations in Tivat and Kotor to confirm departure times for the bus to Bar.
She even called a taxi to take us to the bus station in Kotor where we were able to catch the 11:40 am departure to Bar.
Marvellous coffees and views in Kotor
At the bus station in Kotor, we waited with a couple of Canadians from the East Coast. They had just finished university and were traveling before getting jobs. They were in their last two weeks before heading home for Christmas.
The bus ride went without a hitch. There were not many people traveling by bus in November. The bus ticket was €7.00 each and the scenery along the Adriatic Coast was lovely.
We arrived in Bar and found our hotel, which did not look like a hotel at all. “Eiffel Apart” is a regular apartment building with an odd antique/strange collector’s items shop on the main level.
A charming narrow alley in Kotor
We were only there for one night and the idea was to stay within walking distance of the train station, conveniently located very close to the bus station.
Once inside the apartment, it was fine and the owner was super friendly. If you are taking the train from Bar to Belgrade this place will do the trick.
We dropped off our bags and headed to the train station to get tickets. The computers were down and they had to issue a handwritten ticket.
The next goal was lunch and buying food for dinner/breakfast for the train journey. From the bus ride into town, we had seen Jack’s Pub and a sign for the Bar Market so we headed there.
Bus tickets from Kotor and train tickets from Bar to Belgrade. Buying our tickets the old-fashioned way.
Jack’s Pub was open and we decided to have a hot lunch and just a light dinner. Having huge portions of margarita pizza and spaghetti bolognese meant we could take some home for dinner and kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
The market was nearly empty so instead, we shopped at the Aroma Supermarket across the street. Sandwich fixings, pretzels, eggs, and water for the twelve-hour train journey to Belgrade were on our list.
Back at the apartment, we met our host, paid our bill, and found out we could do laundry at no charge. Nice! It was a domestic evening doing laundry; Di mended her sweater and finished some knitting.
Our USB power cords were acting up which was a bit stress-inducing before bedtime. A first-world problem, but we rely heavily on our tech gadgets for travel. Lights were out early as we wanted a good night's rest before the Bar to Belgrade train journey.
We loved our time in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro
Final Thoughts
Kotor was the fairytale medieval town we had hoped it would be and I would say it exceeded our expectations. We also drove through beautiful mountains in the southwestern part of Montenegro on our way to Mostar.
Had we been here during the summer months, I believe we would have ventured further north into to mountains. It seems there is so much to explore.
We entered back into Montenegro from Croatia (more about this in our next post from Mostar). On both bus rides, we drove through a gorgeous stretch along the Adriatic Sea.
Towns like Budva and Bar would be lovely during the summer months I am sure. So what have we learned from spending almost a week in Montenegro? We have barely scratched the surface of a very compelling travel destination.
Travel Tips
Montenegro is on the current agenda for future enlargement of the EU and the currency is Euro.
ATMs were easily found in the town squares of Kotor Old Town. We always decline the option to secure a rate in Canadian dollars as banks charge a higher rate on the spot.
The water is safe to drink in Montenegro.
There is a tourist tax in Kotor and Herceg Novi, €1.00 per person per night.
We found restaurant prices to be higher than what we have seen in other areas of the Balkans and we chose to enjoy meals at our studio apartment for the most part. Kotor is a tourism hub so this was not entirely unexpected.
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The photos in this post are made using a Fujifilm X-Pro2. Lenses: XF 14mm f/2.8 R - XF 23mm f/1.4 R - XF 35mm f/1.4 R - XF 90mm f/2 R LM WR (links to my camera and lens reviews). Editing was done in Capture One Express. I used Fujifilm’s film simulations for some of the photos in this article.
