Collecting passport stamps: A Day in the Bay of Kotor
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After dropping my brother and sister off at the airport so they could get home in time for their semesters to start, my parents decided to kill our last day in Croatia by… leaving Croatia I guess.
On all the lists of top things to do in Dubrovnik, you will always be able to find a suggestion to take day trip to Montenegro, so thats exactly what we did. There are tons of tours that take you to Kotor for a day that leave from Dubrovnik, so feel free to hop on one of those! or, if you’re in Kotor, the best way to see it is by taking a boat tour! Check some of those out here:
Also, I was trying to reach 20 countries by the time I turned 20, so that was also a deciding factor.
Honestly, I wish we had just stayed lounging around on the beaches of Dubrovnik.
While beautiful, theres not much to DO in the Bay of Kotor. It is also a popular cruise ship destination, so coupled with the absence of things to do, you also have to share the limited things with hordes of people.
But, if you’re looking to get your country count up, or happen to be on a cruise that is docking in Kotor, here’s how my family spent a few hours in the city.
Walk around old town
When we eventually found a parking space, we walked along the water until we got to the old city. From the outside, it’s super interesting. Stone walls enclose all the shops, churches, and homes, and you must walk through an arched tunnel to enter the city walls. The city is built pushed up against a mountain, and if shift your gaze up, you can see an enormous, lengthy stone wall that snakes its way up the mountain.
We spent the first half of our day wandering through the winding streets, petting ALL the cats (Kotor happens to have so many cats they have a whole museum dedicated to them, which we passed up given the fact that I’m deathly allergic lol), and shopping around at the markets,
2. Hike up to the fortress
remember from before, when you could see the super long wall stuck into the side of the mountain? Yea, you can hike that.
It costs 8 euros per person, and they only accept cash, but the views are so worth it. Wear good shoes, the rocks are (limestone?) and super slippery from all the wear and tear they get.
Also, it can get hot AF and we barely made it past the church before giving up and coming back home. I love hiking a little more than the average person, but i literally could not handle the intense heat, and we went in august. If you do get to the fortress, the views are spectacular, but the views along the way are pretty good too.
3. Our Lady of the Rocks
When you hop back in the car, stop in Perast on your way back to Dubrovnik. Smack in the middle of the lake is a man-made island called Our Lady on the Rocks. There’s a little church/museum there that was unfortunately closed for the day by the time we got there!
We originally weren’t planning on paying to take a boat out to the island, but when we parked to admire the view someone approached our car and offered us a discounted price (probably because the museum was closed for the day and there not much else to do), but we happily agreed just so we could hop on a boat and feel the breeze coming off the water!
We hung out on the island for a little bit, snapping pictures and peeking in windows before heading back to our car. I’d say its worth the trip just for the views (seems to be a moral of the story here).
While this day was truly lovely, and the drive scenic, I just don’t think it was noteworthy enough to make the trip down! Since I loved Dubrovnik I wish we had just spent a day beach hopping and exploring more of what they have to offer.
I can’t be too mad though, when I got to pet lots of kittens and reach my goal of 20 countries by 20 and before 2020, so all in a days work i guess.
Would you take a day trip to Montenegro? What’s your favorite day trip from Dubrovnik?
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