Kotor's attractions divide into three groups. Inside the walls: St Tryphon's Cathedral (consecrated 1166), the Maritime Museum in the Grgurina Palace, and a handful of small churches and squares you cross in ten minutes. Above the town: the city walls and San Giovanni fortress, 1,350 steps up, ticketed in season and the main reason people arrive. Around the bay: Perast, the island church of Our Lady of the Rocks, the Roman mosaics at Risan, and the abandoned submarine tunnels near Rose.
Four and a half kilometres of fortification climb the mountain behind the town to a fortress at 260 m. The path is stone, uneven and fully exposed — do it before 09:00 or after 17:00 in summer. The Church of Our Lady of Remedy two thirds of the way up is where most people stop and where the famous photograph is taken.
St Tryphon's Cathedral is the oldest building in town and holds a reliquary treasury upstairs. The Maritime Museum explains why a town this small had one of the Mediterranean's larger merchant fleets. Between them, half a dozen squares, a clock tower and a great many cats.
Perast, 15 minutes up the coast, is a single baroque street with two islands offshore. Our Lady of the Rocks is man-made — islanders dropped stones and scuttled ships around a reef for centuries — and its church interior is covered in silver votive plates left by sailors. Risan, further round, has Roman floor mosaics from the 2nd century.
Its walled medieval Old Town at the head of the Bay of Kotor, UNESCO-listed since 1979, and the 4.5 km of city walls climbing to San Giovanni fortress above it.
There is a ticket in season, charged at the entrance on the way up. Out of season, and very early in the morning, the path is generally free.
One full day covers the Old Town and the fortress climb. Two days lets you add Perast, Our Lady of the Rocks and a boat trip on the bay.
Yes, the Old Town itself is a living town and free to walk. Individual sites — the walls, the cathedral, the museums, the island church — each charge a small fee.
Facts on this page last checked 2026-09-17.
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