Day trips from Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi

Perast first.Our Lady of the Rocks is an artificial islet made by sinking stones and old vessels around a crag; the boat leaves from the Perast waterfront, and the church and its museum are on the islet. The boat and the church are both paid, but no official price or season is published for either, so ask on the waterfront. The natural island beside it, St George, with a 12th-century church and the old graveyard of Perast: whether it can be visited is not published; it is seen from the boat or the Perast shore. Back on land, the Perast town museum in the Bujović palace is open Tuesday to Sunday, 08:00-20:00 from 15 April to 15 October and 10:00-16:00 in winter, closed on Mondays and for January (EUR 8). The Roman mosaics in Risan, the floors of a 2nd-century villa with the mosaic of Hypnos, are a few minutes on, open Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-16:00, closed on Mondays and for January (EUR 6); a EUR 15 common ticket covers both and the other Muzeji Kotor sites.

No driving: boat tours leave from the Kotor waterfront, and the standard day covers the islet of trip 1, Perast, the Blue Cave on the outer side of the Luštica peninsula, Mamula island and the former submarine tunnels; the bay is a submerged river canyon, not a fjord. Since 20 May 2026 a Ministry of Maritime Affairs rulebook allows only craft without motor propulsion into the Blue Cave, and, per the boat owners' association, motor boats keep 20 m off, so tour boats show the cave from outside; whether swimming or kayak entry is allowed is not published. Žanjice, a pebble beach on Luštica backed by olive groves, has a small-boat landing at its edge; whether a given tour lands there is for the operator to confirm. The boat-tour page lists tours for spring and summer only, and the bathing season runs May to October. Because the islet is on this trip and on trip 1, pick one of the two.

Leave Kotor on the old Austro-Hungarian road, 25 hairpins by the Kotor tourist board's count and 32 by Cetinje's, with the bay below at every turn; the serpentine page lists the stopping places. At Njeguši, Njegoš's birth house of 1779 is a memorial museum open from mid-April to 15 November and included in the mausoleum ticket. The Lovćen park ticket (EUR 3 per person per day, free under 15) is sold at the Krstac and Bjeloši checkpoints and online. From the car park on Jezerski vrh a tunnel of 461 steps leads up to Njegoš's Mausoleum, completed in 1974 to Ivan Meštrović's design and open 09:00-16:00 from 11 April to 15 November (EUR 8, EUR 4 for students); outside those dates go from Njeguši straight to Cetinje. Cetinje, the old royal capital at 672 m, has the King Nikola Museum in the former palace (EUR 8; daily 09:00-16:00 in the summer season, Monday to Friday 09:00-15:00 in winter; a EUR 20 collective ticket covers all National Museum units and the mausoleum). Return by the Cetinje-Budva road rather than the hairpins.

Out along the north shore of the bay to Herceg Novi, the town at the entrance to the bay, founded in 1382 below Mount Orjen. Kanli kula, the Ottoman fortress of 1539 at the top of the old town, and Forte Mare, the sea fortress on the shore with its open-air cinema, are both open daily 09:00-19:00 at EUR 4; check winter hours before you go. The ferry is an alternative for the return; the leg shown is by road. The Kamenari-Lepetane ferry costs EUR 5 per car and takes about 15 minutes afloat; waiting time is not published. From Herceg Novi itself this is the home town, so skip it and use the offsets below for the other six.

Budva's walled old town has been settled for over 2,500 years. The Citadel on its highest point, first mentioned in 1425, costs EUR 5 (free with a Budva ID), and the walk on the Venetian walls EUR 2, open 10:00-20:00 from April to November. Mogren is two small sandy beaches joined by a tunnel through the rock, about 500 m on foot from the old town and 350 m long together. Then the coast road south to Sveti Stefan: two beaches of sand with a pink-reddish tint either side of the causeway, about 1,170 m in all; the islet is a hotel town and its entry rules for non-guests are not published, so plan on the beach and the view. Beaches in the bathing season, May to October; the town all year.

Virpazar, in Bar municipality, is one of four places where licensed operators run boat trips on Skadar Lake (the others are Vranjina, Rijeka Crnojevića and Plavnica), and the park's second visitor centre is upstairs in the tourist office building there. The park ticket is EUR 5 per person per day, free under 15; the boat is paid to the operator, and no operator or park source publishes boat prices, durations or a season, so agree the price at the pier. The lake is the largest in the Balkans, a national park since 1983 and a Ramsar wetland with 281 bird species; the park recommends April to June for birds. Godinje, the stone village above the lake, has the Bar tourist board's viewpoint with free parking and is the end of the 4.5 km Zabes-Godinje trail. The leg to Rijeka Crnojevića is routed on the main roads. In the village: Prince Danilo's bridge of 1853 on a 12.3 km river whose drowned valley forms one arm of the lake; above it, the Pavlova strana lookout above the river. Virpazar also has a station on the Bar-Belgrade railway.

Ostrog is the monastery of St Basil, built into the cliff of Ostroška greda in Danilovgrad municipality at about 900 m above sea level, high above the Zeta valley, with 17th-century cave churches and the saint's relics in the upper monastery; the National Tourism Organisation calls it one of the most visited monasteries in the Orthodox world. The road climbs first to the lower monastery, around a Church of the Holy Trinity and a large guest house where pilgrims stay overnight; from there the section to the upper monastery is steep (10%), very narrow and busy, and the Ministry's panoramic-road guide advises leaving any vehicle at the lower monastery and walking the 3 km path through the forest. No opening hours, fees, dress code, shuttle or parking rules are published by the monastery or the tourism bodies; it is an active monastery with no closing season published, and its portal gives +382 68 800 899 for enquiries. The descent from the lower monastery towards the Nikšić road is narrow, with a 150 m gravel stretch. It is a single stop two hours each way from the bay, so it is the trip to drop if a day is short.