Old towns of Montenegro

The five walled towns

Kotor

Kotor sits at the inner end of the Bay of Kotor between the sea, the Škurda river and the hill of St John. The cathedral dates from 1166 and St Luke's church from 1195; the River Gate is from 1540, the Sea Gate was restored in 1555 and the Gurdić Gate rebuilt at the end of the 17th century. The streets, squares and gates inside the Old Town are free. The walls and St John's Fortress cost €15 for adults, free for residents of Montenegro; the climb is about 1,400 steps and takes about an hour, to a fortress 260-300 m above the town. The Old Town is a few minutes' walk from the cruise quay and 6.8 km by road from Tivat airport.

Budva

Budva's Old Town stands at the eastern end of Slovenska plaža, with Mogren beach about 500 m to the west. A monastery is recorded here in 840, the Citadel is first mentioned in 1425 and the walls are largely Venetian, 15th to 18th century. The 1979 earthquake damaged the town badly and it was repaired over the following decade. The walk on the walls is open daily 10:00-20:00 from April to November for €2 with a brochure; the Citadel is a separate €5 ticket, free for Budva residents. Tivat airport is 20.1 km away by road.

Stari Bar

Stari Bar is the one old town nobody lives in: a walled ruin of over 260 buildings on a rock 4 km from the sea, with an Ottoman aqueduct outside the walls. It is open daily 08:00-21:00 in season and 08:00-17:00 out of season; tickets are €3, children up to 12 €1. It has been on the UNESCO tentative list since 2010 and is run by the Bar cultural centre. From the centre of Bar it is 8.3 km and about 11 minutes by car; from Podgorica airport 49.5 km.

Ulcinj

Ulcinj Old Town stands on the rock above the sea at the southern end of the coast: Illyrian wall remains, gates from the 6th century, a tower attributed to the Balšić rulers of the late 14th and early 15th century, and Ottoman additions. It joined the UNESCO tentative list in 2018. The walls have no published visitor route, and no official hours or fees are set for the tower, the gallery or the museum inside, so the town is walked freely. Ulcinj is 72.5 km from Podgorica airport.

Herceg Novi

Herceg Novi, founded in 1382 by the Bosnian king Tvrtko I, is an old town of steps between Forte Mare on the shore, Kanli kula above and the clock tower of 1667 on the west side of the Upper Town. The tower is 16 m high, was the main town gate under Ottoman rule and appears on the town's coat of arms; it keeps a bell given by Empress Catherine II of Russia in 1753 and the town archive with documents from 1685. Kanli kula and Forte Mare are open daily 09:00-19:00 for €4 per person, groups of 10 or more €3 each. Tivat airport is 23.5 km away by road.

Which old town for what

For a first visit and the UNESCO walls, Kotor. For an old town that opens straight onto a beach, Budva. For ruins without crowds, Stari Bar, best combined with Ulcinj the same day. For a quieter old town with two fortresses and a long waterfront, Herceg Novi, with Perast as the stop on the way to Kotor.

Smaller historic cores

Perast, in Kotor municipality, faces the islands of Our Lady of the Rocks and St George. Its town museum in the 17th-century Bujović Palace on the waterfront holds about 2,000 objects of maritime, ethnographic and art history; it is open Tuesday to Sunday 08:00-20:00 from 15 April to 15 October and 10:00-16:00 from 15 October to 15 April, closed on Mondays, all of January, Orthodox Easter, 1 May and 13-14 November. Tickets are €8, children up to 12 €5, or €15 for a common ticket to all Kotor museums. The historic core of Cetinje, the Old Royal Capital, has been on the UNESCO tentative list since 2010. In Podgorica, Stara varoš around the Ottoman clock tower is what survived of the pre-war town.

Getting between the old towns

Road distances and free-flow driving times, without traffic or queues: Kotor to Perast 13.8 km, about 22 min; Kotor to Budva 23.1 km, about 29 min; Kotor to Herceg Novi 30.2 km, about 47 min; Budva to Stari Bar 41.4 km, about 1 h 03 min; Stari Bar to Ulcinj 25.7 km, about 36 min; Budva to Cetinje 30.8 km, about 41 min. In July and August the bay road and the Budva coast road are much slower than these times; the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry cuts the Kotor-Herceg Novi drive.