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Perast's waterfront under low cloud, stone palaces and the bell tower of St Nicholas above small boats moored in the bay
The waterfront below the bell tower of St Nicholas
Town brief · 42.4869°N 18.6992°E

Perast

Leave the car at the entrance and let a golf cart carry your bags down: Perast is one street on the water with no traffic, and its two islands sit five minutes offshore.

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Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Perast

How long
One night, two if you canthe town empties once the tour boats leave
Getting around
On foot, along one streetclosed to cars all year; parking at both entrances
When
June and SeptemberJuly and August bring the heat and the island crowds
Language
MontenegrinLatin and Cyrillic both on signs; English widely spoken
Money
The euro, and carry cashthe island boats and the bell tower take nothing else
Airports
Tivat TIVabout half an hour by road; Podgorica TGD is inland
How long

How long should you spend in Perast?

One night at least, and two if the trip allows. As a day trip from Kotor it takes half a day, but the town is busiest from late morning to late afternoon. Staying the night allows the first boat to Our Lady of the Rocks, an early swim and an evening after the tour boats leave.

Getting around

Can you drive into Perast?

No. The coastal road through the town has been closed to motor traffic all year since September 2025, apart from vehicles with a permit. Paid car parks stand at both entrances, and several hotels collect luggage there by golf cart. Everything in the town is within a twenty-minute walk.

When

When is the best time to visit Perast?

June and September. The sea stays warm enough to swim into early October, and the heat, the parking and the queues for the island boats are at their worst in July and August. St Nicholas's bell tower opens only from mid-May to mid-October, and the town museum closes for the whole of January.

Language

What language is spoken in Perast?

Montenegrin, which is mutually intelligible with Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian. Signs use both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, and English is widely spoken by boatmen, guesthouse owners and museum staff.

Money

What currency is used in Perast?

The euro, which Montenegro uses without being a member of the eurozone. Cash matters here: the boats to Our Lady of the Rocks, the bell tower and the bus drivers on the bay road are paid in cash.

Airports

Which airport is closest to Perast?

Tivat, TIV, about half an hour away by road. Podgorica, TGD, is roughly an hour and three quarters inland. Dubrovnik, DBV, in Croatia, is also used, with a border crossing that can queue in summer.

By late morning in summer the boats from Kotor have landed their first groups, and by early evening they have taken them away again. Stay the night for what happens either side: the first crossing to the islet, a swim off the stone piers, and the evening, when the cliffs above the town turn pink and only overnight guests are left on the waterfront.

Take the first boat out to Our Lady of the Rocks, before tour groups fill its one small square, and pay the boatman in cash on the quay. Half an hour on the islet is enough. St George, beside it, is closed to visitors and seen only from the water.

Wind stops the crossings, so do not leave the islet for your last morning. Every 22 July at sunset, a procession of boats, the Fašinada, circles it and drops more stones on the reef it stands on.

Back on shore, the bell tower of St Nicholas is the one climb in town: fifty-five metres of steep, narrow stairs, closed to children under fifteen. The Bujović Palace, a few minutes west along the water, is the town museum and the one captain's house you can walk into without booking a room; it shuts on Mondays.

There is no sand anywhere. You swim from concrete platforms and ladders, and the free concrete slab under the pines at the eastern end is the local swimming spot.

Choose your room with your luggage in mind. Rooms on the waterfront mean stone stairs and no lifts, and the apartments on the hillside above the main road have their own parking and the widest view of the two islands. Drivers use the paid car parks at either entrance, which fill in July and August, and nothing can be driven down to the door.

Without a car, the bus along the bay from Kotor takes about half an hour and stops on the main road above the town, with stone steps down to the water. For the view over both islands, climb those steps in the late afternoon and walk a little way along the road; there is no pavement, so keep to the verge.

A few minutes along the bay by the same bus, Risan has Roman floor mosaics under a cover building, open on the same days as the town museum.

Things to do

9
  1. Our Lady of the Rocks

    Our Lady of the Rocks

    Landmark · 30 min

    From the quay you can cross to the church on the islet off Perast and see its paintings, its votive silver and an embroidered tapestry.

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  2. Saint Nicholas Church

    Saint Nicholas Church

    Church · 30 min

    The view from the top of this bell tower puts Perast's roofs, Our Lady of the Rocks and St George directly below you, and you can step into the church at its foot on the way up.

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  3. Venetian Palaces

    Venetian Palaces

    Palace · 1 hr

    Walking Perast's one waterfront street takes you past its sea captains' stone palaces, one after another, with the bay on one side and the mountains behind. Most are now homes, hotels or restaurants, so you see them from the pavement, free.

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  4. St. George's Island Benedictine Monastery

    St. George's Island Benedictine Monastery

    Ruins

    St George cannot be visited: the cypress island off Perast is a working Benedictine monastery, closed to the public and seen only from the water. The taxi boat to Our Lady of the Rocks passes close. At dusk it goes dark against the bay.

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  5. Heritage Grand Perast Hotel

    Heritage Grand Perast Hotel

    Hotel

    Few beds exist in Perast itself, and a night in this restored waterfront palace puts you in what is often called the quietest town on the Bay of Kotor.

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  6. Perast Museum

    Museum · 30 min

    Small and right on the quay, the museum in the Bujović Palace lets you inside a palace built for a Perast captain: a recreated captain's salon, ship models, portraits of the town's seafarers and a balcony with a panoramic view over the water.

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  7. Bujović Palace

    Palace · 30 min

    Small and quick, right on the waterfront where the cars park, so easy to fold in before leaving town.

  8. Hotel Conte

    Hotel

    Hotel Conte puts you on the central square of Perast's old town, with the sea and mountains of a UNESCO-protected area in view from its stone buildings.

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  9. Hotel Per Astra

    Hotel

    You sleep in one of eleven suites in Perast at Hotel Per Astra, each designed differently, with an indoor pool for the days when the bay is too cold to swim.

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Basemap Meridian · data © OpenStreetMap

Dispatches

1
Where to Start on the Bay of Kotor
Kotor

Where to Start on the Bay of Kotor

A working order for the Bay of Kotor: up the 1,350 steps to San Giovanni before the ships are ashore, or the free Ladder of Kotor instead, then the Blue Line bus up to Perast for the boat that leaves whenever it fills.
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Sources 1

The official pages this guide was checked against.

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