10 Fun Day Trips from Kotor + 2 Tours Not to Book

See more of Montenegro with these top day tours from Kotor, plus the trips we don’t think are worth it.

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There’s more to Montenegro than the Bay of Kotor, with plenty of incredible places within easy reach of the Old Town. From the historic towns and mountain viewpoints around Boka Bay to beaches, national parks, and scenic drives further afield, there are plenty of options if you want to escape Kotor for the day.

We spent 5 weeks exploring Montenegro and dedicated 2 weeks of that to the Kotor region alone. In this guide, we’ll share the best day trips from Kotor, including how to visit each one, what to see, and how long you’ll need, plus a few tours we don’t think are worth booking. We’ve specifically chosen day trips from Kotor that are doable without spending a long time in transit – the longest journey on this list is 2 hours each way. And we’ve not focused on places around the bay, we’ve covered those extensively in our guide to the best things to do in Kotor & Boka Bay, but places outside the Kotor region that are also worth seeing during your time in Montenegro.

The best day trips from Kotor

Kotor works really nicely as a base for day trips because its location puts it right near major roads that wind along the Adriatic Coastline, south through Montenegro and north into Croatia. You have direct access to the M1, which connects to the scenic Adriatic Highway, part of the European route E80, also known as the Trans-European Motorway, which crosses 10 countries around 3,792 miles (6,102 km) from Portugal to Turkey.

It’s also well positioned as a gateway to the Dinaric Alps, allowing you to explore the mountains without needing to take a long journey into the north of the country.

It also doesn’t matter if you haven’t rented a car in Montenegro (although we’d strongly suggest you do), as there are good public transport links around the Bay of Kotor and between popular coastal towns. You may struggle to reach some of the places on this list by bus, but there are always day tours from Kotor that can take you there smoothly.

Before visiting Montenegro, my family asked us what day trips they could reasonably do from Kotor. Having spent 3 weeks road tripping the country by this point, we could report back what they could and couldn’t actually achieve in a day. Here’s what we told them.

1. Explore the Bay of Kotor

One of the best ways to spend a day from Kotor is exploring the wider Bay of Kotor, with its pretty waterfront villages, historic towns, and mountain scenery. The bay forms part of the 14,600-hectare UNESCO World Heritage site, recognised for its exceptional combination of historic settlements and dramatic landscape.

Personally, we think the best way to see the bay is on a Blue Cave boat tour that takes you through the bay from Kotor to Perast, before heading out to sea past historic war monuments and fortresses, and stopping for a swim in the crystal-clear waters of the Adriatic Sea.

It’s also super easy to explore the little towns that line the bay, whether by rental car or the Blue Line Bus. We’d recommend checking out:

2. Hike in Lovćen National Park

If you fancy escaping the heat and cruise ship crowds of Kotor for a day, Lovćen National Park is a great and easily accessible day trip. The park is home to tall mountain peaks, including Štirovnik (1,749 metres) and Jezerski Vrh (1,657 metres). Atop the latter sits the famous Njegoš Mausoleum, a memorial dedicated to one of Montenegro’s most influential rulers, poets, and philosophers, and allegedly the highest mausoleum in the world.

The mausoleum itself requires climbing 461 steps, but is worth it for the truly epic views from the top, which stretch out across half of the country, including as far as Italy and Albania on a clear day. This was the first day trip from Kotor that we did after picking up our hire car, and it was absolutely beautiful.

The best way to reach Lovćen National Park is to drive. From Kotor, you’ll tackle the winding Kotor Serpentine, which consists of 25 hairpin switchbacks. It’s an adventure in itself, but not for those who aren’t used to driving in Montenegro.

You can take the Kotor Cable Car up Mt. Lovćen, but from there it’s very difficult to reach Njegoš Mausoleum independently. The cable car’s top station is an attraction in its own right, with themed rides like the iconic alpine coaster and panoramic bars and restaurants.

3. Uncover history in Cetinje

Cetinje is a peaceful mountain town that was once Montenegro’s historic royal capital. The Petrović-Njegoš dynasty ruled Montenegro for 222 years, and Cetinje was at the heart of the action, so today it’s still packed with museums, former royal residences, monasteries, and old diplomatic buildings.

Spend some time wandering the historic town centre on foot, admire the Blue Palace, browse the Museum of King Nikola, and go inside the monastery, which has painted frescoes to rival Ostrog’s.

If you have extra time, Lipa Cave is only around 3 miles (5 km) away. One of Montenegro’s largest cave systems, with around 1.6 miles (2.5 km) of passages and chambers filled with stalactites, stalagmites, and other impressive limestone formations, you can take a guided tour inside the cave, with a short tourist train journey taking you to the cave entrance (similar to Postojna Cave in Slovenia).

4. Relax on the beach in Budva

If we’re talking about day trips from Kotor, we can’t not mention Budva, which is one of the most popular. A bustling beach town filled with resorts and a popular alternative base to Kotor, Budva is Montenegro’s Riviera, home to a historic walled Old Town surrounded by a much livelier modern seaside city.

Just over half an hour’s drive from Kotor, it’s easy to see why Budva is such a popular day trip. There are lots of fun things to do in Budva and it’s home to sandy beaches like Mogren Beach and the Old Town is claimed to be more than 2,500 years old, making it one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic.

You can take a boat trip to Sveti Nikola Island and the popular Kawaii Beach (so-called as it’s supposed to resemble those actually in Hawaiʻi, although we’re not sure we agree). This is also a great spot to snorkel and where we went SCUBA diving in Budva.

Now this might be controversial, but we just didn’t rate Budva. It’s big, busy, and quite party-focused. The beaches have almost entirely been swallowed by sun loungers and backed onto loud bars, while the town doesn’t actually have much to do. The Old Town is quaint, but essentially a smaller, less interesting version of Kotor’s Old Town. It’d be worth the trip if you really want to see it or are interested in an activity like SCUBA diving or paragliding, but it’s not a town that we would prioritise over others on this list otherwise.

Parking is a nightmare, and we were quite glad we didn’t have to deal with it, as we had parking included at Hotel Pima, where we stayed the night. If you’re coming from Kotor for the day, you can easily get the bus, and then you don’t need to park.

5. See scenic Sveti Stefan

Sveti Stefan is probably the most recognisable coastal image in Montenegro, as its island features on many postcards. The tiny fortified island – a traditional village-turned-private-resort – is covered in terracotta-roofed stone buildings and connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway.

The settlement dates back to the 15th century, when local families fortified the island to protect themselves from Ottoman raids. Today, the island is an exclusive hotel and access is restricted to guests only.

The best thing to do here is simply admire the view from the mainland. We can recommend walking around the viewpoints above the island, exploring Miločer Park, and having a swim at one of the beaches on either side of the causeway.

Parking is well controlled, but expensive, so you might not wish to stay too long. It doesn’t take long to see Sveti Stefan, so it’s best combined with Budva (it’s only a 20-minute drive away) or a quick stop on the way along the Adriatic Highway into southern Montenegro.

6. Chill out in Petrovac

If Budva’s too hectic for you, we discovered a gorgeous little beach town slightly further down the coast: Petrovac. It’s still a proper seaside resort, but it has a much more relaxed atmosphere, making it a nice choice if your idea of a day trip involves sitting beside the sea rather than ticking off another list of attractions.

Built around a sheltered bay, Petrovac features a long waterfront promenade, with the iconic Kastio Fortress at one end of the sandy beach. It’s further from Kotor than many other beach towns, but we thought it was a nice mix of Budva and Perast, so it’s worth it if you’d like a traditional beach day that’s calm. Plus, it’s still only an hour’s drive from Kotor.

7. Take a boat tour on Lake Skadar

For a completely different side of Montenegro, head inland to Lake Skadar, where the scenery changes from limestone mountains and Adriatic beaches to enormous wetlands covered in water lilies. It’s the largest lake in the Balkans and has been protected as a national park since 1983.

Lake Skadar is essentially a huge freshwater lake and wetland straddling the border between Montenegro and Albania, surrounded by mountains, tiny villages, vineyards, and historic monasteries. It’s one of the most important bird habitats in Europe, home to countless species including the rare Dalmatian pelican.

One of the main attractions at Lake Skadar is getting out on the water. Lake Skadar boat tours go from Virpazar and take you through channels covered in water lilies, past fishing villages, and into quieter parts of the lake, with birdwatching and swimming possible during the warmer months.

Virpazar is also the gateway to Montenegro’s wine region, and tours commonly combine a boat trip with an afternoon tasting at a local vineyard.

The journey from Kotor to Virpazar takes about 1.5 hours, so it’s a slightly longer day trip, but so worth it to see a side of the scenery that’s totally different to the coast and the mountains. We did this as a day trip with my family, and they loved it. It’s not the easiest to reach by bus and will take you much longer, so we’d recommend having a rental car for this trip.

8. Wine and dine in Rijeka Crnojevića

Rijeka Crnojevića is a picturesque Montenegrin village set on a winding river of the same name. It’s a smaller and less touristy gateway to Lake Skadar than Virpazar, at around an hour’s drive away.

The settlement is named after the Crnojević dynasty, and Ivan Crnojević moved his capital here in the late 15th century while seeking refuge from advancing Ottoman forces. Rijeka Crnojevića is particularly famous for the sweeping horseshoe-shaped viewpoint at Pavlova Strana that lies just outside the town.

Rijeka Crnojevića is a popular lunch spot for day tours to the Lake Skadar area, with restaurants offering local Montenegrin cuisine. It’s practically impossible to visit by public transport, so you’ll need a car or a tour for this one. We’d recommend combining it with a boat trip on Lake Skadar – either from Virpazar or from here, where you can explore the lush northern channels – for a full day out from Kotor.

9. Walk in the footsteps of pilgrims at Ostrog Monastery

Few places in Montenegro are quite as dramatic as Ostrog Monastery, which appears to have been carved directly into a sheer limestone cliff high above the Zeta Valley. It’s one of the country’s most important religious sites and attracts hundreds of thousands of Orthodox pilgrims alongside visitors from other faiths annually.

A Serbian Orthodox monastery built into the cliffs of Mount Ostrog, it’s famous for its cave churches, painted frescoes, and extraordinary setting. The monastery is closely associated with St Basil of Ostrog, a 17th-century Orthodox bishop whose relics are also kept here.

In all honesty, we’re not sure the trip to Ostrog Monastery from Kotor is worth it unless you’re really into religious heritage. It was an interesting place to visit on our Montenegro road trip as we passed by, it’s free, and it only takes an hour or so to see, but we wouldn’t personally make the 4-hour round trip+ just for it alone.

10. Dubrovnik

If you’re staying in Kotor for several days, crossing the border into Croatia to visit Dubrovnik is one of the most ambitious day trips you can make – but it’s also one of the most memorable. This is really the only long day trip we’d actually recommend.

Dubrovnik is famous for its beautiful Old Town, which sits directly on the Adriatic, surrounded by enormous medieval fortifications. The city became an important Mediterranean maritime power from the 13th century onwards and was heavily damaged by a devastating earthquake in 1667. Despite this, much of its Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture survived, and the Old City has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.

Our recommendation for the day is to drive to Dubrovnik, take the cable car round trip into the town, and explore on foot. You can also take the ferry from Kotor to Dubrovnik, which is allegedly faster than queuing at the border, but more expensive. While there are lots of bus services between Kotor and Dubrovnik, we wouldn’t rely on them for a day trip, as you’ll spend too long in transit, especially if you get stuck at the border.

When you arrive, spend a day walking the city walls, exploring the narrow lanes of the Old Town, visiting landmarks like the Rector’s Palace and Dubrovnik Cathedral, and taking the cable car up Mount Srđ if you want the classic aerial view (especially at sunset).

It might seem crazy that there are parts of Montenegro we don’t recommend day-tripping to, but then we’re suggesting you cross into a whole other country. However, the journey time is only 2 hours each way – if you don’t get stuck at the Croatian border – so it’s actually more doable than some tours inside Montenegro. We’d recommend setting off super early to beat the traffic, using the smaller Vitaljina border crossing, and maybe skipping this day tour if you’re visiting Kotor in peak summer. We visited Dubrovnik as a day trip from Kotor, and even though we waited an hour at the border on the way there, it was one of our favourite days of our trip.

Day trips from Kotor we don’t recommend

Nothing annoys me more when it comes to travel research than when one of the items on a list of things to do is to go to somewhere completely different, especially if it’s ridiculously far away and would require spending most of the day in the car.

There are plenty of amazing places in Montenegro that we absolutely recommend visiting, but that doesn’t mean they’re sensible day trips from Kotor. We had to make these decisions when planning our own trip, and these are the places we’d recommend saving for another part of your itinerary.

Here are the stupidly long day trips we advised my family against trying to see from Kotor in a day.

1. Durmitor National Park

The drive to Žabljak (the gateway town) takes around 3 hours each way in normal conditions, and mountain traffic, stops, and slower roads can easily push that higher. We just don’t consider a 6-7 hour journey time a reasonable day trip.

We’d highly recommend visiting Durmitor National Park, but do yourself a favour and stay for at least a couple of nights. You’ll then have time for the Black Lake, the Durmitor Ring Road, and some proper hiking, like the Bobotov Kuk Trail, among the incredible scenery without spending half your visit in a vehicle.

If you’re REALLY keen to see Durmitor in a day or to go white water rafting in the Tara River Canyon, and you genuinely don’t have time to stay a night or two in the national park area, it might be worth it to you to book a day tour so you don’t have to do all the driving, but prepare yourself for a long day spent mostly on the bus.

2. Biogradska Gora National Park

Biogradska Gora is another beautiful national park in Montenegro, but from Kotor you’re looking at around 2.5-3 hours each way by car, making it another day where a huge chunk of your time disappears on the road.

The park is famous for its ancient primeval forest and Lake Biograd, and we’d absolutely recommend visiting if you’re travelling through northern Montenegro. But it makes much more sense as part of a road trip or while staying around Kolašin than as a marathon excursion from Kotor.

You can technically drive there, walk around the lake and drive back in one day, but personally, we’d rather spend that time enjoying somewhere closer to Kotor.

Day Trips From Kotor FAQs

To help you choose which day trips from Kotor to plan, we’ve answered these frequently asked questions.

What is the best day trip from Kotor?

For us, Lovćen National Park and Cetinje make one of the best day trips from Kotor because you get spectacular mountain scenery, Montenegrin history, Njegoš Mausoleum, and traditional food in Njeguši all in one trip. They’re also close enough to Kotor that you’re not spending most of the day travelling. Lake Skadar and a Blue Cave boat trip were other highlights for us.

What are the best tours to take in Montenegro?

Some of the most popular tours from Kotor include Bay of Kotor boat trips, guided tours of Kotor Old Town, visiting Lovćen National Park, wine tours around Lake Skadar, and longer days to Ostrog Monastery. Personally, we think Durmitor National Park and rafting on the Tara River is too far for an enjoyable day – plan to spend at least a night.

What are some good places to visit near Kotor?

Some of our favourite options for day trips from Kotor include Perast, Lovćen, Cetinje, Budva, Sveti Stefan, Lake Skadar, and Rijeka Crnojevića, depending on whether you’re more interested in beaches, history, hiking, food, or scenery. Perast is particularly easy to reach, while Lovćen and Cetinje give you a completely different mountain-and-history experience.

Is it possible to take a day trip from Kotor to Dubrovnik?

Yes, Dubrovnik is possible as a day trip from Kotor, but we’d allow a full day and leave plenty of flexibility for the border crossing. It’s one of the longer excursions on this list, so we’d personally avoid trying to squeeze in lots of other sights on the same day.

Do you need a car for day trips from Kotor?

You don’t necessarily need a car to enjoy Kotor’s day trips. Several coastal destinations are connected by bus, while organised tours can take you to places that are much more awkward to reach independently. A car gives you the most flexibility, particularly for Lovćen, Cetinje, Lake Skadar, and Rijeka Crnojevića.

Can you visit more than one place on a day trip from Kotor?

Yes, and in some cases it makes a lot of sense. Lovćen, Cetinje, and Njeguši are a natural combination, while Budva and Sveti Stefan work well together. You could also combine Lake Skadar with either Rijeka Crnojevića or Petrovac. Just don’t try to cram half of Montenegro into one day.

Read next:

A Traveller’s Guide to the Bay of Kotor: Europe’s Southernmost Fjord

Where to Stay in Kotor Bay: Top Towns + Best Hotels From Budget to Boutique

27 Cool Things to Do in Kotor + What Not to Do

How to Spend One Day in Kotor & Our Free DIY Old Town Walking Tour Route + Map

11 Best Montenegro Blue Cave Boat Tours + Is It Even Worth It?

How to Visit Lovćen National Park & Mausoleum of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš

Driving the Kotor Serpentine vs Taking the Kotor Cable Car

Our 15 Favourite Cafés, Bars & Restaurants in Kotor + Veggie/Vegan Options

What It’s Really Like to Hike the Ladder of Kotor

How to See & Support Kotor’s Cats

A Quick Guide to Taking the Kamenari-Lepetane Ferry in the Bay of Kotor

A Traveller’s Guide to the Luštica Peninsula

How to Find the Lipci Rock Art: Prehistoric Petroglyphs in the Bay of Kotor