Perast, Kotor and Budva Small-Group Day Trip from Dubrovnik

Perast and the Bay of Kotor

The first stop on this Kotor and Perast tour from Dubrovnik is Perast, a tiny baroque town pressed between the mountain and the water at the narrowest part of the Bay of Kotor. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries its sea captains grew rich under Venice and left behind a waterfront lined with stone palaces, church towers and a maritime school that once trained sailors from across Europe. No cars enter the promenade, so your hour of free time is a slow walk past the palaces, the Church of St Nicholas with its tall bell tower and the small harbour where the boats to the islets leave.

Perast is at its best early in the morning, exactly when this tour arrives: soft light on the water, restaurants only opening and an uninterrupted view across to the two islets. If you wonder how to get to Perast from Dubrovnik without a car, this small-group day trip is the simplest way, because public transport in the bay is slow.

Our Lady of the Rocks islet

Just off the Perast waterfront float two islets. One is a natural island with a monastery; the other, Our Lady of the Rocks, is man-made. According to local tradition, sailors began dropping stones at the spot where an icon was found on a rock, and over centuries, together with old ships sunk on purpose, the pile grew into an island. A small church was built on it, and the custom of bringing a stone continues every July in a rowing procession.

An Our Lady of the Rocks boat trip takes a few minutes each way from the Perast quay and is paid on site; with an hour of free time you can go across, see the church interior with its votive silver plaques and small museum, and return. The boat and church entry are not included, but the driver-guide will tell you where the boats leave and how long you can stay. Even from the shore, the islets make the most photographed view of the bay.

Kotor Old Town

A Dubrovnik to Kotor day trip is one of the most popular excursions in the region, and Kotor earns it. The Old Town sits at the end of the bay beneath a steep mountain, enclosed by about 4 km of walls that climb the slope to the fortress of St John. Inside you find a maze of marble lanes, small squares, Venetian-era palaces, the twin-towered Cathedral of St Tryphon from the twelfth century and a maritime museum about the bay's sailors. The whole area is UNESCO-listed.

Two hours of free time in Kotor are enough to walk the main squares, step into the cathedral and climb part of the walls for a view over the orange rooftops and the fjord-like bay. The climb to the top of the fortress takes about an hour each way and suits cooler months; in summer, the shorter climb to the Church of Our Lady of Remedy gives a similar panorama. A small city tax and any entrance fees are paid on site.

Budva Old Town and beaches

From Kotor the road climbs over the ridge and drops to the open Adriatic and Budva, the liveliest resort on the Montenegrin coast. The Budva day trip from Dubrovnik gives you two hours here. The old town is a compact Venetian citadel on a small peninsula, rebuilt stone by stone after the 1979 earthquake, with narrow streets, a citadel on the tip, the Church of St John and a sea wall you can walk along for views of the islands offshore.

Right outside the walls lie the town beaches: Ričardova Glava next to the old town, the long sandy Slovenska Plaža to the east, and Mogren, reached by a short coastal path to the west. Many travellers use this stop for lunch in the old town (not included) and then a swim, so bring swimwear in summer. If you prefer sightseeing, the citadel terrace and the small museum inside the walls fill the time easily. This is the furthest point of the day before the drive back begins.

The ferry crossing of the Bay of Kotor

On the way back the tour takes the short car ferry between Lepetane and Kamenari across the Verige strait, the narrowest point of the bay. Instead of driving the whole way around the shoreline, the vehicle rolls onto the ferry and you spend about ten minutes on the open deck with the mountains rising straight out of the water on both sides. It is a different perspective on the Bay of Kotor than the one you had from the road in the morning.

The crossing also saves time, which is why the tour reaches the border again around 16:00 and Dubrovnik around 17:00. Keep your passport ready for the second border check. The ferry is included in the price of the tour, runs frequently and is a favourite spot for the last photos of the day. Together with Perast, Kotor and Budva, it makes this one of the most complete Bay of Kotor day trips available from Croatia.