Where to stay in Kotor, area by area

Picking a hotel in Kotor is mostly about picking an area. The town is small, but sleeping inside the walls, along the Dobrota shore or across the water gives you three quite different trips. Here’s each area with its census population, so you can see what lies behind the name, and a handful of hotels with what they say on their own websites.

Inside the walls

Arriving for the first time without wheels? Then the old town is the obvious pick. The upside is waking up inside and having the squares to yourself before the cruise passengers land; the downside is summer noise late into the night and thousands of people by day. Hotels here are small and in old buildings. Hotel Vardar, a four-star, looks on to the Square of Arms with 24 rooms, 18 standard at 25 m² and six junior at 35 m², all overlooking Kotor Old Town, plus a sauna, Turkish bath and small gym. The Cattaro, which bills itself as a historic boutique hotel, also has its address inside the walls.

If you’re arriving with a hire car from the airport, 8.3 km away, ask the hotel where to leave it before you set off.

Dobrota, my favourite

Dobrota is the shore running north from Kotor, a line of captains’ houses and palaces facing the water, and with 7,345 residents in the preliminary census it’s the largest settlement in the municipality. I rate it as the most comfortable base in the whole bay, quiet at night and a walk along the shore from Kotor.

This is where the hotels with most character are. Palazzo Radomiri occupies a late 17th-century shipowner’s mansion and opened as a boutique hotel in 2007; each room is named after a boat and there are yoga classes several times a week. Huma Kotor Bay combines a hotel with seafront residences, the beach a few steps away and transfers from Tivat, Dubrovnik and Podgorica airports.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Kotor for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Škaljari and Muo

Škaljari, with 3,342 residents, is the residential district south of the old town, where the tourist board has its main office. There are no views, but it’s a short walk to the walls. Muo, with 540, sits on the opposite shore with Kotor in front of it; it’s peaceful and short on services.

The five-stars on the water

The Forza group, which began in a patisserie in the old town, runs two five-star boutique hotels in Kotor. Forza Mare, open since 2008, was the area’s first five-star boutique hotel, right on the water, with a private beach, spa and restaurant. Forza Terra is a short way from the city walls, with a private beach, spa, pool bar and wine corner. The stars are as each hotel declares them on its website.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Kotor on GetYourGuide.

The Prčanj shore

Follow the road along the western shore and you reach Prčanj, with 1,030 residents, and its resorts on the water. The biggest is the Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay, which has its own page. This is the area for a pool and bay views if you don’t mind relying on a car or taxi to get into Kotor.

What you pay on top

The municipality sets the tourist tax at one euro per adult per night and fifty cents for teenagers, free for under-12s, the same throughout the municipality according to the tourist board. Your accommodation collects it with the bill, and hotels and registered rentals register you with the authorities within your first 24 hours. To compare Kotor with the rest of the country, the guide to where to stay in Montenegro puts it alongside Budva, Tivat and Herceg Novi.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Kotor for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.