Kotor's traditional winter carnival

Kotor in August, five cruise ships in the bay and a queue at the Sea Gate, has nothing in common with Kotor in February. In winter the town belongs to the people who live here, and once a year all of them dress up. The traditional winter carnival is when I’d visit if I wanted to see the Kotor that never makes it on to a postcard.

Ten days of festivities in February

Kotor’s tourist board published the 2026 programme, running from 6 to 15 February. Things kicked off at noon on Friday 6 with the town band, the carnival queen and majorettes, with a wet-weather plan that moved the opening into the children’s masked ball at the Škaljari House of Culture the same afternoon. Through the week there were masked balls for children and adults, workshops and events around the municipality.

The finale is the part I wouldn’t miss. On Sunday 15, from 14:00, a grand parade made its way along the town’s main road and ended with the trial and burning of the carnival, followed by concerts. It’s the moment when the whole of Kotor is out on the street.

Karampana, the one-day newspaper

One detail says a lot about carnival here. Karampana is a humorous, satirical paper printed once a year, on carnival day. In 2026 it marked a hundred years since its first edition, and the programme gave it an exhibition of old issues at the town gallery and an evening at the Boka cinema. The National Tourism Organisation, for its part, describes carnival festivities in Kotor going back half a millennium.

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Not just the old town

Carnival isn’t run by a single body. Alongside the Kotor Cultural Centre, the 2026 programme involved a local association, the Kamelija shopping centre with its children’s ball, and the community of Prčanj, which was celebrating fifty years of its own carnival. The grand masked ball was on Friday 13 at the Hyatt Regency Kotor Bay, the main sponsor, with another at the Maximus club.

Kotor in February, minus the ships

This is the argument that wins me over. Luka Kotor’s 2026 schedule had only three cruise calls in all of February, against 86 in August. That means an old town free of cruise groups and museums without queues. In 2024 the official station at Herceg Novi, the nearest to Kotor, averaged 9.5 °C in January, so think coat rather than costume alone. It is winter, mind; check Montenegro weather before you pack.

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What we don’t know about 2027

As I write, nobody has published the 2027 carnival dates. I won’t give you a date the organisers haven’t announced; when it comes out, it’ll be in their events calendar. For the full festival calendar, see events in Montenegro, and for somewhere to sleep, hotels in Kotor.

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