Kotor's viewpoints, from the walls to Mount Lovćen

Kotor has a perspective problem. From inside the old town you can’t see the town, only alleys, and from the quay the mountain blocks everything. To understand where you are, you have to climb, and luckily there are four different heights to do it from, each with its own cost in legs or euros. Here they are in order, from the one I wouldn’t skip to the one that’s simply a nice extra.

St John’s fortress, the postcard view

The classic viewpoint is at the top of the walls. From the old town it’s 1.2 km of steps and ramps, 1,350 steps covering 260 m of height, going by Kotor’s staircase race, and from the top you see the old town as a triangle of roofs between rock and sea. I cover it in full under the Kotor city walls, including what is and isn’t published about entry.

The cable car, for the whole bay

The National Tourism Organisation gives the figures for the cable car linking Dub, near Kotor, with the hamlet of Kuk on Mount Lovćen. That’s 3,900 m of cable, 1,316 m of climb and 11 minutes in one of 48 ten-seat cabins. At the top the bay is spread out beneath you from more than a thousand metres up. What it doesn’t publish is the fare or the timetable, so check those with the operator first.

Next to the top station, the Forza group runs a restaurant, Forza Kuk, which claims on its website to have the most enchanting views in Montenegro. I’d take the superlative with a pinch of salt, but the location speaks for itself. The rest is on the Kotor cable car page.

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The serpentine, from the driver’s seat

The road from Kotor up towards Njeguši and Cetinje coils up the slope in tight hairpins, the bay dropping further away at every turn. It’s the viewpoint for anyone with a car who’d rather not walk. Do it late in the afternoon with the sun behind you, and only pull over where there’s a safe place to stop. Kotor’s tourist board notes that this way, via Njeguši and Cetinje, Podgorica airport is 79 km away, so it may well be your route in or out anyway. More in the Kotor serpentine guide.

Vrmac, the viewpoint without the crowds

Between Kotor and Tivat rises Mount Vrmac, which Tivat’s tourist board lists among its attractions. The National Tourism Organisation counts its Austro-Hungarian fort among the best preserved in the inner bay and suggests hiking up to it. From the top you see the Bay of Kotor and Tivat’s bay at once, and it’s the only one of the four where you’ll often have it almost to yourself. See Mount Vrmac.

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The right hour for each

My rule is simple. The walls first thing, because the bare stone slope heats up early in summer. The serpentine and Vrmac as the day ends and the light turns low and golden over the water. The cable car on a clear day at any hour, since up there visibility is everything. And if a big cruise ship is in, the walls will be busier by mid-morning, so get up before the passengers come ashore.