Where to eat in Kotor, from the old town to the waterfront

In Kotor the real question isn’t what to eat but where to sit. The town lives off the sea, and nearly every menu shows it, but a terrace on the main square and a table over the water at Šuranj are worlds apart. Here’s what to order and where I’d go, based on what each place says on its own website.

What to order

When it talks about Kotor, the National Tourism Organisation boils it down to squid, risotto and Vranac red wine. I’d add what the same organisation highlights around the bay, mussels and oysters from the farms at Risan and Herceg Novi, cooked na buzaru with olive oil, wine, garlic, fresh herbs and sometimes breadcrumbs. There’s a red buzara and a white one, and if you see both on the menu, order one of each for the table.

Pudding has a name of its own. Kotor pašta is the town’s cream cake, and since 2013 it has had its own June festival, Kotor Pašta, where local bakers enter theirs and the public picks a winner. It’s run by the old town community with the municipality and tourist board to protect the traditional recipe.

Inside the walls

Konoba Scala Santa is a family konoba on Salad Square, one of the small squares of Kotor Old Town, where the kitchen serves from 12:00 to 22:00. I like that it’s off the Square of Arms, where terraces live off people passing through once.

For something sweet, the Forza patisserie on the Square of Arms has been in the old town for over 35 years. It’s where the Forza group started before it grew into hotels and restaurants round the bay, and it’s best known for its krempita, a house classic. I’d stop here mid-morning, after the walls.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Kotor on Expedia and filter by area before price.

By the water

Galion sits at Šuranj, just outside the walls, with a terrace over the water looking back at the old town. Its website describes a fish menu and a broad wine list, 70 seats that can stretch to 100, and three areas, with the open terrace running from April to November and a glassed-in one for the rest of the year. That’s the dinner I’d book for the last night. If you’re staying at Hotel Vardar, its website advertises 10% off here.

Up in Dobrota, the shore of palaces north of Kotor, Palazzo Radomiri has a restaurant using local and regional produce in a 17th-century captain’s house. The hotel’s own website says Dobrota is full of good places to eat and fine sunsets over the bay, and I’d agree.

Up on Mount Lovćen

Forza Kuk is at the top of Mount Lovćen beside the cable car station, serving traditional Montenegrin food with a modern approach. I’d pair it with the cabin ride on a clear day, as I explain in Kotor viewpoints. Bookings are by phone or email.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Kotor on Booking.com and filter by area before price.

What I won’t tell you

I’m not giving menu prices, because none of these restaurants publishes them on the pages I read and I won’t make them up. Nor will you get a list of twenty places nobody has verified. If you’re in Kotor on a heavy cruise day, eat early or late, as with everything else in this town.