Along the Montenegrin coast lies a string of old towns where people still live today. Kotor and Perast sit on the Bay of Kotor and have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979. Herceg Novi was founded in 1382, and Budva is more than 2,500 years old. Stari Bar, below Mount Rumija, was abandoned after the 1979 earthquake and is now a museum town, while Ulcinj, on a rock above the sea, carries traces of the Illyrian, Venetian and Ottoman eras.
UNESCO-listed Kotor, baroque Perast, Herceg Novi founded in 1382, Budva more than 2,500 years old, the ruins of Stari Bar and Ulcinj above the sea: a short history and tips for your visit.
Kotor and Perast
Kotor was ruled by Venice from 1420 to 1797, and it shows in the palaces, churches and walls that climb the hill above town. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 together with the surrounding bay, and in 2017 also as part of the Venetian Works of Defence. The Cathedral of St Tryphon, from 1166, stands on the site of an older 9th-century church. The Clock Tower from 1602 rises on the Square of Arms, and other squares are named after what was once sold there, such as the Flour Square.
On the road from Kotor towards Risan lies Perast, a town of seafarers and captains' palaces, also within the UNESCO area. Off its shore lie the islands of St George and Our Lady of the Rocks, and on its square stand the busts of Admiral Matija Zmajević, Marko Martinović and the painter Tripo Kokolja.
Herceg Novi
The town at the mouth of the bay was founded by the Bosnian king Tvrtko I in 1382 under the name Sveti Stefan, and later took its name from Herceg Stjepan Vukčić. Turks, Spaniards, Venetians and Austrians followed one another. You enter the old town through the Clock Tower from 1667, with the Kanli Kula and Španjola fortresses above. Because its streets are almost all steps, local tourism promotion jokingly calls it the town of 100,001 steps.
Budva
Budva is more than 2,500 years old. The Archaeological Museum in the old town holds finds left by Illyrians, Greeks, Romans and Slavs, and a relief carved into the wall of the Citadel, first mentioned in 1425, is linked to a legend of tragic love and the town's name. Today the walls enclose many restaurants, and in summer the whole old town becomes the stage of the Grad Teatar festival.
Did you know?
Stari Bar surrendered to the Montenegrin army only when its water was cut off: on 5 January 1878 the Montenegrins blew up the aqueduct that supplied the town, and the garrison surrendered four days later.
Stari Bar
Below Mount Rumija, about three kilometres from today's Bar, stands a fortified town that was the centre of Duklja and the seat of an archbishopric from 1089. It belonged to Venice until 1571 and then to the Ottomans for more than three centuries. The Montenegrin army besieged it from November 1877, and it surrendered in January 1878. After the 1979 earthquake its people moved away, leaving a museum town of about 4.5 hectares with the remains of more than 240 buildings, from the 13th-century church of St Nicholas to an aqueduct, a hammam and a clock tower from the 18th century.
Ulcinj
Ulcinj's old town, on a rock above the sea, dates back to the 5th century BC. Venice took the town in 1405 and the Ottomans in 1571, with the help of North African corsairs, and Ulcinj became a well-known pirate stronghold. From the mid-17th century, captives of Ulcinj's corsairs, mostly from Italy and Dalmatia, were sold on the small square in front of the church-mosque, which is still called the Slave Square. Ulcinj became part of Montenegro in 1878. Its best-known buildings are the Balšić Tower and the Venetian Palace.
