Kotor Open Tour: Kotor's Hop on Hop Off Bus Tour

Only got a day in Kotor? See the highlights with Kotor Open Tour, Kotor's hop-on hop-off bus tour.

I loved doing this tour. It's a great way to see the highlights of the bay and if you're only going to be in Kotor for a day, this is a good way to get the most out of your day. 

Here are some of the reasons Kotor Open Tour is so popular:

• It’s a good option for people who only have a short stopover in Kotor and want to see the highlights around Kotor. It's perfect for cruise ship guests.
  
• Riding around in the open top bus, your experience of the bay is more intimate and vivid that if you were looking at from behind the windows of a tour bus. You feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair and smell the sea air.
• There's an audio guide accompanying the ride in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian and Montenegrin. The guide tells you about the local history and sights of both the bay and Montenegro in general.
• At €25 per person, it's a great value tour option in Kotor. Group walking tours of Kotor start from €12 per person and a Kotor and Perast excursion sold on cruise ships is priced at around €59 per person.
• Because you can hop on and hop off wherever you like, you can see what you want to see. You can choose to see the attractions or spend some time on the beach.
• The bus guides are some of the friendliest people you'll meet and you can ask them anything you want about Montenegro. 

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Kotor Open Tour Bus Route

The bus tour departs from central Kotor, just 100m from Kotor old town and the port of Kotor.

It takes you from Kotor to Risan and back again and you can hop on and hop off at any of the stops along the way. If you don't get off the bus at any of the optional stops, the round trip to Risan and back takes around 1 hour and 10 minutes.

The stops are:

Risan - Mandatory Stop

This is the oldest settlement in the Bay of Kotor and used to be the seat of the Illyrian ruler Teuta until it was invaded by the Romans.

The bus stops at the Roman mosaics here. You'll have time to see the Roman mosaics from the second century B.C, which have been preserved from an ancient Roman palace. One of the mosaics is of the Roman god Hypnos, the god of sleep and it's the only mosaic representation of this god ever found. 

As you walk around the site, you'll see the intricate mosaic designs, pieces of marble pillars, a display about the site and there's a short talk about the site.

Your entrance fee for the mosaics is included with your bus ticket.

The bus will wait for you to visit the mosaics for about 20-25 minutes. Then you'll board the same bus and return back towards Kotor.

Perast - Optional Stop

Perast is another UNESCO Heritage protected town and is perhaps the prettiest town in the whole bay. This is where the wealthy rulers an seafarers used to build their palaces and the town has been painstakingly preserved.  

From here you can take a boat over to Our Lady of the Rocks church island (€3 per person) and visit the church and museum (€1 per person).  

You can also walk the town, visit the churches, try one of the excellent waterfront restaurants and visit the town museum. Your Kotor Open Tour ticket includes entrance to Perast museum.

When you've finished visiting Perast, you'll return to the stop where you got off and wait for the next bus to take you back to Kotor. 

Bajova Kula - Optional Stop

If the weather's hot, which it's likely to be in summer, Bajova Kula is great place to cool off and enjoy a break from sightseeing. 

Bajova Kula (Bajo's Tower) is a tower built by you guessed it, a guy called Bajo. Bajo Pivljanin was a local hero who built the tower in 1670 as a place to rest when he was taking a break from being a hero in the non-stop battles that were waged in this area.

Today it's still a rest stop and there's a beach where you can hire loungers, swim and get a bite at the restaurant. 

Last time we were here there were dolphins jumping just 100m off shore!

Like Perast, you can get off at this stop and grab any of the next buses to return to Kotor. 

Kotor

The tour finishes back in Kotor where you can join one of the walking tours that are included with your bus ticket.

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Schedule

Kotor Open Tour runs between April and December and coincides with the arrival of certain cruise ships. If you're not arriving on a cruise ship you can still do the tour. Buses depart every 30 minutes.

In case of heavy rain, the buses don't run because they're open top. In the summer months, rain is very rare and if it does rain it usually doesn't last more than an hour, so you could join the tour when it stops.

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Tickets

The bus ticket is €25 and you can use the buses as much as you like in one day. Your ticket includes:

• Bus tour with stops at Risan, Perast, Bajova Kula and Kotor.
• An audio guide which is available in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian and Montenegrin.
• Entrance to the Roman Mosaics in Risan.
• Entrance to Perast town museum.
• A 45 minute walking tour of Kotor.
• Discounts at many shops and restaurants in Kotor and Perast.

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