montenegro backpacking route
- (Bay of) Kotor
- Day trip Perast
- Budva
- Day trip Sveti Stefan
Back in the land of the euro, I caught a bus (shocker) from Mostar to Kotor, Montenegro.
The day before I left Mostar, I walked the 35 minutes to the bus station to buy my ticket since there was only one bus the next day that left at a decent time. I’m not sure what would have happened if I bought a ticket the day of, but the double decker bus was quite full.
Before doing my 35 minute pilgrimage to the station, I looked on GetByBus to see if there were online tickets available, but all of them noted that you had to print out the ticket. Normally, I would say chance it because I’m a dare devil like that (kind of like when I don’t wear my retainer at night), but I’ve witnessed first hand what happens when travelers decide not to do this.
Mayhem.
It’s actually not that bad, the bus driver gets mad and sometimes they still let you on, other times not.
(free) things to do in Kotor
In Kotor, the Estre Bank atm on the way from the bus station to town didn’t charge me a fee when I took out €200 using my Dutch bank card.
beach please
The beach near Kotor old town is made of little rocks that jab you, but it does the job if you wanted some chillax time and you get a pretty view. My phone camera is shit but you get the just.
Kotor’s Ladder fortress access
I attempted to go up Kotor’s Ladder to gain access to the fortress the “back way”. If you want free access to the fortress as of June 3, 2023, this entrance has been blocked. Proper cement blocks. There is a sign that says no access and for those of you who think I can scale the fortress wall, well it’s kinda it’s job to fortify so good luck with that.
Walking up the official, main entrance through old town will cost €8, but you get views of the bay and old town, whereas the “back way” hike the old town blocked by the fortress walls. I saw pictures of the paid side views and it looked nice.
What was more than nice was during my hike up about midway, I was told that the fortress access was blocked. Instead of turning around I thought enthusiastically let’s go to the top of the mountain! Then I saw a sign that read wine and cheese – and I had a better thought, which was fuck hiking, what a perfect time to grab homemade wine and cheese.
When I ordered wine at 10:04am, without judgement the guy said red or white. The red is homemade, the white is from the village. I stayed there for 8 hours drinking, eating and chatting with randomz along with the owner’s uncle? Grandpa? either way- he spoke no English and hilarious times ensued.
I was there for so long that the first person I had a convo with at 10:20am, climbed the mountain, came back to wet his whistle at 12:00 and I was still there.
He literally said to me “you’re STILL here”.
I remained for another 4-6 hours after he left.
boating around to Perast
I took a €20 boat tour to the Our Lady on the Rocks and Perast. I didn’t want to go to the blue caves because I’ve seen this unique, novel, natural wonder in 3-5 other countries. So while the boat tour continued to the blue caves I was left in Perast for 2 hours. After about 30 minutes I saw everything that needed to be seen. It’s lovely, but small and all the viewpoints from the top are makeshift parking places.
Not sure if they are new additions but if you squeeze between cars you get a fab view. I tried to go up to the tower thingy but it was blocked. I tried to get down from the main roads using the alleyways and stairs but so many of the them were private property so I had to backtrack a lot.
I ended up sitting on the concrete by the water for a bit.
Budva baby
For the bus to Budva from Kotor, you can buy your ticket the day of, just show up 15/20 minutes early since they run quite frequently. I left at 11:40 and arrived at 12:11- likady split.
Budva is overly touristy in the worst possible way. So much so that I’ve added y to endings of words. Touristy places aren’t great, but when you get loads of tourists without the convenience that usually comes with it, is really not great. I’m referring to the infrastructure of decent accommodation, convenient public transport system, accessible toilets etc. just the ease of exploring was truly heinous. I’m always so proud of myself for not being dramatic.
On Sundays in Kotor and Budva, supermarkets, pharmacies, stores are all closed and buses run infrequently. So make sure you go to the supermarket the day before or you will be hard pressed to find something.
The prices are the same as Amsterdam when eating out/ I assure you that I searched cheap eats and was willing to walk uphill both ways for 5 kilometers to get it.
It just simply didn’t exist in Budva.
trash, I mean, food in Budva
I went to Lee Fast Korean food (I know, I know- Korean food in Montenegro. It’s going to be a trash bag wrapped in fish nets, but here I am).
It was edible- but for €15.50, it should have been divine. I would have thought it was okay for €8.50. that is a reasonable price to pay for what I ate. I can go on forever about the price to quality ratio, but naturally when the chef chef asked if I enjoyed my bibimbap, I responded-
yes! It was nice.
That was probably the meanest response to that question that I’ve ever given. Nice and only one exclamation mark. I can’t believe I was THAT rude.
I got a slice of pizza in the afternoon, not from the old town because I purposely avoided that (€3.00/3.50 was average prices for a slice).
I went out of my way, creeping the backstreets to find a water and a slice for €2.50 – a steal- or so I thought.
You know when every bite you’re thinking how could I have so little respect for my body to allow this into my mouth. It wasn’t disgusting, the lady even heated it in the oven for a pretend second, but it was just garbage. No other way to say it. This is what I mean by overly touristy, but without the perks. Normally you get over priced food in the center or if you go a few blocks away from the main strip you get decent food.
I have yet to taste decent.
I take that back. I had a decent gyro at Home of Gyros by Naky’s (BUDVA) after walking 3.5kms.
Budva old town
Old town had some cute corners.
Mogren beach that you need to walk through old town to get to is a goodie. You can rent chairs, but also there is plenty of space you can sit for free.
Sveti Stefan from Budva
I headed to Sveti Stefan for a “day trip”- which ended up taking less than two hours (I left at 15:25 and was back by 17:05). The bus leaves every 20 minutes and takes 20 minutes or so to get there- randos got picked up off the side of the road so on the way back it took 25 minutes. The bus departs from: Bus stop to Sveti Stefan / Petrovac (2 Mediteranska, Budva, Montenegro), but there are other stops along the way. Best to ask your accommodation what the situation is.
I’d say go to Sveti Stefan for the beaches, which would have been a great tip to know before I went because when I went, I didn’t bring a towel or bathing suit.
The beaches at Sveti Stefan are small soft pebbles and crystal clear water. The island jetty thing is only for rich people so you can walk a path until you hit a massive locked gate.
I’m beginning to realise that if you scorn me with your garbage that you call food or your price/ quality ratio isn’t up to my standards then I don’t care for your town- such is with Budva. The beaches are nicer here than in Kotor, but because I didn’t get a good value for my money I say neh neh.
would I recommend going to Montenegro?
Everyone speaks very highly of Montenegro and it is gorg, but it was more expensive than I thought and the whole catering to cruise ship tourists, but not travellers bothered me. My friend from Montenegro did say that you need a car to actually explore the country. Their bus system is fine, but having a car to go around Kotor, explore the mountains etc. would have been better.
