Bay of Kotor · Montenegro
About Perast
The small baroque town where every one of our tours begins.
A town built by sailors
Perast sits on a narrow shelf of land at the foot of Saint Elijah hill, at the point where the Bay of Kotor turns towards Risan. It is tiny — a single waterfront street, a few hundred residents — yet it holds an unusual density of palaces, churches and stone captains' houses.
That wealth came from the sea. During the Venetian centuries Perast's sailors and shipmasters were known across the Adriatic, and they spent their fortunes at home: the baroque facades, the campanile of Saint Nicholas above the square, and the churches that still frame the harbour.
Today Perast is part of the UNESCO-protected Bay of Kotor region. Cars stay outside the old core, so the town is walked slowly, with swimming off the stone jetties and boats coming and going all day towards the two islets just offshore.
Seeing it from the water
Perast was designed to be approached by boat, and the two islands — Our Lady of the Rocks and Saint George — can only be reached that way. From the water you also see the bay's steep villages, the narrows at Verige, and, further out, the Blue Cave. That is the tour we run every day, from 9 AM to 7 PM.
Perast 85336, Montenegro — about 12 km from Kotor.
What to look for
Our Lady of the Rocks
A man-made islet built up over centuries by local sailors, with a blue-domed church and small museum.
Baroque palaces
A waterfront lined with stone palaces and churches from Perast's seafaring golden age.
St George islet
The natural island beside it, with its Benedictine abbey and cypress trees — the classic bay view.
Slow, car-free days
The old waterfront is walked, not driven. Swim from the stone jetties and watch the light change.