The beaches and mountains of Montenegro

The "unbelievably pretty" town of Perast on the Bay of Kotor

(Image credit: Tuul & Bruno Morandi / Getty Images)

published 28 July 2024

Perched by the Adriatic between Croatia and Albania, Montenegro is roughly the same size as Northern Ireland, said Katie Gatens in The Sunday Times. But this tiny country – the smallest in the Balkans – is one of the world's fastest- growing tourist destinations, thanks in part to its beauty.

Its most famous spot, the fjord-like Bay of Kotor, is reminiscent of Italy's great lakes, with its "crumbling" medieval towns and "towering" mountains, and while unregulated construction has blighted parts of the bay, there are still some quiet places on its shores and elsewhere on the country's rugged coast. Inland, where "spectacular" peaks rise to 2,523m, there's much less development, so it's well worth venturing away from the coast – as I did on a self-drive trip with Original Travel.

On the Bay of Kotor, I stayed at an 18th-century palace hotel, the Heritage Grand, in the "unbelievably pretty" town of Perast, and ventured out in a speedboat to explore the surrounding shores. Far south of the bay, I spent a couple of blissful days in the little fishing village of Przno (wonderfully peaceful in May), and visited the historic town of Sveti Stefan, whose fortified island – linked by a causeway to the mainland – has graced a thousand postcards.