Tivat Airport to Perast
About 20 km along the bay past Kotor; a taxi runs €25–35, and no vehicles enter the village itself.
A single street of baroque palaces along the water, built by sea captains in the seventeenth century, facing two small islands — one natural with a monastery, one built by hand around a rock.
Every way to get there
Our verdict: for Perast, a private transfer is the easiest door-to-door option (from €50). Travelling light on a budget? The bus is cheapest (from €4) but slower, with a change in the city.
What it costs for your group
The bus is charged per person, while a taxi or private transfer is one price for the whole car — so the more of you there are, the better door-to-door value looks.
| Group | Bus (per person) | Private transfer | Best value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo · 1 traveller | €4 | €50 | Bus |
| Couple · 2 travellers | €8 | €50 | Bus |
| Family of 4 · 4 travellers | €16 | €50 | Bus |
Which option should you choose?
| If your priority is… | Our pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest price | Bus | From €4, though slower with a change in the city. |
| Speed & comfort | Private transfer | Door-to-door, fixed price, a driver waiting for you. |
| A group of 3–4 | Transfer or taxi | One flat fare splits cheaper than several bus tickets. |
| A late-night arrival | Transfer or taxi | Both run 24/7 when buses and the tram have stopped. |
By transport mode
Taxi
Perast's waterfront street is closed to traffic; cars stop in the car parks at either end of the village and everything beyond is on foot. It is only a few hundred metres long.
Where to catch it: Around the bay through Kotor and on along the shore. Agree the price first.
Best for small groups in a hurryBus / shuttle
Cheap and slow. The stop is on the upper road and the village is down a flight of steps from it, which matters with luggage but not on a day trip.
Where to catch it: Blue Line to Kotor, then the bay bus towards Risan — it stops on the main road above Perast.
Best for solo & budget travellersPrivate transfer
Small boats run out to Our Lady of the Rocks from the waterfront continuously through the day, take about ten minutes and cost a few euros — buy at the quay, not in advance.
Where to catch it: Drivers know which of the two car parks serves which end of the village.
Best for families, groups & late arrivalsCar rental
The bay road continues to Risan and its Roman mosaics, then climbs to the Lovćen and Njeguši route — the serpentine road with the view back down over the whole fjord.
Where to catch it: Paid car parks at both ends of the village; they fill by mid-morning in summer.
Best for travellers who want to explorePerast & Tivat in photos
Buying tickets in Tivat
Tivat is small and close to everything: Kotor 20 minutes, Budva 30, Porto Montenegro barely 10. The cheap way out is the Blue Line bus between Tivat and Kotor — roughly hourly from 06:00 to 22:00, €2 paid to the driver in cash, about an hour because it runs as a local service around the shore. Montenegro publishes official taxi tariffs, and for 2026 the figure to Kotor is €15, with Budva €25–35. That produces something unusual: the metered taxi is often cheaper than a pre-booked transfer, which start near €50 to Kotor and €60 to Budva — the reverse of almost every other airport here. One piece of local geography saves a great deal of time: the Kamenari–Lepetane ferry cuts across the narrows of the bay and runs continuously, turning Herceg Novi into a 40-minute trip instead of an hour and a half around the shore.
Taxi scams & safety in Tivat
The rule that matters at Tivat is about who approaches you. Licensed operators are prohibited from soliciting passengers inside the arrivals hall, so anyone who offers you a ride before you reach the official rank outside is, by definition, working outside the system. Walk past, use the rank or an app, and in peak summer agree a fixed price before setting off even where an official tariff exists. Because the published fares are low — €15 to Kotor — the gap between a legitimate fare and an opportunistic one is wide enough to be worth the thirty seconds it takes to ask. Two further points. Kotor's old town is entirely pedestrian and the bay road is a single lane each way that jams when cruise ships are in, so a hire car is a liability for a Kotor stay. And Montenegro is not in the EU despite using the euro: crossing into Croatia towards Dubrovnik or into Albania beyond Ulcinj needs explicit permission in the rental contract and green card insurance, not an assumption.
Getting from TIV to Perast
Perast is a single street of baroque palaces along the water, facing two small islands — one natural with a monastery on it, one built by hand around a rock over several centuries. It has no beach to speak of, no nightlife and about four hundred residents, and it is arguably the most beautiful place in the Bay of Kotor.
Getting there
Twenty kilometres from Tivat Airport, around the bay through Kotor, thirty-five minutes by road. A taxi runs €25 to €35 — use the official rank and agree the price, as everywhere at this airport. The bus route is the Blue Line to Kotor and then a bay service towards Risan, coming to under seven euros.
The stop is above the village
Bay buses set down on the main road, and Perast is down a flight of steps from it. That is fine for a day visit and awkward with luggage, which is one reason most people staying here arrive by car or transfer.
No vehicles on the waterfront
The single street along the water is closed to traffic. Cars stop in the car parks at either end of the village, and everything beyond is on foot — which, given that the village is a few hundred metres long, is not a hardship.
Our Lady of the Rocks
The artificial island was built up around a rock where, according to the story, two sailors found an icon of the Virgin in 1452. For centuries afterwards ships added stones and sank old hulls around it, and the tradition continues each July with a boat procession that drops rocks into the water. The church on it holds an embroidered altar cloth a local woman worked for twenty-five years, using her own hair as the thread greyed.
Getting out to it
Small boats run from the waterfront continuously through the day, take about ten minutes and cost a few euros. Buy at the quay rather than in advance. The other island, St George, is a natural islet with a Benedictine monastery and is not open to visitors.
Why the palaces
Perast supplied Venice with sea captains and navigators for centuries, and the families built accordingly — seventeen palaces for a village this size, along with sixteen churches. The Bujović palace is now the museum and holds the maritime collection. Several others are ruins or have been converted into small hotels.
The bell tower
St Nicholas church has a campanile of 55 metres that can be climbed for the view down the bay in both directions. The church itself was never finished — the money ran out when Venice fell and Perast's fortunes went with it.
The day-trip rhythm
Coaches and boat tours from Kotor arrive through the middle of the day and the waterfront fills. Early morning and after six it empties almost completely, which is the argument for staying rather than visiting — there are a handful of small hotels in converted palaces.
Swimming
From concrete platforms and ladders along the waterfront, into deep clear water. There is no beach. The bay here is enclosed enough that the water is calm and warms well by July.
Onward round the bay
Risan, ten minutes further, has Roman floor mosaics under a shelter and almost no visitors. Beyond it the road climbs to the Lovćen and Njeguši route — the serpentine with the view back down over the whole bay, and the village where the prosciutto and cheese come from.
What it is not
A resort. There is one street, a few restaurants, two small shops and no beach. People who want a base with facilities stay in Kotor or Tivat; people who want to sit on a terrace above still water with nothing much happening come here on purpose.
The July procession
Fašinada happens on 22 July: at dusk a line of boats rows out from the waterfront loaded with stones and drops them around Our Lady of the Rocks, continuing the practice that built the island. It is a working ritual rather than a re-enactment, it is attended mostly by locals, and it is the one evening of the year when Perast is genuinely busy after dark.
