Perast & Our Lady of the Rocks
How to visit Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks from Kotor: the baroque captains' town, the man-made island church, and the short bay trip that is the Boka's signature half-day.
- ✓Perast is a small baroque town of captains' palaces strung along the bay, about a 30-minute drive or short boat ride from Kotor.
- ✓Our Lady of the Rocks is an artificial island built on sunken ships and votive stones, crowned by a 17th-century church and museum.
- ✓St George, the second islet, is a natural island with a Benedictine monastery and cypresses — beautiful, but not open to visitors.
- ✓The Fašinada, every 22 July, sees a procession of boats add stones to the reef after dusk.
- ✓Go early or late to have the waterfront to yourself; midday brings the bay's tour traffic.
Say it like a local
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Why Perast is worth the trip
Perast is the bay distilled. Once home to a famous navigation school and a fleet of captains, it kept the palaces and churches their fortunes built and almost nothing else — no big road through it, barely any cars, just a long stone waterfront facing two small islands. It rewards slowing down: a coffee on the quay, the bell tower of St Nicholas above you, the water very still.
From the waterfront, boatmen run the short hop to Our Lady of the Rocks. The island is man-made, raised over centuries on the hulls of scuttled ships and stones dropped by returning sailors. Its church holds a much-loved icon and a small museum, and the views back across the bay to Perast are the postcard.
Getting there and timing it well
Perast sits on the bay road between Kotor and the Verige strait. You can reach it by the regular Kotor–Risan bus, by car, by taxi or — best of all — by boat as part of a bay tour. Cars are kept out of the town itself; there is paid parking on the approach.
Whatever way you arrive, the island boats run frequently in season. Try to be on the waterfront in the early morning or the late afternoon, when the light is kind and the day-tour boats have thinned out. Keep the date 22 July in mind: that evening's Fašinada is one of the bay's loveliest traditions.
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