MONTENEGRO - Croatia and Slovenia - page 577

Cruising into Kotor
With cruise-ship crowds reaching capacity in nearby Dubrovnik, the Montenegrin
town of Kotor has emerged as a hugely popular port of call on Mediterranean
cruises.MajorAmericanlines(includingRoyalCaribbean,Celebrity,HollandAmer-
ica, Carnival, Oceania, Seabourn, and Silversea) and European ones (Costa, MSC,
and some German lines) have started to call here; in 2014, an estimated 350,000 pas-
sengersareexpectedtocometoKotoroncruiseships.Ifyou'reoneofthem,hereare
some pointers.
Arrival in Kotor by Cruise Ship: KotorisoneoftheeasiestMediterraneanports
toarrivein.Shipseitherdockatortendertothelongpierthatjutsoutdirectlyinfront
of the Old Town. All passengers are funneled out of the same port gate, with the Old
Town straight ahead. As you leave the port gate, look left to find an ATM in a freest-
andingorangekiosk(thoughthemainsquareoftheOldTown,lessthanafive-minute
walk away, also has ATMs); and look right to see an official taxi stand. (Unscrupu-
lous taxis have been known to camp out near here to commandeer cruise passengers;
be sure to use one at an official stand, and with a taxi logo and phone number on the
side of the car.)
Exiting the port gate, continue straight ahead with the water on your right. Watch
for the crosswalk (on your left, marked with brown Kotor sign) over the busy har-
borfrontroad,whichyoucanusetogettothesquareinfrontoftheOldTown,theTI,
and the start of my self-guided walk.
Amenities: Free Wi-Fi is available near the TI kiosk. The two pharmacies in the
Old Town are open long hours daily (for locations, see the map on here ) .
Sightseeing Options: The Old Town of Kotor itselfistheobviousplacetospend
your day—though seeing everything, including my self-guided orientation walk and
all of the museums—won't take you more than a couple of hours. Add a couple more
hours if you're up for the stiff hike to the fortress above town (and maybe another
hour or so, just to recover). With more time, you may want to venture farther afield.
The easiest choice is Perast, where you can explore a charming seaside village and
ride a small boat out to one of the islands in the middle of the fjord (for details,
see here ); allow about four hours total for the round-trip to Perast and the island.
Public buses connect Kotor town to Perast, or you can spring for a taxi (legitimate
cabbies charge €20-25 one-way or €40-50 round-trip, including waiting time; nego-
tiate a fixed price up front). For either of these trips—or to reach other, more distant