The best time to visit Kotor
In Kotor the month picks the sea temperature and the number of ships picks the crowd — two different calendars.
- Best
- June and September
- Hardest
- July and August
- Quietest
- November to March
Kotor runs two calendars. One is the weather: the sea is warm enough to swim from June to September, and most rain falls in November and December. The other is the list of cruise arrivals the Port of Kotor publishes in advance — and it decides the crowd more than the month does.
The year in five moves
The month picks the temperature — the ship schedule picks the crowd
Why you read the ship schedule here
Kotor expects some five hundred and twenty cruise calls in 2026, with July, August and September each above eighty (June has seventy-one), so on the busiest days two or three ships share the bay. Their passengers are in the old town roughly from ten until four. Anyone free to choose a date picks a day with one ship or none; anyone who is not moves the walls and the old town to the morning before ten and the evening.
Rain in the Boka is not ordinary rain
The bay is ringed by mountains rising almost vertically, so damp air off the sea is pushed up them and falls back as rain. Above Risan lies Krivošije, the wettest region of the Mediterranean, and in it Crkvice, the wettest inhabited place in Europe, at around five thousand millimetres a year. In Kotor itself most rain falls in November and December, sometimes for days on end, and the stone on the walls turns slippery. Winter Kotor is therefore planned with a spare day.
Which month for whom
- A first visit — June. The sea is around 21°C, the days are longest, and there are fewer ships than from July to September.
- For swimming — July and August, the sea at 24–25°C; see the old town before ten and after four, when the cruise passengers are not in it.
- For a warm sea without the heat — September: the sea around 23°C and days around 27°C, but as many ships as in August.
- For the walls — any month, in the first hour after the ticket office opens, ahead of the ships and the heat.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Which is the best month for Kotor?
June, for a warm sea and fewer ships. September has a warmer sea than June, but as many ships as August.
How do I know how many ships are in that day?
The Port of Kotor publishes its list of cruise arrivals at portofkotor.com; in July, August and September days with two or three ships are common.
Is Kotor worth it in winter?
It is for a quiet town, but November and December are the wettest months, so plan a spare day for the walls.
Ready for Kotor?
Where to next
Getting around Kotor
→Tivat airport has no bus to Kotor, the old town isn't driven at all, and Lovćen is reached by road or by an…
Perast · 9 km
→Two hundred and thirty-seven residents, twenty baroque palaces and an island people built by hand
How well does Kotor suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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