Visit Perast – the historical jewel of Montenegro
One of the best places in Boka Bay is a seaside baroque, frozen-in-time place – Perast!
Only a 15-minute drive from Kotor, Perast represents the historical jewel of Montenegro.
Perast is an idyllic seaside village filled with fanciful tales, ancient architecture, stunning scenery, and two incredibly quaint offshore islands. The whole place is a romantic scenery for your soul and for your camera, breathtaking from the first step you made!
Source: Vlado Rakočević photo
History of Perast
Perast has a very long and rich history. The city was founded by the Illyrians, and named after one of the local tribes – Pirusti. In town, you can still find monuments from the Illyrian, Roman, and Early Christian periods.
Perast was a small fishing village, with a shipyard and with several commercial and fishing boats in the harbor.
The prosperity of the city brought the Venetian period, when its defensive towers and the Fortress of St. Cross were built above the town, together with more than 20 palaces in Baroque style, 17 Catholic and 2 Orthodox churches. The village occupies a strategic position facing the narrow entrance to the Bay of Kotor. With time, it developed into a great naval force in the region, and one of the best maritime schools was housed here.
Throughout history, Perast belongs to Austrians, Italians, and the French.
Things to do in Perast
Like nearby Kotor and Dubrovnik in Croatia, Perast is extremely popular in summer, when the tiny village can become crowded with tour groups.
Beautiful medieval palaces you can find at every bend on the waterfront in Perast. While some of Perast’s ancient edifices remain in various states of ruin, others are being carefully renovated, adding new life to this compelling destination.
For a town of its size, there is an astounding number of palaces and churches in Perast. Discovering the village on foot is one of the amazing things to do in Perast.
Besides admiring its Venetian architecture and wandering the streets, we recommend you to visit Perast Museum, climb to the belltower of St. Nicolas Church, and everyone’s favorite – sitting in one of the waterfront restaurants with a nice glass of wine and seafood dish, or reading a book in a sun chair on the dock in front of your hotel.
Do not skip being a part of this movie-like scene!
St Nicholas’ Catholic Church is the heart of Perast.
The church was built in 1616 but replaced a church dating to 1564. A newer church was later built behind it but was never completed, and the name “St. Nikola Church” refers to both.
The main entrance will bring you into a small side chapel which is free to visit, while for a fee of 1€ you gain access to the church’s main room and small treasury of valuable items. In front of the church is the Main Square of Perast, with some statues of famous residents on Perast.
Connected to the Church of St. Nicholas, the 55-meter Perast Bell Tower provides an incredible view of Perast and the Bay of Kotor.
For another 1€ (separate from the church treasury entrance fee), you can climb up a very steep, narrow staircase to the top of the tower.
Staircases to the Bell Tower of St.Nicholas Church
Perast has only one main walking street along the water, so you can see all of it in just a couple of hours, including an inevitable boat ride to the man-made island across Our Lady of Rocks.
The long and turbulent history of this former nautical center will leave you breathless, while the tale of Our Lady still goes on, as the church on the island still operates, hosting thousands of visitors every year.
Source: Ranko Maraš photo
The Our Lady of the Rocks Island is a man-made islet, boasting a Catholic church and an intriguing legend.
According to the tale, in 1452, two fishermen discovered a barely exposed icon of the Virgin Mary in the water on a reef. The epic finding encouraged believers to visit the reef and drop stones into the water where the icon had appeared.
Over the centuries, the popularity of the ritual grew to the point where entire ships were loaded with rocks and sunk into the sea on the very spot of the discovery.
All of the stones, rocks and sunken ships created an island. In 1632, the Our Lady of the Rocks Church was built on the island.
It is centered on the reef in the exact location where the icon appeared. Attached to the church is a small museum – and there is also a gift shop on the island. The July 22 Fasinada Festival celebrates the legend of how the island came to be. A procession of barges and boats sail out to the island where people can drop their rocks and stones into the sea.
Source: Vlado Rakočević photo
There are regular boats from the waterfront in Perast (5€ return per person, young children free) running from around 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Arriving at Our Lady of the Rocks, you can look down in the water to see the rocks piled up (you won’t be able to see the sunken ships).
After walking around the island and snapping photos of the church, you can enter the small chapel (2€, young kids free), including a museum of naval artifacts and artworks on the first and second floors.
Although Perast seems to have more palaces than normal houses, most of them are either private residences, in ruins, or have been converted into hotels.
If you’d like to see inside one, the 18th-century baroque Bujovic Palace, the former residence of Captain Visko Bujovic, now houses the Perast Museum. The museum’s small collection covers Perast’s Maritime History, but the museum is also well-known for the outstanding picture-postcard view of Perast from the second-floor balcony.
The Perast Museum, former Bujovic Palace
One of the quintessential things to do here is to dine at one of the dozen or so waterside Perast restaurants. These patios overlook the Bay of Kotor and are particularly romantic in the early evening. The menus are predictably seafood-heavy, with Italian and Montenegrin fare represented.
How to get to Perast
While Perast seems wildly remote, it is actually easily accessible from many nearby destinations.
Perast is located approximately 12 kilometers from Kotor.
“Blue line” buses between the two towns take about 20 minutes rides and run every half an hour. You can hop on the bus on the main road just north of the Old Town of Kotor, and it drives right down into Perast.
The Bay of Kotor Hop-on Hop-off Sightseeing Bus is a convenient way to get to Perast and other towns in the bay. It even includes the entrance to Perast Museum, Roman Mosaics in Risan, and a guided walking tour in Kotor.
Kotor visitors also have the option to take a boat to see the top sights in Perast – like this affordable boat cruise that includes visiting Lady of the Rocks Island, a submarine base, and the Montenegro Blue Cave.
The airport Tivat is 22km away, Porto Montenegro marina for superyachts only 25km, and Porto Novi resort only 23km from here.
Perast accommodation
Visitors who decide to stay in Perast will have a great choice of apartments, guesthouses, and hotels. The most famous hotels are Iberostar Heritage Grand Perast, hotel, and restaurant Conte, Heritage hotel Leon Coronato, hotel Per Astra, and many others.
But if you like this charming small town as much as to decide to buy a house here, we can find you an adequate property for you, like this renovated old stone old-stone villa.
Perast is under the protection of UNESCO, so there are very limited options for new buildings. Because of this, the value of the properties in Perast will only grow over time and can be a great investment opportunity.
If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to contact us for more information about avaliable properties for sale in Perast.
