Bay of Kotor Twilight Sketchbook: 4 Artistic Winter Evenings of Rooftops, Sunsets, and Quiet Corners

Morning in Kotor smells like strong coffee and wet stone. You slip into Niente Cafe just as the barista pulls the first shots of the day, steam clouding the window that frames a slice of Old Town. The bell of Saint Tryphon’s Cathedral rolls through the alleys, low and metallic, as you cross the square to step into its cool, incense-laced interior, frescoes glowing faintly against thick stone. By lunch at STORIA di PIETRA, the Old Town hums softly—cutlery on plates, the scrape of chairs on cobblestone—while you face a narrow lane and sketch crooked windows between bites. Afternoon is for height. You take the Old Town Road, that steep, timeworn path reviewers mention when talking about the fort, and feel the rough stone under your palms as you pause to catch your breath. From Kotor Old Town View, the terracotta rooftops tilt toward the bay like a pile of discarded tiles, and the water below looks almost metallic in the winter light. Dinner back on ground level at Kotor Montenegro feels grounded and local—simple plates, the murmur of a few regulars—before you slip into Old Town Pub Kotor, where the wood is dark, the music low, and the first notes of your Bay of Kotor twilight sketchbook begin to settle. Tomorrow, you trade church bells for the open bay and the slow curve of Dobrota.

You wake to the sound of gulls and the faint shush of tires on wet stone outside the walls. Breakfast at Senso Bakery is all about textures: flaky pastry that shatters in your hands, strong coffee that bites back, the earthy smell of fresh bread mingling with the chill air that sneaks in every time the door opens. By late morning you’re at the Start of the Ladder of Kotor, facing that switchback trail forum devotees quietly praise, watching it etch a zigzag up the mountain like a pencil line. Lunch at Moments Restaurant in Dobrota shifts the whole frame. The bay is suddenly closer, almost at arm’s length, and you sit wrapped in a coat, feeling the cold from the stone terrace seep through the chair while the water lies flat and metallic in front of you. Afterward you wander along Dobrota Riva Promenada, a thread of concrete and stone that locals love for its calm, the sound of small waves slapping lazily against moored boats. As the light slips, you taxi to Cielo Rooftop Restaurant above Kavač, where the bay unfurls beneath you and the sky goes from pearl to ink while you trace the coastline in your notebook. The night ends back in Old Town at Holy Shot Bar, where glass clinks, the music is tuned just right, and cocktails arrive like tiny, drinkable still lifes. Tomorrow, the bay becomes your sketch subject from the water itself.

By day three, the bay feels familiar, like a shape your hand already knows. You start at CAVE Coffee Specialty in Square Mata Petrovića, warming your fingers on a cup while the barista talks tasting notes over the hiss of steaming milk. The square is small, the light soft, and the Old Town feels like it’s just waking up. Late morning, you step into the Nikola Đurkovic Cultural Center, a quieter node of local life where posters curl slightly at the edges and the air smells faintly of paper and old paint. Lunch pulls you out along the water again to La Ricetta in Dobrota, tucked into a 1400s palace that reviewers can’t stop talking about. The stone walls here feel thick and protective, and the room hums with a gentle, convivial energy as you linger over plates and scribble notes. In the afternoon, you trade walls for water with the Kotor Boat Tour: Customizable Coastal Adventure, skimming along the bay’s mirrored surface while mountains loom over you like charcoal sketches. Back on land, dinner at Bonazza restaurant Kotor puts you right on a pier, the planks under your feet slightly rough, the water licking the edges as the sky goes mauve. The night ends with live music and low lighting at Jazz Club Evergreen, where the saxophone echoes off stone and you feel the day’s salt and sound settle in your bones. Tomorrow, you climb higher than you have yet, tracing the bay from above like a final line.

On your final day, Kotor feels like a map you’re ready to redraw from memory. Morning at Patisserie by Wine House is sugar and stone: glass cases of cakes, the smell of butter and chocolate, and the clink of cups echoing down Stari Grad’s narrow spine. You step back into the Old Town and onto the Kotor Town Walls, now free to access as recent visitors note, feeling the roughness of centuries-old stone under your palm as you trace the perimeter above the streets. Lunch is deliberately low-key at BBQ Tanjga, all smoke and grill marks, where you stand or sit in a space that smells gloriously of char and fat and feels like a necessary grounding after so much elevation. In the afternoon you climb again, this time to the Kotor Bay Viewpoint via the Old Kotor Fort Trail, then push further to the Top Of The Old Kotor Fort Trail and Kotor Great Scene, each step giving you a wider, more abstracted version of the bay. The light is thinner up here, the wind sharper, and your sketchbook fills with simple, confident lines. As evening approaches, you taxi out to Tivat’s 360° Rooftop Cocktail Bar And Restaurant, where the bay opens differently, more marina than medieval, and the light flickers off polished hulls and glass. Dinner there feels like a coda—slicker, more polished, but still anchored in the same water you’ve been tracing all week. Later, back in Kotor, you might wander past Hotel Marija’s baroque façade or the Square of Arms one last time, feeling the texture of the cobblestones under your boots and the quiet hum of a town settling into night. Tomorrow, you leave with pockets full of ticket stubs and a head full of twilight lines.