November vs May

Worth considering

The deep wet season returns — dramatically empty Old Town, very low prices, persistent rain.

• ↑November in Kotor is for those who want the place entirely to themselves. The Old Town is effectively returned to its 800 permanent residents. Guesthouses offer genuine winter hospitality — long conversations, local wine, the wood stove lit. Prices are at their lowest of the year.
• ↑The Venetian architecture of the Old Town reads very differently in November rain — the worn stone of the cathedral, the carved doorways, the cats sheltering under the archways. It is a different but genuinely interesting experience from the sun-bleached summer version.

Best match

The optimal window: warm, genuinely beautiful, and before the cruise ship armada arrives in force.

• ↑May is the month that experienced Adriatic travellers point to as Kotor's best. Temperatures reach 22°C, the bay is a flawless blue-green, and the cruise ship season is beginning but not yet overwhelming — fewer than 50 ships typically call in May versus 300+ across the June–September season. The Old Town in May has its authentic Venetian-influenced character intact: the cats on the piazza steps, the fishing nets on the harbour wall, the konoba owners still glad to see you.
• ↑Kayaking across the bay to Our Lady of the Rocks (Gospa od Škrpjela) — the artificial island church off Perast built from coral and ex-votos over 200 years — is one of the finest half-day activities on the Adriatic. In May you can paddle to it without sharing the water with speed boats ferrying cruise passengers.