Ladder of Kotor — Attraction in undefined

The Ladder of Kotor was not too steep and quite easy to do, especially in the mornings. It was a nice walk and you do not necessarily need your hiking shoes!

DISCLAIMER: When you walk from the start of the Ladder of Kotor (outside the Old Town) it is FREE! We walked to the cheese shop run by a cute old couple and were also planning to go through a hole to the “Old Town Road”, to take a different route back down. We figured we wanted to do a little loop hike.

HOWEVER, when we walked all the way down the stairs, there are people there asking for your entry ticket. Which is 15 euro’s. This means that specifically, entering the Kotor Fortress costs 15 euro’s. We were angry that there never was a sign that said you are not allowed to go through the hole of the Fortress, even though that had a ladder helping you crawl through the hole.

When we mentioned it to the people that worked there it seemed like they knew about it and were holding us “captive” at the exit of the stairs. Funny thing is. I personally did not even go to the top of the Fortress at all.

After about 10 minutes of consideration one of us decided to go all the way back up the stairs, back through the hole of the Fortress, passing the cheese shop and go back down the trail to the start, just to not pay the 15 euro’s. (but I am not as advanced as him and it was already getting hotter so i was going to pay the 15 euro’s)

As soon as the worker saw it, one of us could go through the exit for free. Did we save money? Yes. Did we realise Montenegro is hungry for money and asking for fee’s everywhere? Definitely.

Anyways. I think it is not allowed to enter the trail, walk up to the top of the Fortress and to go back to where you started the hike.

If you have it in you, go for it. But I think there is also a sign that said that you could also pay less for saying that you just “lost”...

There is two ways to go to the Kotor Fortress which overlooks the town of Kotor and the bay in front of it. The ‘Ladder of Kotor trail’ is a zig-zag uphill path located behind the old town walls (unlike the normal path up, with the entrance up located within the town walls).The trail wraps its way behind the small crest that the Kotor Fortress City Walls are built on and leads all the way up to the Krstac Pass to an altitude of 940 meters above mean sea level. This trail is both significant and historic, and for centuries served as the only route connecting Kotor to Njegusi village and the region of Cetinje. The constant switchbacks (72 of them!) allow for a less steep ascent, enabling travelers to navigate over this mountain range with livestock and goods. This is the free and less tourisy way for the same awesome view over the Bay of Kotor and the town of Kotor. The trailhead starts outside the town, near the North Gate of the city wall, in a residential neighbourhood. Walking past a disused hydroelectric power station, the ascend began. The route was mostly gravel and sand, but the gradient was rather gentle. The frequent switch back allowed from numerous photo-taking opportunity. Then the end point of the trail can be seen - which is a window on the castle wall. There used to be a ladder placed there for one to access the window but it has been removed. A flight of stairs led to the crumbling abandoned fort. From the top of the fort, Kotor and the bay spread below. The view was...

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE BACK EXIT TO AVOID EXTORTIONATE FEES.

Taking this route within opening hours will cost you €15 per person but if you go via the back exit there is no charge.

We were unaware of this charge and arrived shortly before it opened. There was no one to buy a ticket from, no information about a charge and an open turnstile. When we left (a few minutes after 8am) there was someone at the turnstile who told us we weren't allowed the leave without paying €15 each. When we refused he kept us trapped on the mountain!

Fortunately we met someone else on the hike who told us of a lesser known entrance/exit with no fee. This seems to be a completely legitimate exit with a pathway leading all the way there so there is nothing illegal about going this way.

In terms of the hike, view and fort I would say it's worth doing if you want to see good views of the bay. If you're hoping to find an interesting fort at the top then don't bother. It is very poorly maintained (empty beer cans, the smell of piss and graffiti in every crevice of the fort, a dangerous broken bridge and overflowing bins). They can't possibly say they can't afford to maintain it better while charging €15 per person.

The hike is fairly challenging but should manageable for most people. Be aware that there are a lot of stairs and some slippery stones so bring...