San Giovanni

Very strenuous climb but fairly safe, well marked. Mostly rock steps, crumbled stone. Stone wall at the edge. Literally 1200-1500 steps, who knows. It's a lot. There's nothing too risky, though. Views are incredible, so take your time and take lots of photos.

Guy is selling water at the castle on top and midway. Silly as who would not bring water on a 4hr hike?

Expect 2hrs up and 1 down. Expect to be tired. Bring lunch and water. No benches, no tables, no place to sit. Perhaps bring a blanket. No WC, either. Trash cans overflowing, litter everywhere, so "leave nothing behind but footprints." Please.

Controversy about price? March 2023, they were fixing the turnstiles, so it was free. But, IMHO, 8E is certainly too much. Especially since nobody maintains the trail or the castle. Trash everywhere. Fixing the turnstiles? Perhaps they could instead send somebody up to remove garbage. Where does the 8E go? ...

I highly recommend using the free path that leave from outside the Old Town, it's SO much easier as not at steep. It'll still take you to the top of the fortress as both paths join eventually, but at least you save 8€ per person, and it's not as hard.

The paid path which starts in the Old Town is very very steep, only steps which are very narrow and you always have to stop to let others go. I can't imagine how slow it is in summer. As the free path is more zigzag it's not as steep and much easier.

From the free path, there's a small ladder that helps you cross the wall to join the paid path, it's very easy to use and barely a crawl. For the way down, you can chose to use the same path or go back to the Old Town via the paid path, as theres no need to show tickets on the...

During the visit to Kotor you should by all means visit the fortress St. John (Sveti Ivan). It is situated above the city walls of the Kotor’s Old town. Climbing up to the fortress St. John, or San Giovanni as people from Kotor like to call it, starts with the serpentines from the east part of the Kotor old Town, which go to the very top of the fortress on 280m above sea level. Before you set yourself to climb towards the fortress we suggest that you take your camera with yourself, because the pictures of Kotor old town and Kotor bay which you will see can not be described in words, but instead they have to be first, experienced, and then pictured. While you are climbing you can enjoy the sights of the Old...