Sightseeing stop in Perast: discover beautiful places in Montenegro

Perast highlight

coastal town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site; church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

We at Monterrasol Transfers specialize in private car transfers. Together with the transfer itself, we propose that you visit some beautiful places along the transfer route. We call such places optional sightseeing stops (short excursions).

One of the places we selected to propose as a sightseeing stop is a beautiful Perast in Montenegro. Sightseeing stops are a perfect easy opportunity to see new places during your transfer across Montenegro, especially during long distance transfers. Take it as a great option to get in touch with local culture and history. It's good to combine transportation and sightseeing together!

Perast is a small picturesque town on the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. It is situated a few kilometers from Kotor and is noted for its coast and proximity to two islets, islet of St. George and islet Our Lady of the Rocks.

Last reviewed: 8 June 2023

Perast description

The town Perast was founded by the Illyrians and was named after one of the local tribes, the Pirusti. According to the presumptions of archaeologists, first settlements appeared in the area of Perast in the Neolithic era. There are also exist marks of the Roman and early Christian periods.

The first written mentions of Perast refer to 1336 - at that time there was a small fishing village with a shipyard, and around there were always several commercial and fishing boats in the harbor. But since the strategically important islet of St. George, which belonged to Kotor, is in the immediate vicinity, the development of Perast was going very slowly.

Perast itself lies beneath of the 873 m hill, on a cape that separates the so called Bay of Risano from Bay of Kotor, and overlooks the Verige strait, the narrowest part of the Bay of Kotor.

The Venetian period brought prosperity to Perast, particularly around 1482, after taking the Turkish part of the coast from Herceg Novi to Risan. When a small village finally became a town, its inhabitants thought about reinforcements. The fortress of the Holy Cross and a dozen defensive towers were built. After the successfully held few battles, Perast received some of the political and economic privileges, in particular, it had the right to guard the Venetian flag of St. Mark after 1654 by holding a siege by the Turks.

Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy (a Russian statesman and diplomat, prominent during and after the reign of Peter the Great; he was the ancestor of all the Counts Tolstoy, including the novelist Leo Tolstoy) traveled from Herceg Novi to Perast in 1698 and he wrote that in the town of Perast live Croats. He also recorded that there were no Orthodox churches in the town while Greek church exist in a village not far away and that Serbs of Greek faith live in the village which are military people similar to the Don's Cossacks.

Perast was also granted free trade regime with the Republic of Venice and was granted the forgiveness of the Venetian authorities in the ruthless fight against pirates on the Adriatic. That made Perast enriched.

For centuries, 20 palaces were built in Baroque style, 17 Catholic and two Orthodox churches. And since one of the best maritime schools was housed here, Russian Tzar Peter I was sent to Perast from Russia for training.

When Napoleon defeated the Republic of Venice in 1797, Perast was faithful to Venice for several months, but in the end the town had to lower the flag of St. Mark. From that moment began the decline of Perast: along with the whole area of the Bay of Kotor, it was left to the Austrians and Italians, and then the French, and then again under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was in its composition to defeat in the First World War.

In 1918, the town became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, and in 1941 it became part of the Italian province of Cattaro (Kotor). It was only in 1944 that the town gained independence in Yugoslavia and became one of the administrative areas of the Montenegrin Republic. Since 2006, the town has become part of an independent Montenegro.

Interesting to mention, near Perast located two islets: one is called St. George and the other Our Lady of the Rocks. Each islet has a picturesque chapel. The Our Lady of the Rocks islet is particularly interesting given that it is the only artificially-built island in the Adriatic, with an area of 3030 m2; it was built upon a rock after two Venetian sailors from Perast found a picture of the Virgin Mary on it in 1452.

We know good things to see in Montenegro. We know the roads, well-known tourist attractions like UNESCO sites, and off-the-beaten-path places.

If you would like to learn more about Montenegro and explore it by visiting different attractions, come with us for a private tour. We can travel all across Montenegro and we will show you all the important tourist attractions together with the hidden gems of this beautiful country. Feel free to contact us!

We have developed numerous itineraries for private car tours in Montenegro as well as in neighboring countries, including tours passing through several countries as one journey. Solo private tours and tours for Seniors are available also.

Transfers to Perast

Currently we know prices for these car transfers to Perast:

Private transfers from Albania

• private car transfer Berat to Perast

• private car transfer Divjake (Divjakë) to Perast

• private car transfer Durres (Durrës) to Perast

• private car transfer Gjirokaster (Gjirokastër) to Perast

• private car transfer Kruje (Krujë) to Perast

• private car transfer Shkoder (Shkodër) to Perast

• private car transfer Tirana to Perast

• private car transfer Vlore (Vlorë) to Perast

Private transfers from Bosnia-Herzegovina

• private car transfer Banja Luka to Perast

• private car transfer Jajce to Perast

• private car transfer Kljuc (Ključ) to Perast

• private car transfer Kravica waterfalls to Perast

• private car transfer Medjugorje (Međugorje) to Perast

• private car transfer Mostar to Perast

• private car transfer Vjetrenica cave to Perast

Private transfers from Montenegro

• private car transfer Podgorica airport Golubovci to Perast

Private transfers from North Macedonia

• private car transfer Ohrid to Perast

Unable to find your transfer?

If the transfer you need not exist in the list of our transfers, feel free to ask us for custom transfer by this form: ask for a custom private transfer to Perast, Montenegro.