The gateway to Kotor Bay — medieval walls, mimosa festivals, and Europe's southernmost fjord
Herceg Novi sits at the mouth of the Bay of Kotor where the Adriatic narrows into what is sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord. The old town climbs steeply from the seafront through layers of history — Venetian clock towers, Ottoman fortifications, Austro-Hungarian promenades, and terraced gardens of mimosa and bougainvillea that earned the city the nickname 'the town of flowers.' It's the least-discovered of Montenegro's coastal towns, an hour from Kotor and twenty minutes by ferry from Croatia, at substantially lower prices.
Herceg Novi was founded in 1382 by the Bosnian King Tvrtko I as a salt-trading port, passing through Bosnian, Ottoman, Venetian, and Austro-Hungarian rule before becoming part of Yugoslavia in 1918. The Venetians built the clock tower and sea walls in the 17th century; the Ottomans added the Kanli Kula fortress. The Austro-Hungarian period (1814–1918) brought the promenade culture, the botanical gardens, and the Belle Époque villas that still line the Šetalište.