Casa del Mare - Pietra Hotel

We stayed at this 8 room boutique hotel for a week in mid September. The first impression you get is from the very welcoming and accomodating staff. The rooms are accessed by a central three flight staircase depending on which room you are. There isn't a lift but the staff will carry your bags to your room in any event. We were in room 8 on the top floor. It was large, spacious, plenty of storage, large bathroom with a great shower and a huge very comfy bed. The room also benefits from a large balcony to take in the stunning views over the bay. Breakfast was great with plenty of choice. We are at the hotel twice and the meals were tasty. Overall the hotel was spotlessly clean. A couple of minutes walk from the hotel is the coastal path to Kotor. It takes between 40 minutes to an hour to get to the Old Town along this path, the Old Town being where the bulk of the restaurants and infrastructure is. It's a pleasant walk indeed but after a week of going back and forth, especially in the heat, it could make some folk a little weary. From our experience, and from what locals told us, buses seemed almost non existent. That said within a few minutes walk of the hotel is a small supermarket and also a bakery. There are plenty of decent restaurants along the coastal path, Babilon, Timon and Forza being the closest. Seafood dishes are particularly good in the vast majority of the restaurants in the area. Things to do in the area? Well it's pretty evident that this area needs more infrastructure. The bay us crying out for a water taxi for hotels in Dobrota and further along the bay to access Kotor. Traffic in Kotor is a nightmare given there is only one main road through the town. It took us over 75 minutes to get from Tivat airport to the hotel, a journey listed as 15 minutes! It's pretty obvious that the main tourist attractions are aimed at the two cruise ships that come to Kotor 6 days a week. We saw a hop on hop off bus which visited neighbouring places but this pretty much exclusively for cruise passengers. It didn't even run on the day no ships docked! A main attraction is the Kotor Cable Car which looked spectacular. However we were told by locals that unless you had a car it was inaccessible, the bus, when you could find one didn't stop there!! Boat trips on the bay and further afield are aplenty. They are great and super value for money. Finally Tivat airport. Arriving is great, they don't have many planes there a day so queuing to get through immigration and getting baggage is really quick by modern standards. Departing is a different matter. The airport is pretty old and the check-in desks are really close together in a smallish check-in area. Flights departing seem to be in clusters so the check-in area gets really crowded and suffering flights mingle in the same queue. They advise not to get to the airport before 2 hours before your flight and I would echo this advice. There is a cafe adjacent to the check-in area. Once through security and passport control the departure lounge has very little in the way if amenities. No cafe, just a vending machine and a small duty free shop. It's quite evident that this area and probably Montenegro as a whole is an emerging market and is looking to improve the tourist experience. This may take a while. However from what we saw in the Bay if Kotor they certainly have the scenery, history and wonderful, friendly people to make it a go to destination. So can I recommend this hotel, definitely, can I recommend the area, certainly, would I visit again, probably but maybe in a few years when they've got their act together a bit more by way of public transport in the area we experienced. I get that the cruise ships bring in a lot of visitors to Kotor 6 days a week but they aren't the only visitors to cater for.