Perast lies beneath the hill of St. Elijah (873 m), on a cape that separates the bay of Risan from the bay of Kotor (two smaller bays within the Boka Kotorska) and overlooks the Verige strait, the narrowest part of Boka. Although it was an ancient settlement, Perast enjoyed greater economic, political and cultural development only from the middle of the 15th century. At that time, Boka and Perast became part of the Venetian Republic (1420 – 1797. ). Venice encouraged the development of a local fleet for the purposes of trade as well as to do battle with Ottoman pirates.
The construction of luxurious palaces, chapels and churches, the importation of works of art and the ongoing literary activity give evidence of an intense industry out of proportion to the size of the town and the number of its inhabitants. One of the interesting things about this small town is that, exept the St. Nicola`s church on the main square with impressive 55m tall belfry, it has 17 churches. Probably the most distinctive standard bearers of the identity of Perast are the two magical islands situated between the Verige strait and the town. Although differing in many respects, they lie in harmonious conjunction, united by the vastness of the sea. In the past half century Perast gained a status of a protected town on the basis of its cultural heritage. Numerous testimonies of history, maritime and cultural past of Perast have been kept today in the collections of the Museum of Perast and treasuries of the churches of St. Nicholas and Our Lady of The Rock.
With many of important sites only a few steps away, it is an exellent base for exploring many treasures of the area.
It has good access from the se, main road and air. If you have choosed to arrive by air, you could get here by one of the nearby international airports, Tivat or Podgorica, or at international airport Cilipi (Dubrovnik, Croatia) that is less then 70 km away from Perast. There are four international ports in Montenegro: Bar, Budva, Kotor and Herceg Novi. Port of Bar is connected with Italy by regular lines Bar-Bari and Bar-Ancona.
