Heritage Grand Perast by Rixos 

A slice of Venetian la dolce vita on the shores of the Bay of Kotor.

At the foot of a bottle-green mountain, Perast opens up like a pop-up book from the shores of the Bay of Kotor. With just one main street forming the spine of the Venetian town, Perast may be tiny but it’s packed with baroque churches and faded palazzo – a nod to past days of imperial grandeur. While some of these relics are now in ruins, choked with wild fig and bougainvillea, others have been given a new lease of life – including Heritage Grand Perast by Rixos. Right on the water, the hotel occupies a cluster of honey-tinted buildings, including a restored 18th-century palace and a former textiles factory. Large windows and balconies frame views of the gleaming bay and its pair of islets: St George, home to a 12th-century monastery, and Our Lady of the Rocks, dominated by an imposing Roman Catholic church.

A breakfast terrace looms over the bay, where early-risers feast on warm-from-the-oven pastries and fresh fruit, against a cinematic backdrop. Days are spent wandering the cobblestoned alleys of car-free Perast, hiking through the forests, unwinding in the spa and exploring the rock-clinging towns strung along the shores. Come evening, diners make their way to the hotel’s wooden jetty for waterside dinners of traditional Balkan cuisine.