Destination Report: Kotor – Part Two: Cost of Nomad Living

Last week we shared everything we did, ate and saw in Kotor in our Part I. In this week’s blog post, we are now taking a deep dive into our budget and how the two of us spent $1,172 USD during our 17 day stay in Kotor, Montenegro this summer. We picked Montenegro over its more popular neighbor Croatia because it’s got beautiful scenery, is less busy and is more affordable compared to Dubrovnik. Are you ready to see our numbers and find out what surprised us the most in Kotor?

We stayed in Kotor for 17 days and the two of us spent $34.5 per person per day, or $1,172 in total.

Where We Traveled Kotor, Montenegro

What did we do, see, eat? Check out our destination guide of Kotor

Number of Days 17 days (from September 25, 2019 to October 11th, 2019)

Type of Travel Married Couple, Slow Travel/Nomadic, Price Conscious

Total living cost $1,172 (for 2 people) or $25,168 per year (for 2 people) or $34.5 per person and per day

Note: Unless specified otherwise, prices are in USD and were converted from the local currency (EUR or Euro) to USD using a 1:11 ratio. (so 1 USD = 0.91 EUR). 

With our previous trips to Montreal, Quebec City, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Oaxaca City, San Miguel de Allende, Aruba, Porto & Lisbon, our average monthly spend per person was around $36 / person / day (Excluding cost of getting in & out). Kotor was below this average with a daily budget of $34.5 / person / day. 

We were expecting better numbers but we had to cut our trip from 4 to 2 weeks but our accommodation was initially booked for the entire month. This bumped our accommodation budget to 61% and we spread our spending over 17 days (instead of 28). We actually got lucky since the host decided to refund a small part of our booking when we explained that we had some unexpected change in plans. He didn’t have to refund us anything since we booked via AirBnB on a strict cancellation policy.  

Here is a breakdown of our living expenses for this trip:

For this budget, we rented a car to explore beyond the Bay of Kotor (Budva, Sveti Stefan, Godinje, Lake Skadar), used public transportation to visit the surrounding towns (Perast, Herceg Novi), took a speedboat ride, ate copious amounts of delicious food we cooked at home while sampling a little bit of the local cuisine (though we weren’t big fan) and tried to go hiking (without much success). We did all of this while staying in a gorgeous apartment that was overlooking the beautiful Bay of Kotor (see video below). Our apartment was located in Dobrova (a few minutes from Kotor) with a terrace that had a breathtaking view of the bay – this was probably the best apartment we’ve ever rented since we started our travels. What did we spend on within this budget? Well let’s look into each main budget category in more detail.

For more details about what to do, eat, see & avoid, please check out Part I of our destination guide about Kotor

If you want to know every single expense we had, fill-out out the form below to download our itemized budget spreadsheet.  

How much did we spend? 

Note: If you are curious about how we generally decide to spend our money, check out this article where we explain our decision making process.

Accommodation: $21.09 / person / day (OR $641 / person / month).

Accommodation in Kotor is quite affordable, especially outside of the high season. We scored an amazing 2 bedroom and 2 bathroom apartment with breathtaking views on the bay of Kotor and a swimming pool for only 900 EUR / month. (Our accommodation monthly numbers on the pie chart are different since we only ended up staying 2 weeks for the price of 4 weeks minus the discount we ended up getting from the host as we told him we had to reduce our stay).

If you want to know how we managed to get such a good deal, check out our our own AirBnb tips. 

This two bedroom apartment was located in Dobrota (which is about a 30 minute walk from the city of Kotor). It was up on the mountain side which allowed for amazing panoramic views, well worth the uphill trek to get home everyday. We used the lovely terrace every day to either enjoy sunset or a meal. The apartment was well furnished and the kitchen was well equipped. And did we mention there was a pool? It wasn’t heated but Mr. NN loves a cold swim, Mrs. NN not so much. Our apartment was very spacious, extremely functional, very quiet and had a terrace that made for some great meals with spectacular views of the bay, especially at sunset. We were a 30 minute walk from the old town of Kotor, farmers markets and grocery stores.

You can check out our AirBnB rental listing here. (note: the listing seems to have been removed from AirBnB)

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $717 on this apartment for a total of 16 nights.

Local Transportation: $2.68 / person / day (OR $80 / person / month)

Since our AirBnB was walking distance from shops, restaurants and grocery stores, we only used public transportation to go explore outside of the city. 
For public buses, prices depend on the destination. From Kotor to Perast, a one way ticket is about 2 EUR. From Kotor to Herceg Novi, a one way ticket is about 4 EUR. You can find public bus schedules here and the company website here.
Taxis are also widely available in Kotor. Uber is not.

If you need to get from/to the airport, taxis remain the best options. You should make sure to define a rate prior to booking the taxi. A trip from Kotor to the Dubrovnik airport is about 65 EUR using Red Taxi Kotor, we ended up paying 80 EUR for our taxi ride into Kotor when we didn’t know better!

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $91.08 on local transportation.

Groceries: $6.90 / person / day (OR $210 / person / month)

We went grocery shopping mostly at Aroma + Voli super markets & the solid daily Farmer’s market in Kotor that has a great selection of fish & produce. Grocery items are definitely cheap at the farmer’s market and the selection is pretty good. It is better on Saturdays and there are some touristy stands that are higher priced and lower quality. We use the super markets for their health section (for things like olive/coconut oils, flour, honey) and to reload on drinkable water. 

Check the part one of our destination guide of Kotor for more details about each of these stores and where they are located.

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $234.77 on groceries. This covered 46/48 meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) which is about $2.58 / meal.

Eating Out: $1.61 / person / day (OR $49 / person / month)

Kotor has some nice restaurants but none of them got us excited. We tried some grilled fish upon arrival and although it was good, the oil used was questionable. We later discovered fresh fish at the market and really enjoyed baking the whole fish at home. In general, the seafood was just a fraction of the cost at the market versus eating out. This explains why our spending in this category is pretty low. We did snack on a few scoops of ice cream and sandwiches when we were out that were pretty good. 

⇒ In total, for the length of our stay, the 2 of us spent $41.42 on restaurants + $13.27 on snacks for a total of $54.69. Our restaurant budget covered 2/48 meals (mostly lunch/dinner). The average cost of our meals was $9.71 (including tax + tip) which is 3.1 times more expensive than eating at home (by doing the ratio between what a full day of eating out would cost vs a full day of eating at home as per our budget). 

Activities: $1.01 / person / day (OR $31 / person / month)

We didn’t do a lot of paid activities in Kotor. We basically did a 1.5 hour boat tour to see the bay by boat and bought some clay mud we used for our own spa treatment by the beach. We also rented a car and used public transportation to visit towns and beaches outside of the city and these costs are part of our “Transportation” category. We actually found out that driving was enough for us to get the most out of the area.

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $34.18 on activities. 

Visas: $1.03 / person / day (OR $31 / person / month)

This is a new category for us because up until now, we haven’t had to pay for tourist visas.
In Montenegro, you must pay a 1 EUR per person and per stay tourist fee.

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $35.01 on visa fees. 

Miscellaneous: $0.16 / person / day (OR $5 / person / month)

Various purchases not worth calling out 🙂

⇒ In total, for the length of our say, the 2 of us spent $5.50 on miscellaneous expenses. This was mostly us find a way to not get too much scammed by the car rental company. Long story. Ask her in the comments if you want more details 🙂

Our Money Savings Tips

How did we save money for this trip?

• Avoid visiting during peak season (July and August). We made this mistake in Portugal and paid a premium for our accommodation! Montenegro was lovely and quiet in October and the weather was still warm enough for swimming at the beaches.
• Stay outside of the historical center. Again, because housing is the biggest expense, you can save a lot of money if you don’t mind walking a bit to get into town or better yet taking public transportation. We found Dobrota to be a lovely place to stay and did not mind the daily walk when we wanted to visit the old town.
• Rent a car instead of taking a tour. You can rent a car really affordably at Tivat Airport and then drive to the major sights that you are interested in. The roads are easy to navigate but be prepared for some windey, hilly roads depending on where you go. 
• Stay away from the “touristy” restaurants in the historic area. Most of them are touristy so not only are they pricey, they don’t really feature the homemade authentic cuisine you want. The ice cream stalls are pretty good though 🙂
• Use your two feet every day! This helped us reduce our public transportation footprint while increasing our exercise activity. Double win!
• We use travel credit cards with sign-on bonuses to maximize free miles that we then apply towards our trip to travel for (almost) free. 
• Use AirBnB. AirBnB is a website that allows homeowners, in destinations all over the world, the ability to rent private spaces (or entire apartments) for a fee. As nomadic long term travelers, we like to call AirBnB our home as it has helped us save a lot of money and provides us with really great places managed by wonderful hosts! Pro tip: If you sign up for AirBnB using our referral link, you will get a 40 USD credit, which should give you a pretty nice discount on your first night.

So that’s it folks! What do you think about our budget in Kotor? Is it as affordable as you thought it was? Feel free to share your experience and ask questions by leaving a comment below.