Kotor tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 00:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Europe/Podgorica local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Kotor sits at the innermost reach of the Bay of Kotor, where the limestone walls of St. John's Hill rise 260 metres directly above the city and the Škurda and Ljuta rivers discharge into a bay deep enough to berth cruise ships within 100 metres of the mediaeval walls. The Old City (Stari Grad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved walled cities on the Adriatic. The fortifications follow Venetian construction standards from the period 1420 to 1797, when Kotor was the empire's southernmost significant port; the 4.5 kilometres of walls climb from sea level to the hilltop fortress of St. John in a series of zig-zagging ramparts studded with towers. The walk to the top gate takes 45 to 60 minutes at a moderate pace; the limestone path gains 260 metres of elevation with over 1,300 steps. The view from the top takes in all four connected bays of the Boka Kotorska system. The tide at Kotor is the smallest in the Bay of Kotor system. Being the furthest point from the Adriatic entrance, the astronomical signal attenuates as it propagates inward through the Verige Strait and through the Risan Bay. Mean spring range at the innermost bay is approximately 0.35 to 0.5 metres — smaller than Herceg Novi at the bay's mouth, and smaller still compared to the Croatian Adriatic islands further north. The predicted difference between high and low water on a typical day is visible as a slow change in the waterline along the quay and the stone steps below the Land Gate. What amplifies or suppresses that signal is the jugo, the sustained south-easterly wind that funnels up the Adriatic and pushes water into the closed end of the Boka. A three-day jugo can raise Kotor's water level 30 to 60 centimetres above the astronomical prediction — more than the entire spring tidal range — flooding the lower cobblestones of the Piazza of the Arms in front of the Clock Tower. The bora does the reverse: a sharp north-easterly dropping off the Orjen massif behind Herceg Novi briefly lowers sea level and exposes the stone steps to the waterline of the city walls. Beneath the bay floor, submarine freshwater springs — vrulje — rise from the karst aquifer fed by the Orjen and Lovćen mountains above. These springs deliver cold, low-salinity water through fissures in the limestone; divers and snorkellers encounter shimmering thermocline boundaries where the cold freshwater mixes with the warmer bay water above. Summer bay-water temperature in the surface layer reaches 26 to 28°C; the cold vrulje springs below sit at 8 to 12°C year-round. The standard water-based activity from Kotor Old Town is kayaking: the route from the small beach south of the Land Gate west through the bay to the artificial island of Gospa od Škrpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks) near Perast is a 14-kilometre round trip taking 3 to 4 hours in calm conditions. The island was constructed from 1452 onward by local sailors who dropped rocks from their boats at the site of a votive image; the tradition of stone-laying continues on 22 July each year. The crossing of the Verige Strait is the most current-affected section — plan to cross near the change of tide, when the flow through the 90-metre gap is at minimum. Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height. For the Adriatic's small tidal signal, the Croatian Hydrographic Institute (HHI) provides the regional reference harmonic data; the HHI Kotor Bay predictions are closely correlated to this model output and provide a useful cross-check for activity planning.