St. John's Fortress

St. John's Fortress, sometimes shown as San Giovanni or Tvrđava Svetog Ivana, crowns the limestone hill above Kotor Old Town at about 1200 metres elevation. The…St. John's Fortress, sometimes shown as San Giovanni or Tvrđava Svetog Ivana, crowns the limestone hill above Kotor Old Town at about 1200 metres elevation. The site combines an Illyrian-period defensive position with later Byzantine and Venetian rebuilds; the surviving ramparts, gunports and gate sections date mainly from the Venetian programme of fortification across the bay.

Access from the Old Town runs up a stepped switchback path of roughly 1350 steps, passing the Church of Our Lady of Remedy partway up. A ticket booth at the foot of the climb is staffed in the summer months and admission funds upkeep of the path. The summit ramparts open out to a panorama of Kotor Old Town, the fjord arms of the inner bay and the Vrmac ridge opposite.