Pestingrad - Krstac from/to Kotor

At the parking lot north of the old town of Kotor, head towards the sea, cross the main road, and walk on the sidewalk to the right, where you can soon turn into a side street that runs along the coast. Just before the church "Sveti Ilia," turn right onto a footpath through a residential complex, which leads uphill with a left and right bend and back over a side street to the main road, which you cross in an underpass. Beyond that, turn north and take the first side alley to the right. Follow the road uphill to a T-junction, where a footpath with stairs begins on the opposite left, leading uphill. At its end, turn left onto a cross street, then at the next junction, take a side street to the right, and after a left bend, turn right again and uphill. Where the road flattens, keep slightly right and go uphill again to a sharp right turn. Here begins an inconspicuous footpath leading straight uphill into the bushes and represents the actual start of the ascent to Velji Zalazi. After a small right bend, this path becomes clearer and soon leads into open terrain and to a gravel terrace, where it briefly goes left, then right again, and on somewhat unclear path traces diagonally uphill towards steep terrain (use GPS and track and follow the rock doves!). Soon the path becomes clearer again, and faded markings appear. An old stone path, partly heavily overgrown, winds steeply uphill with switchbacks, first diagonally over a ridge, then at the edge of a scree slope straight up, and at the top diagonally out (stone men and old markings). After a crossing, it finally ascends in nicely laid-out switchbacks to the edge of a plateau. From there, the path continues flat and straight to the former hamlet of Velji Zalazi, where from a fork, you diagonally right reach a new gravel track.

Follow this gravel track, which partly blocked the old path, uphill to the first left hairpin, initially leaving it trackless to the right and soon meeting the old stone path, which you follow along markings until you reach the new track again and walk right on it. After a left bend, you can shortcut trackless and steep right uphill through rough block terrain to get back to the track and continue following it to the right. In a wide right curve, you walk flat uphill to a crossing and further to the signposted junction "Pestingrad."

Following the signboard "Pestingrad," take a wide stone path gently downhill to military ruins, thereafter through rough karst terrain on a well-marked footpath and over a terrain threshold. Behind a signpost on the next threshold, descend steeply into a karstic hollow and then up to a third threshold. Here, a rocky steep section begins that must be descended with rope aids to reach the Pestingrad summit on the opposite side with its unique view. Afterwards, return on the same route to the junction with the road (the walking time for the detour to Pestingrad is approx. 1:30 round trip).

At the junction, keep right coming from Pestingrad and follow the track over a bend to the main road, where you turn right again towards Kotor. Passing Konoba Krstac and the Lovćen junction, continue to the Krstac pass height and then downhill into a left bend, where at the end of a boundary wall, a footpath branches off sharply downhill to the right. Following the red markings and the "Kotor" signboard, descend steeply. The path leads in tight switchbacks into a gorge-like valley, crossing a stream there. Then it continues soon flatter along the slope in dense mixed forest to a "balcony" with a beautiful view of the Bay of Kotor. From here wide switchbacks of an old military road lead down, which can be shortcut in a straight line in the upper part. These switchbacks are very flat and it takes quite a while until you reach a cross path at a farmhouse further down.

Here you can cross to the old city wall to the left and — somewhat adventurously through a window opening — join the tourist flow to descend on a historic stone staircase, but CAUTION: at the very bottom exit, a rather high entrance fee will be charged in this case!

At the cross path, go right without any fee and soon continue downhill again on the old stone path to the outskirts of Kotor and from there back to the starting point.