A hilltop town, an oak forest that hides truffles, and an old railway line turned into a path. Inland Istria at walking pace.
Seen from the valley road, Motovun looks almost too perfect: a ring of stone walls and red roofs on top of a green hill, a bell tower rising from the middle. Up close it is a living town, small and steep, with views that reach across the Mirna valley to the hills beyond. It is the ideal place to slow down after a busy week on the coast.
Morning: the walls
Arrive early, before day visitors, and walk up through the old town gates. The circuit of the town walls is the best way to understand the place: on one side the valley and the forest below, on the other the tight cluster of houses and squares. On clear days the views are wide enough that you start to understand how the whole of inland Istria fits together.
Midday: the loggia and the square
The main square, with its church and loggia, is where the town gathers. Find a terrace, order a coffee or a glass of local white, and watch the light move across the valley. Lunch inland is unhurried, and in autumn the menus turn towards truffles, game and homemade pasta.
Afternoon: down into the valley
Below the hill lies the Motovun forest along the Mirna river, an oak landscape famous for its truffles. Walking or cycling along the valley floor feels like a different world from the hilltop. The Parenzana, the route of the old narrow-gauge railway that once linked Trieste with Poreč, now serves as a walking and cycling trail through this part of Istria, with tunnels, viaducts and gentle gradients.
Inland Istria rewards anyone willing to slow down.
Evening
Stay for sunset. As the day visitors leave, the town becomes quiet and the valley fills with soft light. If you can, spend the night in one of the stone houses of the old town, and wake to mist lying in the valley below you.
When to go
Spring and autumn are the loveliest seasons, warm enough to sit outside and quiet enough to have the walls to yourself. In summer the town hosts the Motovun Film Festival, when the small streets fill with screenings and late nights; wonderful if you like a crowd, worth avoiding if you came for silence.
Where to stay and eat
Motovun and the surrounding villages offer everything from rooms in old town houses to restored country estates with pools and vineyard views. Staying overnight transforms the experience: you see the town before the day visitors arrive and after they leave. Inland restaurants tend to favour local produce and long lunches: homemade fuži and pljukanci pasta, truffles in season, Istrian beef and lamb, and wines from the estates you will have passed on the drive up.
Nearby, if you have another day
Motovun is an excellent base for exploring the hilltop towns of the interior. Grožnjan, a short drive to the north-west, is a town of artists and musicians, with galleries and summer concerts in its small squares. Oprtalj looks across the valley from its own ridge. Buzet, to the north-east, is at the heart of truffle country and the gateway to the green hills of the Ćićarija. Each has its own character, and none of them is more than half an hour from the next.
Bringing the interior home
Many people who spend a weekend inland find themselves wanting to bring a little of it back to their own house: the stone, the oak beams, the simplicity of rooms that have been lived in for centuries. That is not a matter of decoration but of materials and proportion. A long table, a few generous, well-made pieces with the warmth of natural wood, thick linen and plenty of space between things go a long way towards the calm of an inland stone house, wherever you happen to live.
