Three days is enough to see the three faces of Istria: a Venetian town on the sea, the hilltop villages of the interior and Roman Pula. Here is a route that works.
Istria is small enough to understand in a long weekend and varied enough to make you want to come back. In three days you can walk a Venetian old town by the sea, eat lunch in a hilltop village above a truffle forest and stand inside a Roman amphitheatre. The trick is not to try to see everything. This route picks one base, three clear themes and a little time to do nothing.
It assumes you have a car. Distances are short, most drives between towns take well under an hour, and public transport in the interior is thin. If you arrive without one, our guide to getting to Istria covers airports, buses and car hire.
Where should you base yourself for three days?
For a first visit, stay in or near Rovinj. It sits roughly in the middle of the west coast, so the hill towns to the north-east and Pula to the south are both within easy reach, and you come back each evening to the most beautiful harbour in Istria. Poreč works almost as well and is a little closer to the interior. If you prefer quiet, a stone house in the countryside between Rovinj and the hills gives you both, as long as you are happy to drive to dinner. Our guide to where to stay in Istria compares the options in more detail.
Day 1: Rovinj, the old town and the Golden Cape
Start early, before the day visitors arrive. Enter the old town through the Balbi Arch and simply walk uphill through the lanes to the Church of St Euphemia, whose bell tower is the tallest in Istria. The terrace beside the church looks out over the sea and the islands, and in the morning light it is close to empty. Take the steep street of Grisia back down, with its small galleries, and finish at the harbour, where fishing boats still tie up beside the excursion boats.
After lunch, walk south along the shore to the Golden Cape (Zlatni rt), a forest park of pines and rocky coves that is the best place to swim near the town. Come back for sunset, which is the main event in Rovinj: the rocks below the church and the western waterfront fill up for a reason. Our Rovinj travel guide and the guide to Rovinj beaches and the Golden Cape have more.
- If you have a spare hour. Take a boat trip into Lim Bay, the long, fjord-like inlet just north of Rovinj, known for its oysters and mussels.
- Shoes. The old town is paved with polished stone and gets slippery. Wear shoes with some grip.
Day 2: the hill towns of the interior
Day two is for inland Istria, and it is the day most visitors remember. Drive to Motovun first, while the air is still cool. The town is a ring of walls and red roofs on top of a green hill, and walking the circuit of the walls shows you the Mirna valley and the oak forest below, the heart of truffle country. Find a terrace on the main square for coffee and the view. Our guide to a slow weekend in Motovun explains what to look for.
From Motovun, it is a short drive to Grožnjan, a small stone town of galleries, studios and music, where summer concerts fill the squares. Have lunch inland: homemade fuži or pljukanci pasta, Istrian ham and cheese, and truffles in season. Our guide to Istrian cuisine and how to choose a good konoba will help you order well.
In the afternoon, choose one more stop rather than three. Hum, famous as "the smallest town in the world", is reached along the Glagolitic Alley, a road lined with stone monuments to the old Slavic script. Alternatively, if you are heading back towards the coast, stop in Pazin to look into the abyss below the castle that inspired Jules Verne. See Grožnjan, Hum and Pazin for the details.
The coast shows you how beautiful Istria is. The interior shows you how it lives.
Day 3: Pula, the Arena and a last swim
On the last day, drive south to Pula. Go straight to the Arena, the Roman amphitheatre that is one of the best preserved in the world, and arrive at opening time to have it at its quietest. Then walk into the old centre: the Arch of the Sergii, the Forum and the Temple of Augustus, all within a few minutes of each other. Our resident's guide to Pula and the overview of Roman Istria add context.
For the afternoon, you have two good choices. Swim in one of the rocky coves around Verudela and Stoja, a few minutes from the centre, or drive to the wild southern tip of the peninsula at Cape Kamenjak, where low scrub meets clear water and cliffs. If your flight leaves from Pula, this day ends conveniently close to the airport.
What can you swap in or leave out?
- Poreč instead of Pula. If Roman ruins appeal less than mosaics, spend day three in Poreč and the Euphrasian Basilica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Brijuni. The Brijuni National Park is reached by boat from Fažana and fills half a day on its own. Worth it, but it will push something else out.
- Bale and Svetvinčenat. Two quiet inland towns on the way between Rovinj and Pula, ideal for a short stop. See our guide.
- Rain. If the weather turns, our list of things to do on a rainy day has ten good ideas.
Good to know before you go
- When. Late May, June and September give you warm days, a swimmable sea and fewer crowds. See the best time to visit Istria.
- Book dinner in summer. In July and August the good restaurants in Rovinj and the hill towns fill up in the evenings.
- Parking. Old towns such as Rovinj and Motovun are closed to traffic. Use the car parks at the edge and walk in.
- Midday. In high summer, plan the hill towns for the morning and keep the hottest hours for shade, lunch or the sea.
- Opening times. Out of season, many restaurants and attractions keep shorter hours or close for some weeks. Check before you drive.
Three days will not show you all of Istria, but it will show you why people return. If you can stay longer, our one-week Istria itinerary adds the east coast, Brijuni and more of the interior at a slower pace. And if the weekend leaves you dreaming of a stone house of your own, you will not be the first.
