The Journal
Istria sits where Croatia, Slovenia and Italy meet, which gives you more ways in than most visitors realise. Airports, motorways, trains and summer boats, explained.
June and September are the safe answer, but the right time depends on what you want: the sea, the food, walking or simply peace. An honest guide to choosing your dates.
The big furniture chains furnish half the coast. If you want your house to feel like yours, there is another way, and it costs less than most people assume.
Rovinj or Poreč? A seaside apartment or a stone house in the hills? How to choose the right base in Istria for the holiday you actually want.
Sunset over Rovinj, a long lunch in a hill town, a glass of Malvazija on a stone terrace. How to plan two unhurried days in Istria for two.
A complete, practical list for furnishing a holiday apartment or villa in Istria, with notes on what guests notice, what breaks first and where it pays to spend more.
Seven days is the right amount of time for Istria: enough for the coast, the islands and the interior, with room for long lunches and lazy afternoons.
Green hills and truffles, or islands and Roman palaces? An honest comparison of Croatia's two most popular holiday regions, from travel time and beaches to food, culture and pace.
Hilltop walls, a bell tower above the sea, a fjord-like bay and the highest summit of the peninsula. Ten places in Istria where the view is the reason to go.
Roman arenas and hill towns, hidden coves and truffle woods, oysters, caves and cycle paths. The best things to do in Istria, with the season, the time you need and where to read more.
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.
Furniture is the line in the budget investors cut first. It is also what guests photograph, sit on, sleep in and write about.
Harvest in the vineyards, white truffles in the oak forests, new olive oil and a sea still warm enough for a swim. Why autumn may be the best season in Istria.
Rental villas live hard lives. Twenty different families a summer, wet swimsuits, sun cream and suitcases. Here is how to furnish for that, and still look beautiful in the photographs.
The small practical things that make a trip to Istria easier: paying, drinking the tap water, tipping in a konoba, finding a pharmacy, and the local manners worth knowing.
The mountain wall between Istria and the Kvarner Gulf, with the highest point of the peninsula and a stone tower on top. A practical guide to walking on Učka.
From signing to the first summer evening on the terrace: when to plan, when to order, and what to leave until you have lived there for a while.
Quiet towns, bright cold days, slow-cooked food and the last of the truffles. A practical guide to visiting Istria between November and March.
The old railway path is only the beginning. Quiet hill roads, white gravel tracks through vineyards and easy coastal paths make Istria one of the best places to ride in the Mediterranean.
Before the first guest arrives, a holiday villa in Croatia needs approval, a category and a few routines. A plain-English overview of how it works, and who to ask.
Green hills, flowering headlands, wild asparagus in the hedgerows and hill towns waking up before the summer. A guide to Istria from March to May.
A narrow-gauge line that once linked Trieste and Poreč is now a gravel path through tunnels, over viaducts and past hilltop towns. How to ride it.
Istria has one of the longest camping traditions on the Adriatic. Big seaside campsites, quiet rural pitches, camper vans and tents: how to choose, and what to pack.
Istria is not the cheapest corner of the Mediterranean, but it rewards people who travel smart. When to come, where to stay, how to eat well and what costs nothing at all.
Most of Istria is best seen from behind the wheel. How the motorway works, what to expect on country roads, and how to park near old towns without stress.
Caves, Byzantine mosaics, a castle above an abyss, wine cellars and long lunches. How to turn a wet day in Istria into one of the best of the trip.
Rocky coves, Roman ruins, a safari park on an island and caves to explore. How to plan a family holiday in Istria that works for children and parents alike.
Just across Učka, the old Habsburg resort of Opatija feels like another world: grand hotels, camellia gardens and a seaside promenade made for walking.
Film under Roman arches, music in a hilltop town, truffles, young wine and village feasts. A guide to the long-running festivals that shape the Istrian year.
Asparagus in spring, a warm sea in September, truffles and new olive oil in autumn. A season-by-season guide to choosing the best time to visit Istria.
In collaboration with Lampisa
Tables, beds, sofas, kitchens and storage, drawn for your house and built in Istria on a plywood structure, never particleboard. Better than the retail park, without the showroom price.