Expat Travel Mom

Istria is small enough that nearly everything on this list is within about an hour of either Poreč or Rovinj. That's what made our nine days so easy: we picked a base, tucked in two or three stops a day, and never spent the whole day in the car.

If you're still deciding where to sleep, I wrote about our hotel in Trieste and our Airbnbs in Poreč and Rovinj here: Trieste, Poreč and Rovinj: Where We Stayed in Istria. This post is the "what to do" companion.

We went at the end of September/early October, which meant small crowds, easy parking, and lovely walking weather. It's also truffle season!

Truffles

Truffle hunting with Sviličić

This was one of the coolest things we did on our trip! Our guide, Mihael, has been hunting truffles for 15 years, learning from his father, and he brought along his dogs, Mina and Roxy. We walked through the woods while the dogs did the real work, and we ended up finding a large white truffle and some black truffles. Watching the dogs get excited and start digging, while Mihael tried to prevent them from eating the prizes, was half the fun! Truffle hunting season is serious business and it's a daily thing, sometimes twice a day for them. 

Afterward we had lunch at his family's home in the highly sought after town of Motovun (more on the town in the hill towns section below). His mom cooked, and we shared the table with another couple. Hours of conversation flew by, as we savoured every dish his mom brought out. For someone who never liked truffle before the trip, these fresh truffles changed my mind! It felt like being invited to someone's house, which is exactly what it was. You can find them at Sviličić Truffles. (See more on IG.)

Zigante Truffle Days in Livade

Giancarlo Zigante found a 1.3 kilogram white truffle in 1999, which earned a Guinness World Record, and the town of Livade now celebrates with a truffle festival. It runs through October and November over five weekends.

If you've been burned by truffle oil, finding it too pungent and offensive, give the real thing a chance. (more on IG)

Wineries, Gin, and Oysters

The best part of the family-run wineries is that you're often talking with the people who made the wine, and they love to chat.

Vinarija Matijašić

We tasted straight from the tanks with Denis, one of four brothers, here at Vinarija Matijašić. The family has farmed organically for more than 20 years. They make their own prosciutto and sausage, and there are horses, goats, pigs, and bunnies wandering around. There's even a boat in a pond which we took advantage of! After we walked around the land for a while, enjoying the animals and scenery, we came back to a lovely lunch spread of cheese, sausage, fresh bread, and wine. 

We ended up taking home some red Teran, white Malvazija, and some olive oil. The Malvazija we took home came in a plastic bottle, which sounds odd but is a very practical Istrian tradition. You can pick the size you want and fill it straight from the tank, with no heavy glass to carry in your luggage. It's usually a little cheaper too, and it's honestly so charming in a strange way. Policies vary, so just ask politely. It was perfect for our Airbnb. (more on IG)

Benvenuti Winery

Benvenuti is a three-generation family winery in the village of Kaldir. We tasted four of the seven wines with a lovely hostess, and the conversation about Croatia was just as good as the wine. She was warm and encouraging about my Croatian practice, which I appreciated more than she knows. I really enjoyed their non-oak Malvazija...we brought that back as well! One thing I loved about getting to all of these village places on our trip, was the drive to each. You wonder how these exist, in what seems the middle of nowhere, but their names speak for themselves, and the people come! (the IG recap)

Imagine Spirits Distillery

Some of our favorite stops are the ones we wander into with no expectations, and this was one of them. Imagine Spirits sits just outside Vrsar, a small family-run distillery built right on the family's own property. It's solar-powered and eco-friendly from top to bottom, and the gin is some of the most thoughtfully made we've tasted anywhere.

Both of Matteo's parents were away on other business the day we visited, so he led the whole tasting himself. We tried the gins and both of their olive oils, and everything was excellent. It's all made in tiny batches of just 200 bottles at a time, with no essences, no added sugar, and nothing artificial, only local botanicals. The distillery has won honors from the World Gin Awards, the Frankfurt International Trophy, and Gin Masters, among others, which fits with it being the most awarded gin in Istria.

We ended up chatting with Matteo for a long while about college, about his recent trip to Barcelona, and about how he taught himself English mostly through social media and YouTube. His English was fantastic. We told him it's a small world and to look us up if he's ever in Spain.

We loved it enough to bring bottles home: the Redwing Sloe Gin and the Pink Robin Gin both made it into our suitcase. If you're anywhere near Vrsar, Poreč, or Rovinj, this belongs on your list.

Lim Fjord Oysters/ Tony's Oyster Shack

We never would have known this place existed if it weren't for Anthony Bourdain. It's tucked into the Lim Channel, a narrow inlet that looks remarkably like a Scandinavian fjord. There's a tiny wooden platform built on stilts over the water, with no restaurant name on the door and no menu...that's Lim's. It's a working oyster and mussel farm owned by Emil, and he and the others who help him shuck everything to order, just a few feet from where it grew.

Here's the fun part: there is no "Tony." Emil picked up the nickname after Bourdain featured him on No Reservations years ago, and it stuck so well that travelers still show up asking for Tony by name. Everyone there just laughs and points to Emil. It took us a little while to get them talking, but once they did, hearing them tell the story made the visit even better.

As for the oysters, my husband says they were some of the best he's ever had: plump, meaty, and without any of the slimy texture you get at some places. A squeeze of lemon or a dash of Tabasco, a glass of local Malvazija, and the water right underneath you is the whole experience.

It's cash only, and it's worth the drive down the winding road to find it.

Hill Towns

Motovun

We first landed in Motovun for lunch after truffle hunting, but the town deserves a visit of its own. It sits on a hill above the Mirna River valley, about 25 kilometers northeast of Poreč, and you can see it perched up there from the road long before you arrive.

Centuries of Venetian rule shaped how Motovun looks today. Stone lions from the 14th century guard the town gates, and you'll spot more lion sculptures and coats of arms around the old town. The towers, walls, gates, and little piazzas fit together in a very compact space, which makes it easy to wander without a plan.

The best thing to do here is walk the town walls. From the top you look out over vineyards that produce Teran and Malvasija wines and over the forests below, which are known for white and black truffles. The Motovun Forest at the foot of the hill is often described as the largest known white truffle site in the world, which makes it the perfect place to start a truffle hunt and then eat lunch up the hill.

A few other things worth seeing in town:

• St. Stephen's Church, a late Renaissance church that local guides credit to the architect Andrea Palladio.
• The town square, where you can still see old water cisterns with pipes dating from the 14th and 15th centuries.
• The Municipal Palace, a Renaissance building that is the largest secular building of its period in Istria.

Grožnjan

Our jaws actually dropped walking into this one. Grožnjan sits on a hilltop in central Istria and was first mentioned all the way back in 1102. By the 1960s it had nearly emptied out, with abandoned stone houses left to crumble after the war.

Then, in 1965, the town was declared Croatia's official "City of Artists." Empty buildings were offered to painters, sculptors, and musicians in exchange for turning the whole place into a working creative colony. It worked. Today about 170 people live here, and there are around 40 galleries and studios tucked into the stone streets. Every cobblestone lane we wandered down led to another open studio or another artist at work.

We stopped for lunch right in the middle of it all, slow and relaxed, which is exactly the pace a town like this asks for. If you want medieval charm without the crowds that Motovun can draw, this is the one.

Svetvinčenat

We got to Svetvinčenat just as the town was winding down for the day, and it still turned into one of our favorite stops of the trip. We'll be back. It's tiny, with around 200 people, and wonderfully quiet.

We had lunch first at San53Vin, which was genuinely delicious and came with great service. Then we wandered into the town's real surprise: the Morosini-Grimani Castle, a 13th-century medieval castle sitting right in the middle of the Renaissance square. It's among the best-preserved examples of Venetian architecture in Istria.

We arrived just as the castle was closing for the day, but the man working there sat and talked with us for a long while anyway. We covered the castle's history, and more broadly his own thoughts on Croatia's history and where things stand today. It was one of those conversations that ends up being worth more than the ticket would have been.

Afterward we simply wandered. Svetvinčenat has the kind of charm that only comes from centuries of people actually living there, and it doesn't feel built for show.

Layers of History

Pula

We spent a full day in Pula, and it's the kind of history that actually stops you in your tracks.

The Pula Arena is genuinely one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheaters we've ever stood inside. Visiting in October meant we had far more room to take it in without fighting crowds. Pay for entry if you go. It's a small price, and it goes directly toward preserving the structure. There are also free QR code guides scattered throughout, which make it easy to understand what you're looking at as you walk around.

The Arena was built between 27 BC and 68 AD, and it's the sixth-largest Roman amphitheater in the world. It's the only one left standing with all four side towers and all three original architectural levels fully intact. It actually predates Rome's own Colosseum, and it once held up to 23,000 spectators for gladiator fights and public spectacles.

From the Arena, we just wandered: old city gates, ancient walls, and then the Arch of the Sergii. It's over 2,000 years old, and it isn't a typical emperor's monument. A woman named Salvia Postuma Sergia privately funded it to honor three male relatives of her family, including one who fought at the Battle of Actium. That makes it a rare personal tribute and not an official state one.

Just steps away is the Temple of Augustus, built while Augustus himself was still alive. It's one of only two Roman temples of its kind still standing outside Italy. It survived for nearly two thousand years until an Allied bomb destroyed it in 1944, and it was painstakingly rebuilt from the original stones in 1947. It's worth going inside.

We also found the forum square and a hilltop fortress that we admired from the outside. Pula has an interesting split personality, with a modern, commercial city pressed right up against a genuinely old historic core. Walking the line between the two was half the fun of the day.

Parking tip: if you're driving in, skip the stress of 2-hour meters and the pricier lots that run up to 4 euros an hour. Buy a day parking ticket online before you go. It's an easy system, and it's one less thing to think about once you're there.

Monkodonja

Two completely different centuries, one single day: a settlement from 1800 BC and a fort from 1904, with a road lined with giant sculptures in between.

Monkodonja looks like nothing at first. You park on the side of a road and follow a forest trail with no real sense of where it's taking you. Then suddenly you're standing inside what archaeologists call the "Istrian Stonehenge," a fortified Bronze Age settlement dating back to 1800 BC. It's ringed by massive dry-stone walls that once held about a thousand people. We spent a while climbing the rocks and wandering the old foundations, and the views over the surrounding countryside alone made the walk worth it, history buff or not.

Boulevard World Genius

From Monkodonja, we drove down the five-kilometer Boulevard World Genius, a road lined with monumental stone sculptures of history's great minds. Aristotle, Einstein, Darwin, Tim Berners-Lee, and Disney are among them, all carved by art students from academies across Italy and Croatia. The road leads toward Fort Forno, so it fits right into the day.

Fort Forno

The Kažuni

If you've seen a photo that says "Istria" without any words attached, there's a good chance it was a kažun. These small, round, dry-stone huts are built without a single drop of mortar, and they dot the countryside all over central Istria. Shepherds and farmers traditionally used them as shelter while working the fields, and their golden age was the 18th and 19th centuries.

Finding the first one, Tri Kažuna, took some real navigating. Switch your maps app to satellite view so you can spot the exact gravel road to follow if you want to drive to them. We parked off the side of a different road and trekked a bit in, as we were a bit lost. You can also park near the stunning Church of St. Foška and walk the rest of the way in. As with Monkodonja, your first reaction might be "that's it?" But once you understand how they're built, with stacked stone, no binding agent, and a false dome roof that has held for centuries, it's genuinely impressive. If you pay attention on the drive, peek into the gated or walled private homes along the way, because you'll spot more kažuni in the yards.

Kažun Park, near Vodnjan, rounds out the picture. It's an open-air museum that shows the actual stages of construction, from the foundation to the roof. Between the two stops, we came away with a real appreciation for a piece of architecture that most visitors drive right past.

By the Sea

Lone Bay

This was a quiet close to a very full day. Lone Bay sits inside the Zlatni Rt forest park, which was planted in the 1890s by an Austro-Hungarian count, Georg Hütterott. He turned the whole cape into something between an arboretum and a health resort, with pines, cedars, and walking trails that are still there well over a century later.

My husband took his second swim of the trip here, in Lone Bay. The water has a zero-entry slope, so you can wade right in. There are no showers at this particular spot, though plenty of other areas with a little walk have them. We were also told to go to the more active side, with more to do, but we didn't have time. In October, almost nobody was around, so we had quiet water, shaded trails, and a slower pace to end the day on.

A Few Practical Tips

• Bring cash. Many of the smaller places, like Lim Fjord and some wineries, only take cash. I think we take for granted using our debit cards everywhere.
• Use a satellite map for rural spots. Several stops, including the kažuni, are easy to miss.
• Go in the off season if you can. October meant smaller crowds, easy parking, and warm hosts with time to talk.
• Learn a few Croatian words. Even a little effort got us big smiles.

Looking for the full trip picture? See Trieste, Poreč and Rovinj: Where We Stayed in Istria.