Croatia's Istria: Rovinj, Pula, Motovun and Plitvice

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Pula, on to Rovinj

   Pula Airport to Rovinj

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Rovinj
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Pula Airport (PUY), a few kilometres outside the city, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall whatever time you land. If you come by road from Trieste or Venice, we can meet you at a hotel in Pula instead. Plan to arrive by about 4 pm for the evening briefing; if your flight lands later, the pick-up still happens and your guide briefs you at breakfast. It is about 45 minutes north through olive groves and oak scrub to Rovinj, where we stay three nights. The old town stands on what was an island until the channel was filled in the 18th century, its tall houses rising straight from the water to the church of St Euphemia on the top of the hill. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week ahead, then walks us through the lanes to a welcome dinner of Istrian dishes, such as fuži pasta with local olive oil, with a glass of Malvazija if you like.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Pula Airport (PUY)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in Rovinj

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

2. Jour 2 : Pula's arena and the Brijuni Islands

   Rovinj to Pula, then Fažana and by boat to Veliki Brijun, back to Rovinj

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Rovinj
   Détail du jour 2

   We leave Rovinj at about 7:45 for the 40-minute drive south, to be at Pula's arena when it opens, before the day's coach groups. Built in the 1st century AD, it is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres anywhere, its limestone outer wall still standing to full height on the side facing the harbour. A licensed local guide takes us inside and down to the vaulted passages below the arena floor, where an exhibition shows how Roman Istria made olive oil and wine. Then we walk through the old town to the Arch of the Sergii, from the 1st century BC, and the Forum with the Temple of Augustus. Late morning we drive 15 minutes to Fažana and take the national park boat across to Veliki Brijun, about 15 minutes. A park guide shows us the island by tourist train: Tito's summer residence, a safari park that began with animals given by visiting heads of state, and the ruins of a Roman villa on Verige Bay. We sit down to lunch on the island and are back in Rovinj by about 5 pm.

   Compris

   • Pula arena entry at opening with a licensed local guide
   • Pula old town walk: the Arch of the Sergii, the Forum and the Temple of Augustus
   • Return national park boat from Fažana to Veliki Brijun
   • Brijuni National Park tour by tourist train with a park guide
   • Sit-down lunch on Veliki Brijun

   Option plus facile : Stay on the arena's ground level and skip the old town walk with a coffee on the Forum, then rejoin the group for the drive to Fažana.

   Option plus active : On Veliki Brijun, leave the train at the main harbour and walk the shore path to the Roman villa on Verige Bay (about 1 hour), meeting the group for lunch.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Rovinj

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot in Pula, mostly level, with steps inside the arena. The Brijuni tour is seated on the train with short walks.

3. Jour 3 : Rovinj on foot, then a free afternoon

   On foot in Rovinj's old town

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Rovinj
   Détail du jour 3

   A slower day in Rovinj, which is why we stay three nights. At about 8 am, before the day visitors arrive, a licensed local guide walks us up Grisia, the steep cobbled lane of artists' studios, to the baroque church of St Euphemia at the top of the old town. Its bell tower, about 60 m high and modelled on St Mark's in Venice, carries a copper statue of the saint that turns with the wind; climb the wooden stairs inside for the view over the red roofs and the islands. Down by the harbour we visit Batana House, a small museum of the flat-bottomed wooden fishing boat that Rovinj still builds and sails, recognised by UNESCO in 2016 for how the town keeps that tradition alive. We finish at the Valdibora market among stalls of Istrian cheese, honey, olive oil and truffle products. The afternoon and evening are yours: swim from the rocks in the Golden Cape forest park, a 20-minute walk south, take a boat into the Lim Fjord, or watch the fishing boats come in.

   Compris

   • Rovinj old town walk at 8 am with a licensed local guide
   • St Euphemia's church and bell tower entry
   • Batana House
   • Valdibora market

   Activités en option

   • Boat trip into the Lim Fjord (extra, price shown at booking)
   • Bike hire for the Golden Cape forest park (extra, price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Skip the bell tower stairs and wait in the shade of the church square, then walk down to Batana House with the group.

   Option plus active : In the free afternoon, walk or cycle the coast path through the Golden Cape forest park to the coves beyond it and back (about 2 hours).

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot in the morning on steep, polished cobbles. The bell tower stairs are narrow wooden steps with ladders near the top.

4. Jour 4 : A truffle hunt, Grožnjan and Motovun

   Rovinj to the Mirna valley, then Grožnjan and Motovun

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Motovun
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Rovinj at about 8:30 and drive an hour up through the green middle of Istria to the Mirna valley, below Motovun. The oak forest along the river is where Istrian truffles grow. A local truffle-hunting family takes us into the woods with their dogs, which find the truffles by scent while the hunters dig them out; a find is never certain, which is part of the fun. Then we sit down to a long lunch built around truffles, shaved over fuži pasta or eggs, with local cheese, ham and wine. In the afternoon we drive 20 minutes to Grožnjan, a hilltop village that was half empty until artists were invited to take over its houses in 1965; today its lanes are full of galleries and studios, and in summer you hear music students practising. Late in the afternoon we drive up to Motovun, a walled town on a hill about 270 m above sea level, and walk its ramparts as the evening light falls on the forest and vineyards. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Compris

   • Truffle hunt with dogs and a local family in the Mirna valley
   • Truffle lunch
   • Grožnjan, the artists' village
   • Walk on Motovun's town walls

   Option plus facile : Stay at the forest edge during the hunt and meet the group as the dogs come back; in Motovun, ride the hotel shuttle to the top.

   Option plus active : Walk up to Motovun from the valley on the old stepped path (about 40 minutes, steep) instead of riding.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Motovun

   Activité : About an hour on forest tracks for the hunt, which can be muddy, and steep cobbles in Grožnjan and Motovun. White truffles are in season from about September, black truffles in spring and summer.

5. Jour 5 : Opatija's seafront, then Plitvice's upper lakes

   Motovun through the Učka tunnel to Opatija and Volosko, then Plitvice Lakes

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Plitvice Lakes
   Détail du jour 5

   We leave Motovun at about 8:30 and cross Istria to the east, through the Učka tunnel under the mountain, to the Kvarner coast, about an hour. Opatija grew in the 19th century into a resort for the Habsburg court and its visitors, and its villas and gardens still face the sea. We walk through the park of Villa Angiolina, planted with trees from around the world, then follow the Lungomare, the 12 km seafront path, for about 2 km north to Volosko, a fishing village of narrow lanes, for a sit-down lunch at about 11:45 of Kvarner fish or scampi by the harbour. Then it is about two and a half hours inland by motorway, through the forested hills of Gorski kotar, to Plitvice. From June to September, at about 4 pm as the day visitors leave (about 2 pm in May and October, when the park closes earlier), a park guide walks us along the upper lakes, where the water steps down through small falls and pools in the late light. The longest driving day, about three and a half hours in two legs. Few places to eat near the park, so dinner is included.

   Compris

   • Villa Angiolina park in Opatija
   • Lungomare walk from Opatija to Volosko with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Volosko
   • Plitvice Lakes National Park two-day entry, starting with the upper lakes in the late afternoon with a park guide
   • Dinner near Plitvice Lakes

   Option plus facile : Walk only the first stretch of the Lungomare and ride with the vehicle to Volosko; at Plitvice, ride the park shuttle and walk only the short loop around the lowest of the upper lakes.

   Option plus active : At Plitvice, carry on to the top of the upper lakes at Prošćansko jezero and ride the shuttle down (about 6 km).

   Temps libre : Evening at the hotel near the park

   Activité : The longest drive of the trip, about 235 km in two legs. The Lungomare is level and paved, about 2 km; the upper lakes are about 4 km on boardwalks and forest paths, some wet, with gentle climbs. Swimming is not allowed in the lakes. In May and October the park closes earlier and ticket sales end mid-afternoon, so we leave Motovun at about 7:45, shorten Opatija to the Lungomare and lunch, and start the upper lakes at about 2 pm. The park guide can cut the walk short if the group is tired.

   

6. Jour 6 : Plitvice's lower lakes at opening, then Zagreb

   Plitvice Lakes National Park, then north to Zagreb

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Zagreb
   Détail du jour 6

   We are at the gate when the park opens, about 7 am in summer and 8 am in spring and autumn, on the second day of our park ticket. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia's oldest national park and listed by UNESCO in 1979, is a chain of 16 lakes held back by barriers of travertine that the water itself builds. This morning the park guide takes us down the boardwalks of the lower lakes, in the canyon below yesterday's walk, to Veliki slap, at 78 m the highest waterfall in Croatia, before the coach groups arrive, then across Lake Kozjak on the electric boat. By late morning we are on the road north, about two hours via Slunj and Karlovac, and sit down to lunch in Zagreb's Lower Town. At about 3 pm a licensed local guide takes us up to the Upper Town on the funicular, running since 1890, past the tiled roof of St Mark's Church and through the Stone Gate. The late afternoon is free, and we end the week with a farewell dinner.

   Compris

   • Plitvice lower lakes at opening with a park guide, to Veliki slap
   • Electric boat across Lake Kozjak
   • Sit-down lunch in Zagreb
   • Zagreb Upper Town with a licensed local guide: the funicular, St Mark's Church, the Stone Gate
   • Farewell dinner in Zagreb

   Option plus facile : Walk only to the viewpoint over Veliki slap and back up to the entrance (about 2 km), then wait at the café by the gate; in Zagreb, rest at the hotel and meet the group for dinner.

   Option plus active : In Zagreb's free late afternoon, walk up to Mirogoj cemetery's arcades and back (about 1.5 hours).

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Zagreb

   Activité : About 4 to 5 km in 2.5 to 3 hours on boardwalks with steps in the morning, then about 1.5 hours on foot in Zagreb.

   

7. Jour 7 : Depart from Zagreb

   Zagreb to Zagreb Airport

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   The last morning is free until your transfer. If you fly in the afternoon, it is a good time for what you missed: Dolac market under its red umbrellas, where farmers from the hills around the city sell cheese, cream, honey and fruit; a coffee on Ban Jelačić Square as the blue trams pass; or a walk round the green horseshoe of parks and squares in the Lower Town, laid out in the 19th century between the main station and the old centre. Your guide checks your flight times the evening before, and our driver takes you to Zagreb Airport (ZAG), about 17 km and half an hour south of the city, whatever time you fly. If you would like to stay on, we can book extra nights in Zagreb, or add our Zagreb to Dubrovnik trip afterwards, which you can ask about when you request to book.

   Compris

   • Drop-off at Zagreb Airport (ZAG)

   Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

   Activité : Any flight time works; for a free morning in Zagreb, book a flight after about 1 pm.

   

Faune et météo : May and June are warm and green, with the sea warming through June. July and August are hot and busy, and Motovun's film festival in late July fills the town. September brings the warmest sea and the start of the white truffle season, which runs into the winter; October is mild and quiet, with the truffle season at its height and Plitvice turning gold. Some boat and attraction hours shorten in May and October; at Plitvice the park closes earlier and ticket sales end mid-afternoon, so in those months the upper-lakes walk moves to about 2 pm and the Opatija stop is shorter.

• Rovinj3 nuits
• Motovun1 nuit
• Plitvice Lakes1 nuit
• Zagreb1 nuit