Istria is Croatia at half the volume. Venetian bell towers, truffles, olive oil that wins in Italy, and a coast most charter crews never reach.
The peninsula sits at the top of the Adriatic, close enough to Venice that it was governed from there for five centuries and still looks it. The towns are stone and shuttered, the interior is hills and vineyards rather than bare karst, and the food is the best in the country by a distance nobody local would dispute.
It is also the part of the coast where a week can be sailed without seeing a charter flotilla.
The bases
- Pula
- The southern tip, with a Roman amphitheatre that stands almost complete on the harbour front. Airport, marinas, and the natural starting point.
- Rovinj
- The most beautiful town on this coast and probably in the country — a hill of stacked houses running up to a campanile that is a copy of St Mark’s. Busy in season, and worth it.
- Poreč
- Further north, with a sixth-century basilica whose mosaics are UNESCO-listed and largely unvisited by comparison.
- Brijuni
- A national park archipelago off Pula, formerly Tito’s summer residence. Restricted, permit-controlled, and unlike anywhere else in the Adriatic.
Sailing it
The northern Adriatic is shallower than the south and the sea state builds faster in a blow. Distances between harbours are short, which suits a week of gentle hops. The bura here is less funnelled than in the Velebit Channel but still arrives quickly, and the western coast is exposed to the afternoon sea breeze.
Italy is close. Venice is a long day’s sail across the top, and several Istrian bases make that crossing regularly with the right paperwork.
Istria is where you go if you want the food to be the reason for the week.
Ashore
Truffles from the Motovun forest, wild asparagus in spring, Malvazija and Teran from the interior hills, and olive oil that has repeatedly placed at the top of international rankings. The inland hill towns — Motovun, Grožnjan, Bale — are half an hour from the coast and worth a day of the week.
Book a car for one day. It is the only part of the Croatian coast where the interior is as good a reason to be there as the sea.
When
May, June and September. Truffle season runs into autumn, which makes October a serious argument for anyone who cares about food more than swimming.