4 Days in the Istria Peninsula of Croatia
Somebody please explain to me how on God’s beautiful earth I am just a short car ride from CROATIA. Goodness gracious. Grateful is the understatement of the century my friends.
My husband and I recently spent a long weekend in the beautiful Istrian Peninsula. We definitely learned a few things, so I thought I’d write this post in order to share with you everything that we loved, and the things we’d change next time. I also included a little “Croatia bucket list” that we hope to accomplish before our time in Italia is up!
We really planned this trip on a whim. After a busy June travelling all over Italy (click here for our trip to Cinque Terre, here for the Amalfi Coast, and here for Rome), we were craving a relaxing beach getaway.
So what did we do? We whipped out our handy dandy google maps and found ourselves a drivable Croatian beachside town. Pula to be exact.
Pula is known for its picturesque rocky, cliff jumping beaches, the most well-preserved Colosseum in the world, and it’s ancient Roman Forum. We looked it up on Pinterest, found some gorgeous photos of a quaint waterside town, some gorgeous historical sites, beaches, and booked an Airbnb.
When we arrived into Pula our immediate thought was “okay, well, not exactly the pictures we saw.” After travelling throughout Italy for the past month, we were used to charming little towns with character and beauty everywhere you look. Pula is not that, hehe! Pula is very industrial, with it’s ruins sort of scattered throughout the middle of the town. The square itself is quite cute, situated near the harbor, and most of the ancient historical sites are walking distance. However, the streets are less appealing. However, we did end up having such an amazing weekend due to the activities we did that made it highly worth the trip! Stay tuned for our day trip to the town that is MUCH more appealing, and actually the exact pictures we saw when we googled Pula.
Day 1:
We arrived in Pula in the late afternoon. We unpacked our bags, got situated, and went for a little stroll around the town. After an early dinner we headed to our first adventure of the trip!
Glow Kayaking!
We did this experience from Airbnb. Click here for $35 off your first booking on Airbnb!. I would 1,000% recommend this experience to anyone and everyone! Arriving to the beach around dusk, we set off on our kayaks along the rocky coast. About 30 minutes into the kayak, we arrived at the cave. Imagine a peaceful cave, with glowing blue light all around you. You know those slow boat rides at Disney world? Kind of like the Na’Vi River tour in Disney World? That is exactly what this looked like! Truly an unforgettable experience. Toward the end of the experience our guides invited us to jump in for a swim in a little alcove of the cliffside. Jump in? In the dark? Where there’s sharks? And jelly fish? And other sea creatures that are large and see me but I can’t see them? NO THANKS! Hehe! Our guides were so kind, incredibly knowledgeable, and even found us a shark egg to hold! All in all the experience was about 2.5 hours long, incredibly peaceful, and something I would absolutely do again.
Day 2:
Day two was a much needed relaxation day at the beach. We headed to Ambrella Beach for the afternoon. Ambrella Beach is one of Pula’s most famous beaches. Full of locals and summer-holiday goers alike.
After a few hours in the sun we headed back to get ready for dinner. Prior to dinner we decided to grab a drink in the harbor at The Blue Shell. Afterwards, we found ourselves at the gorgeous Piazza Nove. I got the filet with homemade pesto (which actually turned out to be more of a cheese and pesto stuffed burger, but still pretty yummy), and Tyler ordered the Chicken and Black Truffle Pasta. Tyler’s dish was SO good. This was our favorite restaurant in Pula. The staff was so kind, the food was great, and the atmosphere equally inviting. I highly recommend this restaurant if you find yourself in Pula. Though, if you’re there during peak season it’s best to grab a reservation, as it’s one of Pula’s best restaurants.
Day 3:
Day three was such a fun day! We began the day with a stroll through the city’s famous market. Like most of Europe, Pula has an adorable local market full of fresh produce, clothing, and a various assortment of homemade local olive oils, vinegars, liquors, and honey. We took home a bottle of Black Truffle Olive Oil. The Istrian Peninsula is known for its truffle recipes, especially black truffle pasta (so, so good, do not pass that one up!).
We then headed to Backyard Dinner and Breakfast. This was our absolute favorite restaurant of the entire weekend. The breakfast is full “American Style” meaning they have eggs hehe! It’s also entirely organic! We both got the veggie scrambled eggs atop homemade sourdough toast with black truffle shavings. Wow. Not only was the food delicious, but the restaurant is an adorable hole in the wall, family owned vibe. With a small courtyard, and only about 5 tables, this restaurant is charming as can be. They also have fresh squeezed juices, yogurt bowls, and homemade pastries. I highly recommend stopping by Backyard if you’re in Pula one morning.
After breakfast we went to grab the car and drove a short 45 minutes up to the town of Rovinj.
Little did we know, Rovinj is actually the quaint little town that often comes up when you google Pula. The town is situated on a little peninsula of the iconic cliffside Croatia is known for. Full of adorable boutiques, plenty of cafe bars, and restaurants with a view. When we arrived in Rovinj we headed to Revera for an afternoon coffee. With the most adorable view, convenient parking nearby, and the most adorable atmosphere, we knew we were going to love this day trip!
After a stroll amongst the numerous boutiques throughout the center of the town it was time for a drink. If you find yourself in Croatia in July, prepare for the humid heat! With The adorable bars to choose from, breaking up the heat with a little AC and cocktail is easy to do.
Prior to our day trip to Rovinj I read numerous blogs about the gorgeous Valentino bar. I won’t lie, the day before Tyler and I were looking at Valentino and it was actually the thing that made us want to take the day trip! With it’s stunning cliffside setting, chic pillow and white furniture set up, not to mention the raved about drinks, we were ready for a little pampering!
Valentino didn’t open until 6pm, so we instead headed next door to Mediterraneo. Similar to Valentino with its creative cocktails, cliffside setting (literally, you sit on the cliff at both of these!) we found ourselves here for an iced Matcha and a Margarita!
At the end of the day we discovered that we would absolutely recommend Mediterraneo over Valentino. The drinks were amazing, so reasonably priced, the atmosphere hard to beat, feeling the mist from the waves, and the kind staff. Valentino was a bit of a let down. The atmosphere definitely matched the hype, the staff was amazing, but we found it quite expensive (over double what Mediterraneo was) and the drinks were not anything to write home about. I feel guilty saying that! But if you’re looking for the atmosphere, definitely head there for a drink, but if you want a similar atmosphere, and even more delicious drinks head to Mediterraneo!
Originally we also wanted to have dinner at La Puntalina. However, with Croatia recently opening up it’s borders to all of the EU, it wasn’t the lack of crowd vibe we were used to after travelling throughout Italy! Unfortunately they were full, but we’d definitely head there in the future! Instead we found ourselves at Ancora for a waterside dinner.
Day 4:
Our very last day we spent the morning at Havajska Beach which was by far our favorite one! It is in a similar area as Ambrella, where there are actually several beaches. Havajska is much more quaint, situated right next to a cliff where you can watch beach goers taking a dive!
After a few more hours sunbathing and swimming, we started our trip home and finished a relaxing and full of sun long weekend!
I thought that I’d share some of our biggest takeaways from this trip:
Rovinj is an adorable little town where we’d choose to stay if we headed to the Istrian Peninsula again. There are a variety of nice resorts and hotels to choose from.
Pula’s beaches are quite fun, especially glow kayaking!
Pula’s historical sites are worth seeing.
The food is not my favorite. Hehe! If you’re into muscles and shellfish you will absolutely love it! Otherwise, it’s based around various ground meats and is quite heavy.
Piazza Nove is the best restaurant in Pula, and Mediterraneo was our favorite find in Rovinj.
The people are either incredibly kind, like the kindest we’ve encountered in Europe thus far, or very not kind *laughy face*!!
Where we’d like to go in the future:
And that’s all friends! I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I’d love to hear if you make it to any of these spots or experiences in the future!
If you don’t follow me on Instagram, I actually have a “travel tips” highlight where I explain how to use google maps to save places that you want to visit in the future, whether you have a trip planned or not! Click here to view that, go through these places and be sure to save your favorites! I’d love to hear which ones you end up going to! Never hesitate to DM on Instagram or shoot me an email here, I love hearing from you!
Until next time,
XO,
Di