Rovinj, Croatia – Come See What the Italians have tried to keep Secret
Written by Jason GreenRovinj is a beautiful town in the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia in the very far west of the country. The town has a classic Mediterranean look and was fortified by walls in the Middle Ages and then gates were built around the city in the later part of the 18th century. Rovinj used to be an island, but was later connected the Croatian mainland. Rovinj is a developed seaport, which is picturesque, has many attractions, and the food is amazing. The ancient town of Rovinj has a gorgeous coastline and is surrounded by pine forests.
Rovinj seafront
To get to Rovinj there are several options. The nearest airport is in Pula, which is around 40 kilometres away from Rovinj, and there are flights to Pula from London on a regular basis with Ryanair and Croatia Airlines. Rovinj can also be reached by bus from Zagreb, Venice, and Trieste. If you are heading to Croatia and Istria, Rovinj can’t missed. There’s plenty of accommodation for all budgets in Rovijn. You can find the best deals at hotels in Rovinj through the hotel metasearch HotelsCombined.
In the main bay there are big yachts and small fishing boats and everything in-between. The main square, which is called Trg maršala Tita, has shops and restaurants right on the bay, which gives gorgeous views of the small harbour and the surrounding city. One of the highlights of Rovinj is the taking the Baroque Vrata svetog Križa, which leads up to Grisia Ulica and is lined with quaint shops and many small galleries that sell local art. Some of the paintings are gorgeous and during the spring, summer, and early fall, there are local artists that are showing their works all the way up to the St Euphemia’s Church, which offers fantastic views of the coast. This 18th century Baroque style church has the 6th-century sarcophagus of the saint inside and you can climb up the 58-meter tower giving you amazing views of the town below, as well as the beautiful coast and surrounding islands. On the walk down to the main square there is a fascinating Town Museum, which has archaeological items and Croatian art.
The view over Rovinj
There are paths on the south side of the harbour that will take you to Zlatni rt, which is a dense forest cape that is crossed by tracks and small quaint beaches. Other places in the area where you can catch some sun or just have a nice little picnic there are a couple islands called Sveta Katarina and Crveni otok, which can be reached by boats that leave from the harbour on a regular basis.
The harbour front area has so many restaurants that it is hard to choose where to eat. There are also many smaller eateries and pizzerias on the walk up the church. From amazing seafood and Italian food to fantastic grills and even a Mexican food restaurant the food choices are endless. If you are looking for nightlife the harbour side area is THE place to be in the evening, as there are many clubs and bars that stay open until dawn. The harbour side cafes are also a great place to relax and watch the sun go down and the town life pass by.
Rovinj is a jewel of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia and there are many things to do and see, end especially eat! The town is overrun with Italian tourists in the summer, as they have known about this beautiful town for decades. Make sure to bring your appetite and camera, as both will be filled when you leave the gorgeous town.
Great post!
Many of those who visit the Istrian peninsula will first land in Zagreb to get a car, in which case there are two nice side-trips we’ve found from the city. First, there are several impressive castles in the surrounding hills, especially Trakoscan, Marusevac, and Veliki Tabor (this one has a restaurant adjoining, so it’s nice to end up here after a round of touring).
Second, we enjoyed the Croatian wine country, which is about 16 km (10 miles) to the west of Zagreb. The Korak Vineyards at Mt. Plesivica in Jastrebarsko offer chardonnay and sauvignon tasting together with a hearty Croatian lunch.
Peg, thanks for your comment and for the ideas for day trips.
I thought the whole of Istria was impressive. Pula has some great history (a Roman amphitheatre) and I also particularly liked Labin and Matuvan (sort of in the middle of Istria). They all seemed to have appealing eateries though the coastal towns were better for this. You captured Rovinj well in your entry.
This is great content that I’d like to feature on my travel destination map on TR. Is that okay Karen? It’ll be a link n a google map to this post.
Mark H, Istria sounds lovely I must visit it.
Darren, I’d be happy for you to link to any Europe a la Carte destination content on Travel Rants.
Great post Karen…thanks for the memories! We were in Croatia last August and September for over 46 days and one of our fav spots was Rovinj. Towards the end of August most of the Italian and other tourists leave Rovinj and Dubrovnik etc and there is quite a dramatic shift on the fist of September.
We found very few tourists in Rovinj in early September, but the weather was fantastic and everything was open. There are also lots of nice campgrounds for those on budgets. We were right on the sea with a gorgeous view of Rovinj out our RV window & just caught a 5 minute ferry to Rovinj just steps from our RV which was a delight in itself as we got close up to all the sail boats and arrived by small boat.
Rovinj truly is a jewel!!
Hi Karen
I featured the blog post on this months blog carnival and have added it to my destination map too.
It really enjoy reading the blogs. We get to read about new places which in turn give an idea what to expect if we are going to those places to shoot for our company.
Jet Set Life, does reading about a location in a blog make you more likely to consider visiting that location for a photo shoot?
Darren, thanks for including the post in your Blog Carnival and adding to the destination map.
I’ve just come back from a dentist trip in Rovinj. I saw lots of Brits there, I fully recommend visiting this area. It took us 3 hours by car from Venice.
Dental tourism, I’ve just been writing about that for the Wandalust blog, it seems that treatment in some countries is high quality and much cheaper than the UK. However I think I’d rather enjoy exploring Rovinj than sit in the dentist’s chair.
[...] surprised at how easy it was to request that food be prepared to her requirements when she visited Rovinj in [...]
[...] by several posts by Jason Green of the Europe a la Carte blogging team who has written about Pula, Rovinj, Motovun and Wines of the Istrian Peninsula. I’m really looking forward to seeing Istrian [...]
[...] spots that I visited during my trip to Istria in Croatia was the Limski Fjord, close to the town of Rovinj . It’s also know as the Limski Kanal, Lim Fjrod or the Lim [...]
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[...] to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Rovinj is a beautiful little town on Croatia’s Istrian coast, and at its heart is the Church of Saint [...]
[...] Rovinj is a beautiful little town on Croatia’s Istrian coast, and at its heart is the Church of Saint Euphemia, along with its Venetian bell tower. The church sits on a hilltop overlooking the town. [...]
We just made our third trip to beautiful Croatia, this September. It was our first trip to Istria. We consider the idea of moving to Croatia, and after all of our exploring, we have determined Rovinj would be our first choice. Loved everything about it. It’s a hilltop town on the sea, meaning that it has all of the charm of the hilltop villages of Italy and Croatia, but it sits right on the sea, and has a gorgeous harbor. It has everything!
Nancy – when are you moving to Rovinj?