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Travel in Isteria assistance

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We are traveling to Croatia for two weeks. We are starting in Split for 4 days then heading to Plitvice National Lakes then in to Isteria for four days before heading to Zadar. We have a rental vehicle and will be driving o ce we leave Split.

Regarding Isteria—There is so much to see and so many town with different historical and beautiful sites and we want to make the most of the trip in this region.

We would like to hopefully get to the the following:

Opatija
Motovun
Porec
Rovinj
Pula

We are lost as to the best area to stay in to get to these places. We are looking at Airbnbs. We were thinking that maybe Bale or Svetvincenat area may be a good central point to stay. Are we correct? We think we may have to do Opatija on the way back to Zadar.

Any insights would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Elaine

Posted by
38 posts

Istria is very compact. There should not be a drive you make that is more than about an hour, even from Pula. Istrian Y makes it easy - this is name for the motorway.

You could easily stay in Bale or Svetvincenat, but they are very small places. If you are only looking into them because they are centrally located, stay elsewhere. If you like small places and want a slightly different and quieter experience they would be fine. Because they are not right on Istrian Y you do not save too much time staying there.

I do not know when you are going but you may prefer one of the cities on the coast, Poreč, Rovinj, Pula are all good options. I would start looking at Rovinj. Only problem with Rovinj is that Stari grad parking is difficult because it is mostly pedestrian. If you are planning on driving a lot you may want to stay slightly outside Stari grad so that you can have car easily.

Booking.com will have more options than Air B&B. If you put your property on one or the other in Croatia it will be on Booking. Most are on both.

Posted by
289 posts

Just finished a Rick Steves tour and we stayed in Bale at Hotel La Grisa. Absolutely wonderful hotel and they had a restaurant too. Breakfast was great. We would not hesitate to go back, in fact our favorite hotel of the trip. We loved the quietness of Bale. We visited Pula, Rovinj and Opatija while there.

Posted by
5920 posts

We go every year to Istria (note spelling). We always stay in a rental house near Zminj, which is in the center of the peninsula.

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