I am thinking of visiting Rovijn (and possibly Pula) during this time frame. We would be coming from Trieste. A possibly dumb question: is this time of year considered the off-season in Rovijn and would most of the restaurants, etc. be closed up for the winter? Also, how best to travel from Trieste to Rovijn? Thanks!
Posted by
Chicago/Rural WI
811 posts
Hi James, We were in Rovinj (and Pula, and Hum, and Opatija, etc.) in mid-to-late March a couple years ago, and I would really call it "shoulder season" instead of "off season." Crowds were still pretty minimal but the restaurants, hotels, sights, etc. were up and running. As for best way to travel, will you be returning to Trieste (or anywhere in Italy) after visiting Istria? If so, you may want to consider renting a car for use on the Istrian Peninsula (returning it to Italy after you are done), as public transportation can be arduous. If you are not returning to Italy, you'd want to get from Trieste to Croatia before renting a car so you can avoid the big fee rental car companies charge when picking up in one country and dropping off in another. Outside of car rental, I'm afraid I can't help with travel information between Trieste and Rovinj, but I have seen similar posts on the topic on this forum so you may want to dig around a bit. I also found the following website helpful for our trip plans: www.croatiatraveller.com Good luck!
Posted by
OP
Landmark, MB
45 posts
Thank you, Angela! I think we would be returning to Venice to fly home, so I believe dropping off a rental car in Trieste would work for us and then we could train it back to Venice. Good to know that things will be up and running at that time of year. Our plans are totally open right now so we don't even have arrival/departure cities set yet. I was just thinking Istria may make for a nice few days of our 3 week Italy trip. I will have to check old posts to see about maybe bus travel from Trieste to Rovijn. I know we can easily make it by train from anywhere in Italy to Trieste, just wasn't sure what to do after that. Hmm... maybe there's a boat from Pula to Venice we could take. I'l check that web address you've given.
Thanks for your advice!
Posted by
Chicago/Rural WI
811 posts
There are ferries that run between Venice and various towns in Istria, but you'd have to check schedules to see if they'd be running during the dates of your travel (the website I gave should link to more information). Then from there you could rent a car to check out the entire peninsula, which would be ideal especially if you were interested in seeing the interior. A lot of towns in Istria have a Venice-type feel (mostly in the architecture), as the area was ruled by the Venetians for a long time. But I think it would make a great detour from Italy if you could get the transportation connections to work.