Day trips in area of Pula, Croatia

You can get a bus from Pula to Trieste in Italy, or, a fast ferry to Venice if it's a nice day. Roger

Using only bus, a day trip to Rovinj is easy to do and it's a nice town. Buses between Pula and Rovinj run about hourly throughout the day. There's probably regular service to Opatija, but that trip would be at least twice as long. Visiting most of the interesting towns in Istria requires a rental car. Driving in Istria is easy, and you might consider that to increase your day trip options. There are numerous car rental companies with offices in Pula. I like Uniline, a Croatian company, as they will bring the car to you during business hours (must arrange at time of reservation). On a side note, the area around the central market in Pula is lively and a fun place for lunch (although no specific recommendations).

OK-so what about if we stay in Rovinj-more to do there? And do a day trip to Pula??

Pula and Rovinj are very different. Pula is a working city with some great Roman sights. Rovinj is smaller, more charming (IMO) and has the feel of a holiday destination. You could stay at a B&B in the old town, a resort hotel near the water or rent a small apartment (although some are a fair walk uphill from the water). I stayed in Rovinj and visited Pula for a half day so my views may be skewed, but I found Rovinj to be the more enjoyable of the 2 towns.

Thanks everyone for your input. Unfortunately, by the time we thought maybe we should stay in ROvinj, it was too late to get a hotel at our price, and with a swimming pool-as we have a 10 yo with us! We're definitely going to do a day trip to Rovinj tho-thanks for the recommendation. We leave tomorrow-yay!!!