By Plane – There is one international airport in Istria, Pula Airport. It’s a small airport, but during the season, there are flights from several European destinations such as London, Berlin, Amsterdam and other locations. Thanks to the increasing popularity of Istria, more and more flights are added every month. Otherwise, you can fly to one of the nearby international airports in Croatia, such as Rijeka or Zagreb, Trieste in Italy or Ljubljana in Slovenia and drive/arrange for transportation from there.
By Bus – There are buses from many cities in Croatia and nearby European destinations to the main towns along the coast of Istria such as Pula and Rovinj. You can catch a bus from Trieste, Ljubljana, Munich, Sarajevo, Zurich and many more cities. Check some of the options here.
By Boat – During the season, you can reach Rovinj by ferry. There are four companies operating ferries to and from Rovinj. In the high season, there are 1-5 journeys per day, but in the low season, there are no ferries at all. There is also a ferry from Zadar to Pula.
By Car – If you are planning on exploring the Istrian Peninsula, we suggest renting a car. You can either rent a car after landing in Pula Airport or from Zagreb or the Dalmatian Coast.
I’d not heard of the Istrian peninsula prior to reading your post, it sounds absolutely dreamy 🙂
Istria is a dreamy place! unbelievable views, great food and the people are so welcoming!
This sounds like an absolutely dream trip! I love how charming Rovinj is, the perfect place to explore. I’m now going to have to add this to my list of places I want to visit this year – thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks Gemma! you’d love Istria! As you said Rovinj is absolutely stunning and the whole area is a true hidden gem!
Perfect timing, I am currently planning a trip there and just mapping out my itinerary and definitely some of these places are on my list. I have pinned for my future reference. Wonderful post!
Thanks so much! So glad we could have helped. You’ll love the Istrian peninsula and make sure to eat some truffles and drink some wine for us too 😉
We LOVED Istria and hope to go back. We only had three days so a longer trip sounds so lovely. Saving this for future reference. Love you itinerary and suggestions.
We know what you mean Laureen, we had 4 nights and it wasn’t enough to see everything. The best would be to stay for a week and then you could really slow down and enjoy the scenery.
Ahhh Istria is on my bucket list! Hoping to visit this year and I’ll definitely be referencing this post!
Hope you make it to the Istrian peninsula in 2020, you’d love it!
Wow I didn’t even know Istria existed but you make me want to visit this place so badly now!
Yes, we’ve only heard about and we were looking for hidden gems in Croatia and the Istrian peninsula tick all the boxes! It’s truly a magical place!
What a lovely post! We will make it to Croatia someday, and this post will be an excellent guide for us. Thank you for all the useful information.
Thanks so much, Susan. Croatia is wonderful, we’re sure you’d love it!
I’m so happy I found your website! This is exactly what I need for my upcoming trip!
Great! We really try to provide a lot of helpful information mixed with some inspiration, of course 🙂 have fun in Istria!