On the last stretch of our 5-month road trip through the Europe, we spent 9 days exploring the Istria Peninsula of Croatia with the kids.
On our way from Bosnia to Pula, we stopped at Plitvice Lakes National Park. The park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of Croatia’s oldest and largest national parks. Plitvice is well known for a series of cascading waterfalls connecting sixteen lakes inside a deep gorge, and many of the trails are boardwalks. The park is truly impressive and we all loved exploring it.
We arrived to the park before it opened, and were able to avoid the crowds for the most part (we’ve heard horror stories about the throngs of people during high season). We only explored the lower lakes section of the park, which took us about 3 hours. Because we were there in the fall, there were lots of leaves on the ground and the kids loved playing around with them. They built leaf piles, jumped on them, and we made it rain leaves onto them as well. It was a lot of fun!
After spending the morning in the park, we drove to Pula. Pula is located in the Istria peninsula in north-western Croatia and is an area full of cute little coastal and mountain towns, beautiful wild beaches, and a long and rich history (including being part of Venice and later Italy for about 400 years). Exploring the Istria peninsula of Croatia with or without kids is definitely worth it!
We picked Pula because it was a good stopping point on our way from Bosnia to Italy, and because we found a good Airbnb apartment there. Our apartment was a quick drive from the city center in a family friendly neighborhood. Our hosts had a 5-year old boy, which meant that there were lots of fun toys laying around for our kids to play with!
Pula, and the Istria peninsula, were a big surprise to us. Usually, when thinking about Croatia, it’s places like Split, Hvar or Dubrovnik that come to mind so we had no idea this would be such a fun area to explore! So fun in fact, we thought this would be a great place to come spend an extended period of time. Given its Italian past, a lot of the architecture is Venetian and there are beautiful medieval seaside and hilltop towns with winding cobblestone lanes. Olive oil and wine production date back to the Roman times in the area and the peninsula is well-known for delicious eating. Many people still speak Italian as a first language and we generally found the food to be much more Italian than Croatian. So it was kind of like visiting off-the-beaten track Italy without paying Italian prices!
Is it kid friendly?
Istria, like Zagreb, was incredibly kid friendly! People gave our kids nothing but smiles (and treats!) and restaurants felt very family friendly as well. In this part of the world, having kids is such a positive thing, and strangers are always eager to help you or your kids when you need them. For example, when Valentina fell one day, two women basically jumped off their chairs to help her up and make sure she was okay. Sadly, that’s not something you are likely to see in the United States. Croatia definitely is family oriented and it shows.
What We Did In Istria
- We visited the very impressive Roman amphitheater in Pula. It’s nearly 2,000 years old and is the sixth-largest Roman amphitheater in the world today. It was really impressive! The site doesn’t get as many tourists as you would expect, so it was great for the kids to run around, climb up the seating area and play as they pleased.
- During a rainy day, we explored the small town of Bale. We all suited up with rain gear and explored the town’s narrow cobbled alleys. The town’s old center was tiny and it was fun to wander around. Because it was a rainy Sunday, nothing was open and there were no people on the streets, which added a fun feeling to it. Bale is also known for being a place visited by creative people in search of its good and strong energy.
- We went to the town of Rovinj to meet up with another traveling family Paola met through Instagram. The mom is from Germany and the dad from the United States, and they have a 2.5 year old boy. We really enjoyed hanging out with them and the kids all played really well together. Per their suggestion, we met at a playground by the seafront and then walked around the town. They had been in the area for a bit longer than us so we happily followed their lead in exploring the town. We look forward to hopefully meeting up again somewhere else in the world!
- On a different day, we went back to Rovinj to explore more of the town because we really loved it the first time we were there! The town, perched on a peninsula, used to be an island until the channel was filled up in 1763. Rovinj is picture perfect from wherever you look at it. It might be one of the prettiest towns we’ve visited on this entire trip! The kids loved both trips to Rovinj (probably the first one best because they had a friend to play with!). There is a cool playground, a candy store, bakeries, and lots of fun streets to walk on, so it’s a great place for kids!
- We drove to Cape Kamenjak and spent the morning at a rocky beach, building castles with rocks and soaking up some rays on Halloween day! Cape Kamenjak is a National Park marking the farthest souther point of the Istrian peninsula, and it is full of beaches to explore. The water was crystal clear at the beach we visited, and there were barely any people around.
- We visited the Aquarium in Pula. The aquarium is housed in a former war bunker built by the Austro-Hungarians in the late 1800s, which we think is the main highlight. The building is fun to explore, including the steep narrow tunnels that take you to what we think used to be bomb shelters and are now used to show the progression of life on Earth. The aquarium itself was fine. It wasn’t the best we’ve visited but the kids really loved it, especially the (somewhat) small shark tank. One thing we appreciated about the aquarium was that there were educational exhibits about preserving the oceans and marine life.
- We explored the sculpture park at Vrsar by Croatian artist Susan Dzamonja. The sculpture park was fun for the kids mostly because they got to run around the big green space. After the sculpture garden, we headed to the old town and climbed all the way up to the church and took our time going back down to the seaside. This town was super picturesque and fun to explore! We finished the outing with a nice lunch by the sea front.
After 9 days in Istria, we felt we only scratched the surface. There are so many little towns to visit and explore. During our time there, we had a lot of rain but that didn’t prevent us from exploring and falling in love with the area. We really recommend this part of Croatia to anyone thinking about visiting the country!
We are over five months into this big adventure and we can really see how our kids are being shaped by this experience. One big change has been in their fitness. Hugo hardly ever asks for help at the end of a long hike, or while climbing hills. He goes up long stairways and, sometimes, he doesn’t seem to even notice them! Valentina spends most of the day on her feet because she wants to be like her brother. It’s truly been amazing to see them build up their physical skills over the past few months!
We wrote this post at the start of a month-long adventure in Morocco. But before getting here, we had to drive from Pula to Milan to return our car and catch our flight. On our way to Milan, we made a stop in Piran, Slovenia for the morning and in Venice for a few days.
After our month in Morocco, we headed to Malta for two months, and then back to Croatia. We decided to spent the last three months of our year of travels in the city of Split.
Before leaving Pula, we asked our host to keep the kids’ carseats in his storage room for three months. He graciously agreed to it so, in early February, we returned to Pula to pick up our belongings. We used this opportunity to explore more of the Istria Peninsula with our kids.
During our second time in Pula, we visited Ucka National Park. The park was a good stopping point for the kids to burn some energy before the long haul back. We hiked a short trail to see one of the park’s famous rock formations and had a great time! The kids found lots of fossils on the rocks and our kids really enjoyed the hike. We definitely recommend visiting Ucka if you find yourself in Istria. Also, they are an off-the-beaten track attraction so chances are you’ll find a respite from the crowds there!
To see more destinations from our travels, go here.
