Rovinj: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Rovinj’s old town stands on a hill that was an island until 1763, when the channel separating it from the mainland was filled in. For five centuries it was Venetian, and its people still speak an old Romance dialect of their own. The lanes are steep and paved with slippery stone. An hour and a half; wear shoes with grip.
A short history of Rovinj
Rovinj was originally a small island off the coast of Istria, and only in 1763 was the channel separating it from the mainland filled in. From 1283 to 1797 it was ruled by Venice, and the closely packed houses in the streets of the old town are built in the Venetian style. In 1736 the Church of St Euphemia was completed at the top of the hill; its tower resembles the bell tower of St Mark's. To this day most of the signs in the town are also written in Italian.
The ten best sights in Rovinj
1Trg maršala TitaThe harbour square at the foot of the old town
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2Balbi Arch
The old town gate, with a Venetian lion and a Turk’s head
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3Town Museum
Paintings in a baroque palace on the square
4GrisiaThe steep lane of galleries up to the church
5St EuphemiaClimb the bell tower; the saint turns with the wind on top
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6Batana House
The museum of Rovinj’s flat-bottomed fishing boat
7Golden CapeA forest park of pines and rock beaches south of town
8St Catherine IslandThe wooded island in front of the harbour; boats every half hour
9Red IslandTwo joined islets with beaches and a monastery
10Lim ChannelA ten-kilometre sea gorge; oysters at its end
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Rovinj →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Rovinj:
Free walking tours in Rovinj
The town that was an island
Rovinj’s old town stands on a hill that was an island until 1763, when the channel separating it from the mainland was filled in. For five centuries it was Venetian, and its people still speak an old Romance dialect of their own. The lanes are steep and paved with slippery stone. An hour and a half; wear shoes with grip.
- Trg maršala Tita · The harbour square stands on the filled-in channel that once made Rovinj an island. The clock tower on it stands where a city gate once was, and the fishing boats still tie up at the quay in front.
- Balbi Arch · The baroque arch of 1679 stands on the site of the old town gate. On the outer side is the winged lion of Venice, and on the inner side a carved Turk’s head — a boast, from the century of wars with the Ottomans.
- Grisia · The steep lane from the old town up to the church is lined with artists’ studios and galleries. Every August since 1967 it becomes an open-air exhibition, with paintings hung on the house walls from top to bottom.
- St Euphemia · The legend says that in the year 800 a marble sarcophagus with the body of Saint Euphemia floated ashore here, and nobody could move it up the hill until a small boy with two calves pulled it easily. The bell tower, about sixty metres, is modelled on St Mark’s in Venice, and on top a copper statue of the saint turns with the wind.
- Batana House · The batana is Rovinj’s flat-bottomed wooden fishing boat, rowed standing up. The small museum on the waterfront keeps the boat and the bitinada, the songs fishermen sang without instruments in the taverns, and UNESCO lists it as a model of saving living heritage.
- Rovinj Market · On Valdibora square the farmers of the Istrian hills sell olive oil, honey, cured ham and, in autumn, white and black truffles, beside a fish hall with the night’s catch. Istria is one of the few places outside Italy where white truffles are found.
Islands, cape and fjord
South of the old town a pine forest runs down to rock beaches, and off the coast lie fourteen small islands. North of town the sea cuts ten kilometres inland in the Lim channel. Half a day on foot, by bike and by boat.
- Golden Cape · The forest park was planted in the 1890s by Georg Hütterott, an industrialist from Trieste who bought the cape and the islands and brought trees from around the world — cedars, cypresses, pines. Today it is a protected park of paths and flat rocks for swimming.
- St Catherine Island · The wooded island in front of the harbour was also bought by a foreign aristocrat in the nineteenth century, a Polish count, who built a villa among the pines. It is a short boat ride, and the view back to the old town is the classic picture of Rovinj.
- Red Island · Two islets joined by a causeway, one with a hotel and park in the old Hütterott estate, the other left wild for swimming. There was a Franciscan monastery on the island from the fifteenth century, and its church remains.
- Lim Channel · A drowned river valley that runs about ten kilometres inland between wooded slopes, often called a fjord though it was cut by a river, not ice. At its inner end oysters and mussels are farmed, and restaurants serve them a few metres from the rafts. Legend says pirates hid here.
- Vrsar · A small hill town over a harbour where Giacomo Casanova stayed as a young man in the 1740s, and wrote in his memoirs about the local wine. The town now holds a festival in his name.
- Euphrasian Basilica · Built by Bishop Euphrasius in the sixth century, when this coast was part of the Byzantine Empire, the basilica in Poreč keeps its original apse mosaics of gold and mother-of-pearl, among the finest early Christian mosaics in the world. It is a world heritage site.
The hill towns and the truffle forest
Inland Istria is a green country of medieval hill towns, olive groves and vineyards, with an oak forest in the valley where truffles grow. On the way are an abandoned town, a castle with a witch story, and the hilltop of Motovun. A full day and a car; autumn is truffle season.
- Dvigrad · A walled medieval town on a hill above the Lim valley, abandoned in the seventeenth century after plague and war, when its last families moved to nearby Kanfanar. Its walls, towers and the shell of its church stand empty in the woods.
- Svetvinčenat · A Renaissance square, one of the most harmonious in Istria, under the castle of the Venetian Morosini-Grimani family. The story told here is of Mare Radolovich, accused of witchcraft and burned in 1632, a story the village now stages at its summer festival.
- Motovun · A walled town on the top of a steep hill, with a walk along its walls over the Mirna valley. Below is the Motovun forest of oaks, where the white truffle grows in the damp soil, and a film festival fills the town every summer.
- Livade · In 1999 in the forest near this village a truffle hunter and his dog found a white truffle of about one point three kilograms, recorded in the Guinness Book as the largest ever found at the time. Truffle hunts with dogs can be booked here in season.
- Grožnjan · A hill town almost emptied after the Second World War, when most of its Italian-speaking people left. In 1965 it was given to artists, and since 1969 an international music school for young musicians has filled it with rehearsals every summer.
- Bale · A small stone town built in rings around a Venetian castle on the old road from Rovinj to Pula. Near it, in the 1990s, the bones of dinosaurs were found on the seabed off the coast, in the rock that once was a lagoon.
Getting to Rovinj and getting around
- Pula Airport · About forty minutes by car; Trieste and Venice are the other gateways
Cheap eats in Rovinj
Istria eats like the Italy next door, with its own accent: fuži, hand-rolled pasta quills, with truffle shaved on top; pršut, the Istrian dry-cured ham; maneštra, a thick bean and corn soup; and oysters from the Lim channel. The wines are Malvazija, a white that tastes of the sea, and Teran, a dark red. A slice of pršut, cheese and a glass of Malvazija cost a few euro in a konoba.
- Lim Channel · Oysters from the rafts
- Livade · Truffles on fuži in season
- Rovinj Market · Pršut, olive oil and cheese to taste
- Motovun · Teran wine and the view
- Batana House · Fishermen’s tavern evenings with song
- Bale · Maneštra in a village konoba
Museums in Rovinj
Istria’s past is Roman, Byzantine and Venetian, and its museums are its monuments: an amphitheatre that hosts concerts, a basilica of gold mosaics, and the boat that made Rovinj.
- Pula Arena · Concerts in a Roman arena in summer
- Euphrasian Basilica · Byzantine gold mosaics
- Batana House · The fishing boat and its songs
- Town Museum · Paintings in a baroque palace
- Arch of the Sergii · Joyce taught English here in 1904–05
Nature and day trips near Rovinj
The coast of Istria is red earth, pine woods and flat white rocks into a clear sea, with an archipelago in front of Rovinj and a sea gorge to the north. At the southern tip is a wild cape with dinosaur tracks.
- Golden Cape · Forest paths and rock beaches
- Lim Channel · A boat up the sea gorge
- Kamenjak · Coves, cliffs and dinosaur footprints
- Fažana · The boat to the Brijuni national park
- Baredine Cave · Stalactites and the blind salamander
- Red Island · Swim from the wild islet
Things to do in Rovinj with kids
Rovinj and Istria are easy with children: short boat rides to islands, a cave, dinosaur tracks, a Roman arena to run around, and Tito’s safari park on Brijuni.
- Fažana · Boat to Brijuni and its safari park
- Baredine Cave · A cave with a blind salamander
- Pula Arena · The gladiators’ arena
- St Catherine Island · A short boat to an island beach
- Kamenjak · Find the dinosaur footprints
- Golden Cape · Bike paths in the forest
Holy places in Rovinj
Istria’s churches run from early Byzantine mosaics to the Venetian baroque of Rovinj’s hilltop, where the saint who floated ashore is kept.
- St Euphemia · The saint’s sarcophagus behind the altar
- Euphrasian Basilica · Sixth-century mosaics
- Red Island · The old Franciscan church
- Temple of Augustus · A Roman temple to the emperor
Nightlife in Rovinj
Rovinj’s evenings are for sunset on the rocks below the old town, then dinner by the harbour. Bigger nights are in Pula, with concerts in the Arena and summer festivals.
- St Euphemia · Cocktails on the rocks below the church at sunset
- Trg maršala Tita · Bars on the harbour square
- Pula Arena · Concerts and the film festival
- Grisia · Galleries open late in summer
Frequently asked questions about Rovinj
What is there to see in Rovinj?
The top sights in Rovinj are Trg maršala Tita, Balbi Arch and Town Museum. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Rovinj?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Rovinj without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Rovinj?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Rovinj, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The town that was an island.
How do you get to Rovinj and get around?
The main ways are Pula Airport. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Rovinj, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Rovinj that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Rovinj for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.