Reasons to Visit Rovinj (Croatia)
Rovinj is a very pretty small town and for many people that’s reason enough to make it a place worth visiting. Many will spend 2-3 days and will most likely rave about its romantic charm, colorful streets and glorious sunsets. People staying longer (like us – we used Rovinj as a base for 5 weeks) will need more than that. I’ll cover that further below.
For now here are some photos of beautiful Rovinj.
Accommodation recommendations: The Airbnb where we stayed (for long term). Good value Hotel: The Melegran. Higher end Hotel: Hotel Angelo d’Oro.
More images of Rovinj
As you can see, Rovinj is a very picturesque place. The historical center however is very small – within a couple of days you’ll find yourself walking the same streets over and over again. In all honesty you’ll most likely get bored.
As longer term travellers we actually enjoyed Rovinj more for its less obvious traits. We’re not the only ones because we discovered that many people, mostly families, come here for extended periods – sometimes renting apartments for a month or two. When we arrived (in early May) we saw a lot of empty apartments in the neighborhoods outside the old town. Towards the end of our stay we noticed more and more families (many Italian and German), arriving in loaded up SUV’s and hatchbacks, filling up the same apartments.
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There are several reasons Rovinj is a great base for an extended holiday
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1. Its a great place to relax and do family stuff. Close to the old town is Golden Gate Forest Park (also known as Zlatni rt or Punta Corrente), a huge park with bicycle trails, beaches and little cafes. You can spend days here doing activities. For more serious cyclists, bike trails extend even further: there are 3 trails of 30km and 2 that are over 60km in length. So Rovinj is a very outdoorsy kind of place.
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2. People are incredibly friendly. We especially loved Rovinj because of the people. Although it is a tourist town and gets very crowded in the summer, it hasn’t changed the people. The reason for this is that the town only really gets busy with tourists from June to September (ie. 4 months). So for most of the year locals are carrying on their regular lives, often having a couple of jobs. In the summer they supplement that by renting out properties or working in the tourism sector. But since they’re not full-time tourist workers they aren’t jaded and are appreciative of tourists. I’ve previously written about our Airbnb hosts in Rovinj. They were incredible (if you haven’t read that post it’s really worth it). We’ve had other people tell us that their own experiences with other hosts were also fantastic. My theory is that Rovinj gets a lot of repeat business and with the summer rental market being so competitive they work hard at giving you a great experience. The people in Rovinj really rank as some of the nicest people we’ve ever met in our travels.
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3. Rovinj makes for a great base to explore the rest of Istria. During our 5 weeks there we explored almost everywhere: Pula, Porec, Novigrad, as well as most of the hilltowns of Istria. We also visited many other pretty towns that never made it on the blog, places like Bale, Pazin and Svetvicenat (this last one was one of our favorites). There’s lots to see and we enjoyed having Rovinj as a base..
Practical information and Tips
– Accommodation. I mentioned our Airbnb apartment. I can’t recommend anyone else. Hotels. If you prefer hotels or non-Airbnb apartments I have a few recommendations: Hotel Angelo d’Oro (beautiful hotel right in the center of the old town), Luxury Apartment Fabris (beautiful apartment just a couple of minutes outside the old town), Good value Hotel: The Melegran.
– We went to Lea’s gym while in Rovinj. Good place to stay in shape. The gym would usually be ‘closed’ in the afternoon but in true Rovinj fashion the owner showed us where he hides the key and we would have the place all to ourselves.
– We tried most of the best rated restaurants in the old town and were disappointed (that includes Rio Bar, Aqua 2 and Kantinon). Our host (a chef) served us the best Croatian food we’ve ever had. But she also recommended Orca restaurant which she says is the best restaurant in town.
– You need a car to get outside Rovinj and explore Istria. Have a look at my post on car rental in Croatia and the most scenic drives.
– Tours. If you don’t have a car, this tour takes you to some of the most beautiful Istrian hill towns. This tour takes you for a sunset boat trip.
Related: Exploring the highlights of Croatian Istria
Related: Highlights and Lowlights of Dubrovnik, Croatia
Related: What’s Zagreb like? Reflections on scams, graffiti, and pleasant surprises
Ps. If you find our blog helpful, please consider using our links to book your flights, hotels, tours, and car rentals. Have a look at our Travel Resources page.
Hey, I’m so glad that you like Rovinj, especially appreciate your comment about our hospitality. I have used to live a few seasons in Rovinj and have good memories on it. Rovinj is one of the most beautifull towns in Croatia, that is for sure. Yes, it is not so big and old town could become a little bit boring as you have noticed but there is so much to do around town and I’m sure you could easily fill up your time.
Regarding your comment on restaurants it is well known here that if you wish to eat well and not overpriced you should go away from centre of city, especially during the peak of season.
And yes, your photos are beautiful as always! 🙂
Thanks for your comment Gile!
Did you mean ‘were disappointed’ about the restaurants? Or did you mean *weren’t?
I meant “were”. Just didn’t have great food experiences eating out.
Rovinj looks simply beautiful and I love all these colourful photos! And even though the streets look so picturesque and gorgeous, it’s really interesting to see that the factors of it that have appealed to you more have been the aspects that are so much more important in day to day life like how friendly people around you are. I’ve not been here before but it seems to bear a few similarities to Piran in Slovenia, purely just from a couple of the photos. Are they actually quite different places would you say?
Actually, it’s funny you mention Piran because I had said to Lissette that it wasn’t much different at all – except for it’s popularity. Somehow they’ve done a great job marketing Rovinj for the masses and it gets LOTS of tourists. Piran is unknown compared to Rovinj. But honestly, I thought Piran was just as nice.
And for the day to day differences, it’s only because we were there 5 weeks. You can only pass the same view so many times before it doesn’t seem so striking. It ended up being a great base for us because it was just so liveable.
As always, this looks like the place to go right now, you are making me doubt about our planned next year trip that includes a cruise from Copenhagen to St Petersburg, Oslo, Copenhagen and then visit Belgium, Holland and maybe one city in North Germany, and cancel all this and go for a month only to Croatia, everything you have posted about that country looks so beautiful and nice people!!!, this looks like a kind of paradise..
Thanks again for those beautiful pictures and comments.
Carlos
Those sound like nice plans as well Carlos! We haven’t done much travelling in Northern Europe but have read only great things about the places you’ve mentioned. You’re quite the traveller yourself!!
I really think the Balkans are fantastic though and you can easily explore the whole area if you rent a car, it’s also much more economical. If there’s one recommendation I’d make though it’s to avoid July and August – tourism is very seasonal in the area (we’re in Split now and it’s surprising how many people are here – plus more expensive, plus the restaurants suddenly serving crap food..)