Istria Gourmet Road Trip: Overview

Istria

Istria is a heart-shaped peninsula nestled in the NW corner of Croatia. It is abundant in beautiful beaches, green fields and hills, and seaside and hilltop towns rich in historical and cultural heritage. Istria is also a county of vast vineyards and olive groves. Although Istria is best known as a tourist destination with crystal clear beaches, pleasant climate, and magical hills, it has in recent years been “discovered” as a top gourmet destination for food and wine lovers. While visiting Istria for its natural beauty, make sure to also indulge in Istria’s world-renowned wine, olive oil, truffles, and cuisine.

Istria Gourmet

Istria has a wide variety of gourmet offerings by the sea and inside the peninsula. Among its best known foodie treasures are wine, olive oil, truffles, Istrian prosciutto (dry-cured ham) and other cold cuts, boskarin (Istrian ox) steak, oysters and seafood, sheep and goat cheeses, and seasonal vegetables and fruits. Istrian cuisine embraces the flavors of those fresh ingredients along with traditional preparation, presenting a remarkable array of delicious food. Read more about Istria’s food, wine, olive oil, and gourmet.

Istria Gourmet Road Trip

Are you thinking about a road trip with friends to check out wineries, olive oils, and other top gourmet spots in Istria?

Here’s our foodie road trip guide to Istria, done in cooperation with the Istria Tourist Board (ITB), which highlights our favorite wineries, olive oils, and truffles in Istria. We’ve also included a few additional special-interest gourmet places to explore. Pick your favorites to add to your road trip itinerary that you can visit at your own pace. Enjoy!

Istria Gourmet Road Trip: Google Maps

Google Maps is a great tool for planning road trips and organizing favorite places.

Below you will find two Google Maps:

Istria Gourmet Road Trip – Places: Map of all places visited during this road trip, organized by regions of Istria.
Istria Gourmet Road Trip – Directions: Driving directions for road trips through Istria’s regions.

Google Map: Istria Gourmet Road Trip – Places

Google Map: Istria Gourmet Road Trip – Directions

Istria Gourmet App

Istria Gourmet Guide Application

The Istria Tourist Board has an Istria Gourmet app that conveniently showcases Istria’s best gourmet food and wine offerings. The app includes top restaurants, konobas, taverns, extra virgin olive oil producers, wineries, prosciutto and dried meats producers, cheese producers, truffles, honey, and other gourmet offerings. Istria is truly a gourmet’s paradise.

The app also offers almost twenty top gourmet itineraries that you can follow to experience best of Istria. Itineraries are organized by regions of Istria and gourmet topic of interest.

The app is in Croatian, English, German, and Italian.

Download application:

Day 1 | Foodie Experiences in NW Istria

NW Istria road trip consists of visits to gourmet places in Umag, Novigrad, Buje, Brtonigla, Savudrija, Momjan, and Livade.

Below is the Istria road trip itinerary of places visited in NW Istria. Click on each link for more information.

Day 2 | Foodie Experiences in Central Istria

Central Istria road trip consists of visits to gourmet places in Pazin, Buzet, Motovun, and Livade.

Below is the Istria road trip itinerary of places visited in Central Istria. Click on each link for more information.

Day 3 | Foodie Experiences in Porec and Rovinj

Porec and Rovinj road trip consists of visits to gourmet places in Porec, Rovinj, Kosinozici, Balse, Zminj, and Sv. Lovrec,

Below is the Istria road trip itinerary of places visited in Porec and Rovinj regions. Click on each link for more information.

Day 4 | Foodie Experiences in Pula

Pula road trip consists of visits to gourmet places in Pula, Vodnjan, and Sisan.

A post shared by Museum Olei Histriae (@museumoleihistriae) on Jul 19, 2018 at 6:04am PDT

Below is the Istria road trip itinerary of places visited in Pula region. Click on each link for more information.

Day 5 | Foodie Experiences in Labin and Rabac

Labin and Rabac road trip consists of visits to gourmet places in Labin and Rabac.

Below is the Istria road trip itinerary of places visited in Labin and Rabac regions. Click on each link for more information.

Road Trip Tips

Here are some useful tips for your road trip planning:

Plan your route prior to the trip. You can always change the route while on the road.
Explore places in this post and ITB Istria Gourmet app to make a shortlist of places you want to visit on your Istria road trip.
You can copy the Google Maps above to your Google My Maps and then customize maps to your interests.
Do not pack too many places into a day. Leisure exploration is much more fun and satisfying than rushed visits from place to place.
Contact the places you plan to visit before your visit to check on their availability.
You don’t necessarily need to change your accommodation with each region you visit. Rather, you can pick a base in Istria for your accommodation and then take daily road trips from that base.
Enjoy the places, food, wine, and people you’ll meet!

Additional Resources

Below are additional resources on gourmet and wine offerings in Istria:

Istria Tourist Board: Istria Gourmet Guide, Istria Gourmet Guide app, and Istria Food and Wine
Croatian National Tourist Board: Gastronomy, CroGourmet365
Istrian Wine Cellars (book)
Michelin guide (book and web)
Gault&Millau guide (book and web)
My books: Best of Istria and Adriatic Road Trip

Have a wonderful Istria Gourmet road trip! Tag us (@istriagourmet and #istriagourmet; and @shareistria and #shareistria) on your social media posts and contact us with any questions.

Foodie Guide to Istria