Katarina

Island of St. Catherine is located right in front of the old town Rovinj and it can be easily reach by taxi boats. The beaches on the island are mostly stony. the island offers other services as well, so while spending your day on the island of St. Catherine you can swim in the pool, refresh in the bar, you can rent different sport equipment for windsurfing, diving, volleyball. On the island you can see the popular rocks called the Golden, the Silver and the Bronze Rock. These are extremely high rocks that reach 15 meters. They decline vertically into the sea that is approximately 3m deep . The rocks are an attractive site for those who like cliff jumping.

Crveni Otok

Crveni Otok is the biggest island in the Rovinarchipelago and there are many other connected islets like St. Andrija and Maškin, where you can see many beautiful beaches. They are mainly stony beaches with classical coves coated with pebbles. The most frequented beaches are the ones located on the south side of St. Andrews Island, near the hotel and the depandance. Here you can use many services like: restaurant, pool, miniature golf courses, diver center and others. A small part of the shore near the little port has been covered with gravel, making it suitable for children and seniors. There are a few high rocks on the west side of St. Andrew’s Island, which offer the possibility to dive into the sea, and it will be easier for you to find your own little corner on this side of the island, avoiding crowds and noise. Maškin Island is popular as a nudist mecca. The most seen beaches are located near the snack bar on the south side of the island. The beaches there are rocky, with a few smaller bays and they provide peace and privacy.

Bale

The district of Bale, located near Rovinj,Vodnjan, Kanfanar and Svetvincenat is a preserved area of Istria that has avoided all forms of devastation and today the locals can say with great pride that their home is an area of natural beauty surrounded by natural wealth, untouched nature and rich cultural and architectural heritage. The district of Bale spreads over 81, 65 square kilometres and has a population of 1295 people.

The town of Bale, entirely made of stone,was built on the top of the limestone fortress. It symbolizes Istrian tradition and it existed, according to archaeological research, since the Roman period when it was known under the name Castrum Vallis. Fort Bale protected the trade route between Pula and the interior of the peninsula. The Roman Castrum became a walled little town in medieval times. Today the Roman Castrum Vallis is a small town whose historical core is located 145 meters above the sea level, surrounded by hills. The Italian name „Valle“ means valley, and Bale is the valley positioned between hills Monleme, Skvacota, Pizanovac and Veli Majan; Pastrovicev vrh, Sv Nedjelja, Brigonera, Mongrizeja and Sokol. The most interesting buildings preserved to our days are Venetian Gothic building of the court and the Gothic Renaissance castle form th 15th century which was the residence of the family Soardo Bembo. The area of Bale forms a whole with arable land, pastures, forests in which one can easily come across the remains of old buildings, Roman roads, water tanks, wells, Roman villas, oil presses, churche. From religious buildings there is a church from the 14th century deidcated to St. Anthony and the Romanesque church of St. Elizabeth. The 45th parallel goes straight through the narrowest part of the district of Bale, which means that the district is ideally positioned as regards the planet – half way between the Equator and North Pole. The average temperature in Bale is 14 degrees centigrade and the town has 2400 sunny hours on average a year, which has attracted huge numbers of tourists to the place – a treasure surrounded by the greenness of the flora and blueness of the sea.

Dvigrad

Dvigrad (Twin-town) is an abandoned medieval town in central Istria on the Rovinj – Pazin road in direction of Kanfanar. It is located in the Draga valley. The history of the settlement is prehistoric; it remained inhabited until the 18th century, after the plague the inhabitants left the village and founded a new town, Kanfanar.

During Illyrian times existed two colonies which later, in early mediaeval times, became two towns, Parentino and Moncastello. The former quickly extinct, but the latter, in the ownership of the Aquileian patriarch, developed further under the name of Duecastelli.It can be reconstructed that inside the walls people lived here and that the village and the basilica of St.Sophia existed from the 11th century. In the mid 17th century malaria and the plague were prevailing in Istria, which didn’t spare the citizens of Dvigrad either. Thus, in 1631 most of the 700 hundred inhabitants left the town, and the remaining three families left in 1714, when the church was abandoned as well. The ruins and the pulpit from the 14th century were bought into the church of St. Silvester in Kanfanara, where the inhabitants of Dvigrad had moved as well. The town is very well maintained, since it hadn’t been destroyed in the wars that were ravaging through Istria, but rather because it was abandoned by the inhabitants of the town. The town gates still exist, as well as two circles of the town walls, some of the defense towers are preserved, as well as the most part of the 200 houses. The St. Sophia Church was an early Christian church with three naves which dominated the town and which was built on solid rock. Unfortunately, because the church wasn’t maintained, it decayed in the 19th century. Until recently, the town has been left to snakes, the macchia, the north-eastern wind and to the scatters of time, but lately it is undergoing restauration, so that Dvigrad has become a must for everybody who finds oneself closeby. It is only a 20 minute car ride away from Rovinj.

Limski Kanal

The Lim valley (Limska draga or Limska dolina) is the 35 km long valley of the river Pazinčica, which transforms into the Lim bay (Limski zaljev), a 10 kilometer long estuary. Lim Bay got its name from the Latin word limes meaning border because the bay was a natural border between the two Roman provinces. The Croats sometimes call it Limski kanal (Lim Channel), due to its narrow width. The estuary is sometimes called a fjord, even if it is not in fact a fjord but a ria, because it was not carved by a glacier but by the river eroding the ground on its way to the Adriatic Sea, when the sea level was lower.

The Lim valley (Limska draga or Limska dolina) is the 35 km long valley of the river Pazinčica, which transforms into the Lim Channel (Limski kanal), a 10 kilometers long estuary. Estuaries and coastal waters are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth, providing ecological, economic, cultural, and aesthetic benefits.The estuary is sometimes called a fjord. Even if the movie The Vikings starring Kirk Douglas was shot there in 1958, it isn’t a fjord but a ria, since it wasn’t carved by a glacier but by the river eroding the ground on its way to the Adriatic Sea. The area around the channel has been inhabited since the Neolithic era. Under the Romans, the channel built the border between the administrative units of Porec and Pula. At the beginning of the 11th century it was the home of the hermit St.Romuald who founded the monastery of St. Michael near Kloštar. Today the 105m long St Romuald’s cave is open for visits in the summertime. Fishing in the Lim Channel has always been excellent. Now the natural species have been increased by farmed mussels and oysters which are offered in two excellent restaurants on the channel. The easiest way to visit the Lim Channel is to take part in an organised excursion from Rovinj but it’s also possible to visit it independently. Many excursion boats make hour-long runs up the channel from the main dock. The main season is from June to September and the boats run every hour. There’s a small beach shaded by pines right next to the dock.

Palud

In 1906 when there was an Austro-Hungarian military base in Barbariga, a 200-meter-long canal was dug from the swamp to the sea. This was done to increase salinity of the marsh water and so prevent the development of mosquito larvae that were the main transmitters of malaria. By connecting the sea and swamp Palud gained its new inhabitants such as grey mullet and eel, fish that are found in areas where seawater mixes with freshwater. Older people of the Rovinj area recall seeing even other species of fish in the swamp that came in search of food. The great variety and number of resident and migratory bird species is surely the most important feature of this unique swamp.

Old Town Rovinj

Rises up on a peninsula and is a witness to times gone by and the valuable accomplishments of its past artisans. The limited space led to the construction of narrow buildings, streets and small town squares.

St. Euphemia

Is a most imposing structure which bears the name of the patron saint of the town. It dominates the whole old town centre.

It was built in the eighteenth century, while its façade in Venetian-baroque style was added in the middle of the last century. At the top of the sixty-metre-high bell tower stands the copper statue of St. Euphemia, which shows the direction of the wind by turning on a spindle.

Parenzana

Parenzana, the route of the former railroad has been turned into a real attraction for hikers and bycicle riders. If you walk or cycle at least over a part of its 78 km route, you will be touched by its tunnels, bridges and viaducts, as well as by its fascinating woodlands and picturesque small towns at the top of the hills among whose town walls you can taste some most delicious regional specialties.