Self Guided MTB Cycling Through Unexplored Istria 2025

Arrival in Istria. At 1900HRS, you will meet a representative in the hotel reception for a briefing about your package. You will receive hotel vouchers, bicycle with all equipment, maps and a road book. Overnight in Buje area or Brtonigla.

Breakfast at the hotel. Apart from enjoying the breathtaking landscape of the terrace, styled vineyards which resemble to an image on the front page of a holiday guide to Tuscany, you can indulge the sensation the area of Buje gives, a real polyphony of fragrances and tastes. After we have walked along the paved streets of the old town of Buje, we continue downhill, follow the trail leading through Bibali, Krug, and Smilovici, and you will reach Momjan. Momjan is a magnificent place located at an altitude of 270 meters with impressive ruins of the medieval citadel built on a rock. Visiting one of most popular wine cellars you will have opportunity to taste the world's best Muscat, from Momjan. Overnight in Buje area. (B)

Cycling distance: 43km
Elevation gain: +705m / -705m

After breakfast we will start biking (on macadam) on the legendary route of the ‘Parenzana’, the former narrow-gauge railway line which penetrates deeply into the Istrian peninsula; connecting 33 Istrian towns between Poreč and Trieste, which today are located on the territory of three countries. Passing through magnificent rolling landscapes and lively Istrian vineyards, it will become obvious why it was also known as the ‘Wine Railroad’. After passing through several tunnels and over old bridges you can stop on many fascinating viewpoints between the charming medieval towns of Grožnjan and Vižinada before reaching Poreč. Poreč is the town where you can find material and spiritual evidence of great cultures at every step. Ride along the old town centre and you will find the Roman Forum; magnificent palaces from different historical periods; and to top it all off there is the famous Euphrasian Basilica (Euphrasiana). Overnight in Poreč area. (B)

Cycling distance: 73km
Elevation gain: +636m / -754m

Breakfast at the hotel. The ride along this trail is particularly pleasant because you are riding along the coastline with beautiful bays, where you can enjoy the breathtaking Mediterranean landscape with green vineyards and olive groves. You can also taste the home-made food, wine, brandy, and honey produced in this area. Continuing along the trail, you will reach Višnjan, a little place that vaunts an astronomical observatory ranked among the five most important observatories in the world. If you have found here your guiding star, or if you have refreshed yourself with a glass of excellent home-made wine, we can continue our ride towards Poreč where our adventure began. Overnight in Poreč area. (B)

Cycling distance: 57km
Elevation gain: +539m / -540m

Breakfast at the hotel. On today’s bike trail of Captain Morgan you can find; a marsh; rare birds; a cursed city; an abandoned monastery; buried pirate treasure; a deep bay; a cave with a primitive man and a hermit; and an ancient solar observatory. After riding along the coastline, we reach Vrsar, a romantic fishermen village where the famous Casanova came back two times. Our bike ride continues through the magical Kontija Forest with a panoramic view of the beautiful landscape of the Lim Bay, passing by the old Benedictine abbey at Kloštar and to the ruins of the medieval town Dvigrad. Just to stir your imagination, you are now in an area where many legends and mysteries based on historical events still live on. That of Dvigrad devastated by the plague because of an ancient curse; of the buried treasure of Captain Morgan's pirates near the village named after him (Mrgani); of the cave where the remains of the primitive man were found and where, as legend has it, St Romuald used to live as a hermit in the Middle Ages. Passing Kanfanar and the Maklavun Hill, an astral-archaeological site, tumulus from the Bronze Age, we will finish this day in Rovinj. Called also little Venice, Rovinj is a typical Mediterranean seaside resort which will seduce you with its extraordinary beauty. In the dense tissue of the old town centre there are numerous magnificent palaces from different historical periods and today most of them host a gallery or an art studio. If you follow numerous chimneys of Rovinj and narrow meandering streets you will come in front of the baroque Church of St. Eufemia, the greatest monument in the city, from which you can admire a magnificent view of the Mediterranean almost in the palm of your hand. Overnight in Rovinj area. (B)

Cycling distance: 62km
Elevation gain: +732 m / -713m

After breakfast we start riding along the coastline towards Pula. Ride through the ornithological Palud Reserve with a rich variety of ornithon, fauna. A unique place where you can hear the chirping of 215 different bird species. We reach Fažana. Situated on a low coast, well protected from the open sea by the enchanting Brioni Archipelago (nowadays a National Park) and surrounded by vineyards and olive groves in the hinterland. Fažana was well known already in ancient Roman times. Which city is situated on seven hills, has a magnificent amphitheatre and is not Rome? The answer is, Pula. No, it is not a mistake, you are in front of Pula, the largest city in Istria. Pula is an enchantress with a thousand appearances, casting a spell on its visitors for centuries. This day we finish visiting the Old Town; with the Sergius' Triumphal Arch, from the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD; and the famous arena, a Roman amphitheatre from the 1st century BC. Overnight in Pula area. (B)

Cycling distance: 42km
Elevation gain: +309m / -320m

We start the last biking tour along the coast to Cape Kamenjak, surrounded by the 30km long coast with numerous gulfs, bays, and white beaches washed by the crystal-clear blue-green sea. We reach ancient Mutila, nowadays Medulin. On the way you can find 22 types of orchids including the endemic specie ‘Serapias Istriaca’(the Istrian orchid), see the so-called ‘islet-plate’ where the dinosaur's footprint has been preserved or find the remains of luxurious Roman villae rusticae. Overnight in Pula area. (B)

Cycling distance: 40km
Elevation gain: +410m / -411m

Breakfast at the hotel and check out. (B)