It happens to us a lot: In Istria, we were rather unimpressed by the top rated sights but fell in love with the places we discovered spontaneously – some small sleepy towns not mentioned in any guidebook and aesthetical fixer-uppers topping over vineyards and Istrian rolling hills.

Kotli

A sleepy village, waterfalls and an old water mill.

Groznjan

Beautiful location on the top of a hill, atmospheric old houses. It looks like this place may become packed during the high season. In April, we were one of the seldom visitors...

Oprtalj

The village that really is off the beaten path. We enjoyed strolling through its atmospheric streets. Some of them consisted primarily of houses falling apart...

Vineyards

There are plenty of small family wineries all over Istria. The biggest and most famous ones, Kozlovic and Kabola boast spectacular locations...

Hum

With its 17 inhabitants, Hum is apparently the world's smallest town.

Motovun

Probably the busiest town of central Istria. In summer, be prepared to park several miles away from the town and take a bus to the town centre. But the view from the old town walls over the sleepy hills is rewarding.

BTW, somewhere there in the hills, there was an old house we 'sitted'.

Rovinj and Porec

These famous seaside towns lack the charm of the inland villages, but staying there has its advantages as well: Here, they have both spectacular town beaches and atmospheric cobblestone streets in one place.