Istria has a lot of hills, and quite a few feature a town with a tower poking up from the middle. Over our long weekend we managed to stop by a handful.

Pazin
Our homebase in Istria, featuring a small castle!

Note that parking around the castle is free. On the other side of the castle is a surprisingly deep valley, where the river flows into an underground cavern. Per our other post, there wasn’t a lot to do in town but we did like the central location.

Motovun
This town is probably the most well-known hill town, so there are multiple parking options both in town and near the base. For ease of driving we chose to park at the bottom and walk up, but we probably could have parked closer to the center of town given it was later afternoon and not very busy. It is a steep walk up, however the views were nice.

 

It would probably be pleasant to enjoy a glass of wine on one the cafe terraces, but we found the town fairly touristy overall.

Kaldir
We drove through the village on the way to lunch, then stopped at Benvenuti on the return where we parked right next to Church of the St. John the Baptist.

Labin
Labin is close to the east coast of the peninsula, affording some nice views of the Kvarner Gulf.

The center of town was a little busier than expected, with lots of people at lunch on terraces on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. We walked through the old town for a few views.

Altogether, the best view may be from the parking lot (0.80€/hr paid only in coins and no change given)!

Sveti Lovreč
We stopped here on our way to Rovinj. As a smaller town they had a free parking lot near the traffic circle. Within 15 minutes we had seen the old town walls and ruins.

 

I wouldn’t go out of your way, but it was a pleasant 15 minute stop to stretch our legs.