2 stops in walking order

Nature Park

The salt pans on Istria's northwestern edge are a slow, meditative landscape — geometric ponds ringed by wooden salt-workers' huts, harvested by hand each summer using techniques unchanged for 700 years. Flamingos and hundreds of migratory bird species visit; a boardwalk lets you cross the shallow water. On the Croatian side around Umag, smaller working salt fields are less-visited than the neighbouring Slovenian park but equally beautiful at sunset.

~1 h 30 m at this stop

Old Town

The westernmost town in Croatia occupies a slim peninsula jutting into the northern Adriatic — the first Istrian landfall for anyone sailing down from Trieste. Umag's old town is smaller than Poreč or Rovinj and, precisely for that reason, more relaxed: two parallel lanes of Venetian houses in soft ochre and pink, a Romanesque parish church of the Assumption with a leaning bell tower, and a working fishing harbour on the south side where nets are still mended by hand at dawn. The medieval town gate carries a Venetian lion of St. Mark still legible above the archway, and a compact town museum in a 14th-century tower runs through Roman glass, Venetian ceramics and the town's slightly surprising modern claim to fame — since 1990 it has hosted the ATP Croatia Open tennis tournament, which fills the town with players and fans each July. Beyond the walls, the coast fans out into pine-shaded pebble coves and long promenades ideal for sunset walks. The gelato at Slastičarnica Sunčica on the main square is the best in northern Istria (try the fig or lavender), and the seafood restaurants along the seafront — Badi and Konoba Vino & Ribice among them — put out sardines and buzara that easily rival the more famous coastal towns further south. Come in June or September for warm sea and no queues.

~2 h 30 m at this stop