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[title]Istria offers plenty of beautiful coastline, but you won't find anything as atmospheric as Rovinj beaches.
Popular with locals is the small swimming area, consisting of rocks and concreted platforms, on the south side of the Old Town peninsula. For the pine-forested beaches at the edge of town, you’ll need sandals to wade on the jagged shore, but the lack of sand means the sea is incredibly clear, great for snorkelling or diving.
The walk along the water is a little more than a kilometre from town: head past the Hotel Park, to the area of Monte Mulini and the succession of pebbly coves that forms the south side of Lone Bay. Relandscaped in 2014, Mulini beach itself combines smooth concrete with natural rock for comfort and authenticity, with a decent beach bar alongside and plenty of things to hire and play on in the water.
Monte Mulini © Branko Radovanović
The bay culminates in the pine-fringed peninsula of Zlatni Rt (Golden Cape), featuring a family-friendly beach of fine gravel. The other beaches are mostly undisturbed nature, ending in rocky beaches. Walking further round, past Lone Bay, with its public changing cabins, smaller coves have shallow, the calm waters of Kuvi beach ideally suited to paddling toddlers.
Golden Cape © Neoteniyx
About three kilometres south of town there are two nudist beaches, Polari Bay and the adjacent Cape Eve.
In the opposite direction, a short walk north of the town centre, Porton Biondi is a popular public beach with no natural shade but sun loungers and umbrellas for hire. There’s also a scuba-diving centre alongside, along with a number of bars and eateries. It may be worth the ten to 15-minute trek further north, to Borik beach, for its sheltering greenery, clearer water, finer pebbles and showers.
Amarin beach © Noa Massage Amarin / at the beach
From here, a path leads you through to Valdaliso beach, part of the campsite of the same name, so a modest fee is charged to enter. On the plus side, it’s cleaned every day, and offers tennis courts, windsurfing, beach volleyball and a children’s playground – if you’re here with the family, it’s worth the admission. Close by, Amarin beach is also pristine, with showers, changing cabins and easy access into the water, so suitable for youngsters. Again, this is part of a larger resort, so daily admission is charged to outsiders.
To get away from it all, take the taxi boat over from the Old Town to Sv Katarina Island, where you’ll find rocky/pebbly beaches with few amenities but wonderful views of Rovinj across the water. Nearby hidden coves provide intimacy.