Istria, Wine and Truffles

Nine nights in three houses across Istria, from the hills above Buje to the coast at Rovinj, in the country where the largest white truffle on record was found. Truffle hunts in the woods with hunters and their dogs, olive oils and wines tasted on the estates that make them, and an evening row around Rovinj in a batana, the town's old wooden boat, to a fishermen's cellar where the old songs are still sung.

Length: Nine nights
Pace: Three stays
Style: Food and wine, countryside, culture
Route: Buje, northern Istria to Bale to Rovinj

Buje, northern IstriaThree nights
BaleThree nights
RovinjThree nights

A village of tiled roofs and a bell tower below green hills, vineyards and woodland.

Days 1 to 4 · three nights

Buje, northern Istria

A tasting of San Canzian's own olive oils, and a picnic laid out in its olive groves. An afternoon at a family winery near the coast to see the cellars and taste. This is truffle country: on November 2, 1999, near Buje, a hunter's dog found a white truffle of 1.31 kilograms, entered by Guinness as the largest ever found.

Where you stay

San Canzian Hotel & Residences

San Canzian is set within a medieval village in the countryside above Buje, where the original hotel has been entirely revamped into 26 rooms, suites and villas. Luciano Restaurant and Bar sit alongside a pool and lounge, yoga and a gym.

Terracotta roofs in the foreground and a valley of vineyards and wooded hills beyond.

Days 4 to 7 · three nights

Bale

Out to the hill towns of Motovun and Grožnjan, and to Poreč for the mosaics of the Euphrasian Basilica. On the estate, a private truffle hunt in the Istrian woods followed by a tasting, a walk through the vines and the cellar with a guided tasting of Meneghetti's wines, and its four olive oils side by side. In harvest season, lunch under the oaks after a morning in the vineyards; evenings for dinner, the pool and the spa.

Where you stay

Meneghetti Wine Hotel & Winery

Meneghetti is a secluded countryside wine estate near Bale, with 40,000 vines, 700 olive trees of four varieties and 13 wine labels of its own. Guests stay in rooms, suites, residences and villas, and eat at Meneghetti Restaurant, Oliveto and the estate's beach club on the Adriatic.

Days 7 to 10 · three nights

Rovinj

A private visit and tasting at a winery founded in 1885 on the way down, then a guided walk through Rovinj's old town and a five-course dinner on a wine estate. At sunset, a row in a batana around the old town to Spacio Matika, where on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings from June to September the bitinadurs sing the fishermen's songs over local wine and fish. And a truffle hunt with a hunter and his dogs in the Motovun forest, for white truffles from September and black from January, ending in a konoba over truffles shaved fresh.

Where you stay

Grand Park Hotel Rovinj

Grand Park Hotel Rovinj stands on the town's eastern shore, looking across the harbour to the old town, beside the Golden Cape forest park. Its 209 rooms and suites, designed by Piero Lissoni, spread over six floors, with seven restaurants and bars and the Albaro Wellness and Spa.

Arranged on request

Truffles in the Motovun forest

With local guides and trained dogs in the Mirna valley below Motovun, for white truffles from September and black from January into early spring, then to a konoba for the truffles shaved fresh.

A private hunt from Meneghetti

A private truffle hunt in Istria's forests, arranged by the estate, followed by a tasting of the season's truffles.

By batana to Spacio Matika

A row at sunset around Rovinj's old town in its traditional wooden boat, to the cellar where the bitinadurs sing the fishermen's songs on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings from June to September.

Harvest at Meneghetti

In harvest season, a morning in the vineyards and the wine cellar, then lunch under the oaks.

Subject to availability.

Ways to make it yours

A day on the Brijuni islands, a national park with Roman and early Christian sites and the Josip Broz Tito Memorial Museum, then the amphitheatre at Pula.
Rovinj's Mali Škver, the little boatyard where batanas are still built the old way, open on Wednesdays and Sundays from mid-June to late August, with music and food.
Near Buzet, a private truffle hunt with a third-generation truffle-hunting family and their trained dogs in the family's own woods, then lunch of gnocchi made with what you find.

This is a sample. The hotels, the pace and the order are where we start, not where we finish: every journey is designed around the people taking it.

Made around you

Most travel is bought. This is designed.

Before anything is booked, we talk: who is travelling, how you like to spend a morning, and the hotel preferences below the obvious, from the kind of bath you like to the time you wake and how much daylight you need in a room. You see options where options matter and clean recommendations where they don't.

The same person remains your point of contact from the first reply to the trip after next. No handovers. No team.