Trieste–Pula Gravel Cycling Tour

Day 1: Trieste — Arrival
You will arrive independently in Trieste, the elegant Italian port city where your journey begins. The rest of the day is yours to explore its streets, cafés and seafront at your own pace before your first night in the city.

Day 2: Trieste — Buje (74 km; +799 m / −677 m)
At 9am you will meet the local team for a welcome briefing, and anyone who has booked a rental bike will be fitted out. To avoid city traffic, you can take the short ferry across the bay to Muggia. From there, the Parenzana follows Piran Bay through Portorož and Lucija to the Sečovlje saltworks, the northernmost in the Mediterranean, where salt is still made with a 700-year-old method and a museum tells its story. After crossing from Slovenia into Croatia, the trail climbs to views over the salt pans with the Alps on the horizon, passes the old Savudrija station and leads you through the villages of the Buje region to your hotel, where truffles and Istrian prosciutto await.

Day 3: Buje — Motovun (57 km; +870 m / −731 m)
Today you will ride on macadam along the Parenzana, the former narrow-gauge railway that once linked 33 towns between Trieste and Poreč, also called the wine railway. You will stop in Grožnjan, the town of artists, with its galleries and viewpoints, then roll on through tunnels, over old bridges and among vineyards to Livade, a famous truffle village where you can taste and buy local truffle products. Your hotel sits above, in the hilltop town of Motovun.

Day 4: Motovun — Poreč (50 km; +396 m / −640 m)
Before leaving, you can explore Motovun, overlooking the Mirna valley, with its crenellated 13th-century bell tower, the Church of St Stephen and the Romanesque Municipal Palace. The Parenzana then carries you through a tunnel beneath the town, via Vižinada and past Nova Vas, where you can visit Baredine Cave. Following the trail through vineyards, you will arrive in Poreč, home to the Roman Forum and the Euphrasian Basilica.

Day 5: Poreč — Rovinj (61 km; +698 m / −678 m)
You will ride along the coast to Vrsar, a fishing village Casanova returned to twice, then through Kontija forest with panoramic views of Lim Bay. Past the Benedictine abbey at Kloštar and the ruins of Dvigrad, you will enter a land of legends, from Captain Morgan's buried treasure near Mrgani to a hermit's cave. From Kanfanar, the traffic-free gravel path of the old Štrika ferata railway brings you into Rovinj, crowned by the baroque church of St Euphemia.

Day 6: Rovinj — Pula (42 km; +350 m / −364 m)
A coastal ride will take you through the Palud ornithological reserve, where up to 215 bird species have been recorded, to Fažana, sheltered by the Brijuni archipelago. You will then reach Pula, the largest city in Istria, with the Arch of the Sergii and the Roman Arena. If your legs still want more, an optional 37 km loop leads to Cape Kamenjak and back.

Day 7: Pula — Departure
Breakfast and end of services.