The largest town on the Istrian peninsula offers a diversity of attractions to culture lovers. Pula's surrounding natural environment, countryside and the turquoise water of the Adriatic have made it a popular summer holiday destination.

If you are visiting this city, you won't want to miss the Pula Arena, one of the best preserved Roman amphitheaters. Pick a ToursByLocals private guide and customize your own private tour. You can choose among various historical attractions like the Pula Cathedral, tasting the local food at the Pula Market Hall, or go scuba diving on one of many beautiful underwater locations around Pula.

Discover Pula at your own pace with a ToursByLocals private tour!

Pula

Pula Walking City Highlights Half-Day tour

On this walking tour, we will get to know better "this old lady with a soul", older than 3000 years. We will begin with the glorious Roman times and the visit to the Roman amphitheater from the 1st century ( with a bit of luck we may even run into one of the gladiators!) we will continue our tour through the cobbled but flat streets, along with major monuments and sights of interest which will show you why exactly is this magnificent town a rightful candidate for the UNESCO heritage site, and an eternal inspiration for many writers and artist.

We will not miss the heritage of the golden Austro Hungarian era, the importance of Pula harbor, and we will certainly stop by every single building which has its own little secret to tell.

A stroll through the farmer's market, taste, and smell of fresh fruit, vegetables, and olive oil, great stories, and a chat with the locals are all going to give you a clear and authentic experience of what Pula was once, and what is it today.

Let's explore together the glorious times of ancient Pula

Let's walk through the narrow streets of one of the most romantic towns of the Mediterranean. On this private tour, I will share why Rovinj is known as a town of 1000 chimneys and what are its other nicknames.

A walking tour of Rovinj is slightly more demanding as we will walk up the hill through the narrow stone streets where on its top a beautiful church of St Euphemia awaits us. Once we enter the church, we will peek behind one of its altars to see what's kept in the marble sarcophagus. And do you know a legend about her?

Rovinj is a magical town. You will notice it from a distance. And then, once you start exploring it, this little maze of streets will reveal its greatness and why the town of Rovinj was called Venice in small.

Wandering the stone-paved narrow streets of Rovinj will lead us to the top of the hill right in front of the astonishing church of St Euphemia. Once we reach the top of the hill you will feel like you've conquered the town, but the truth is, this little paradise will conquer

Little Venice - Rovinj visit with a local guide.

Private Rovinj Walking Tour

Pula walking tour with Roman Amphitheater

Let me take you round-around through more than 3000 years old, modern industrial Civitas Pula - Pola, an antique port "archetype", where almost all major European cultures lived & interpolated and left something for us up to the present time, with lot of sites along the way I keep as a surprise. . .

The Tour offers detailed visit of perhaps one of most historic places on the Adriatic.

Walk through time from Illyrians via Roman Empire, further to largest beginning 20th Century Mediterranean Military Naval Port to recent high-tech 21st Century place in this highly interesting City which is a combination of ancient and modern. . . Pula is also a recent candidate for UNESCO World Heritage Site, because of its Austro-Hungarian Naval Heritage from the end of XIXth - beginning of XXth Century. Plus lots more from 200000BC to present.

For a "history - freak" as I am, Pula is both challenge and inspiration to present it properly, since every corner has at least one story to tell, so history passionates welcome!

Pula meeting point - Amphitheater entrance

Guided walking city tour of Pula - Pola

Let me take you on a pleasant romantic walk through one of the most picturesque and most romantic little towns in the world. . . A late medieval town with strong Venetian influence particularly in architecture and everyday life: a place with long fishing tradition, a place which artists, particularly painters, have chosen for life and artistic impressions. . .

Tour includes a zigzag walkthrough oldtown streets including Grisia, street of artists once upon a time and some still left, visit St. Eufemia Church and we will end in fishing port with some batana boats present, even though EU legislation has taken away our bigger ships :(.

Batana is a symbol of fishing tradition in Rovinj.
Please allow me to introduce you this unique medieval Venetian fisherman's hilltown with a lot of charm and romance. . .

Let's get lost in Rovigno d'Istria. . . :)

Guided trip of Rovinj - Rovigno

Rovinj - Rovigno walking tour

If you are planning a trip to Istria and Croatia, Pula is a city that will amaze you with its rich and long history, a city with more than 3000 years of history with the biggest number of Roman monuments on the east Adriatic coastline. It's a city that you simply must not omit in your itinerary.

Pula is my residence, since my college days and in a pleasant walk, I'll show you and tell you stories that you'll not find in a tour guide. Those are the stories of the one who walks down to these streets off-season too. In a time when everything is quiet and peaceful.
Each city has a soul, and every person who visits this city can sense it. You just need to know to find it. With me, you'll have a feeling of a local.

I have plenty of options to offer you throughout the tour. You can choose between local market, little souvenir shops, museums, photo points, castle views, restaurants, olive oil, wine tastings, sunsets…
You are welcome to contact me for more details or just to customized the tour especially for you!

Discover the legacy of the Roman Empire in a half day trip

Private Pula Tour

Colorful and charming, Croatian and Italian - a small town with a big soul.

Besides being my hometown and my soulmate, Rovinj is a Mediterranean gem that needs to be explored. A town that will win your heart at a glance.

Rovinj is the most photogenic town in Croatia. I can't wait to take you to the Old Town, a labyrinth of old and narrow streets, and show you all the special corners and memories written all over them. I must warn you though, the city will romance you all the way through.

For many it's love at first sight, others prefer to take things slowly, nevertheless by the end of this tour, you will be in love with this place.

Guiding you is my mission where I share authentic friendly moments from history and my personal life. I am your new local friend who makes you feel at home abroad.

Look at part of the itinerary below, the rest is a surprise that I keep for when you let yourself be involved in this authentic experience.

Bell Tower of the Church of Saint Euphemia

Cocktail bars and restaurants in the Old Town

Feel what it's like to fall in love again!

Romantic Rovinj, private tour

What would have been visible on the barren island 1500 years ago wouldn't have been impressive. Who was to know that this small patch of land was to become the most prosperous and largest medieval town in Istria by the 16th century?

Let me take you back not only to the place of my childhood, but also of those who came well before us. We will unveil together what still is a harmonious and happy community - locals using the old town as a point of reference, buying their fresh producen and meeting up with friend at the sea front.

Starting in the low town, obtained after the channal was land-filled in 1763, we will follow step by step the history and culture of this beautiful town. This will definitely be a journey back in time, starting with the WW2 monument area and going back to the inception point of Rovinj, up on the top of the hill of this little "ruby island".

View from St. Euphemia's towards the west/south-west. Waterfront and southern bay.

Bridge square as seen from St. Euphemia's.

St. Catherine's from the church of the Holy Cross.

Holy Street detail, on the way to Saint Euphemia's.

We do not believe in clothes' driers. Even today.

St. Euphemia's as seen from the old cemetery.

Western view from Saint Euphemia's- Venice is 64 miles away in straight line.

Rovinj, old Lanterna lighthouse and WW2 bunker from the Kingdom of Italy peroid.

Red town clock and waterfront. Rio, Kantinon and San Tommaso: best local food and best coffee.

In the middle of the night, I was walking in my sleep ...

We have a straight line of houses where the ancient walls once proudly stood.

On April the 1st 2017. Blessed to be living here and sharing my hometown with you.

Where is the only blue house in Rovinj? Let me take you there ...

Shore excursion in Rovinj visiting

Rovinj Guided City Tour

Rovinj, charming and romantic, the most photographed town on the Mediterranean, eternally proud carrier of Venetian heritage, a bohemian town of the artist, and an old fishermen's town with a soul; Rovinj is all that and much more.

Our two-hour tour relaxed through the cobbled streets deep into the heart of this amazing town will give you the best of Rovinj's centuries-long history, tradition, and people. You will for sure get to understand and feel what is it that makes this town so special, why is St. Euphemia the most important woman in town's history, what dragged all the artists right here and nowhere else, why fish tastes better here.

A bit of a personal touch to this tour and interaction with locals is what makes this tour special and will for sure leave you with an amazing experience and memories. Welcome to the blue pearl of the Adriatic! Let's start our journey.

Let's explore together the charm of Mediterranean Rovinj!

Rovinj express walking city tour

The city tour begins with the most iconic monument of roman times in Croatia- the amphitheater in Pula.
Almost half of the entire visit of Pula is centered around this incredible piece of ancient engineering. I will share with you how these structures would have been built, why in specifically designated areas and what for.

Is this an amphitheater, an arena, or a colosseum?
If we already had theatres, what did we need these enormous structures for?
Who could afford to attend to what was going on inside?
What happened in the middle ages to it?
What do Christians have to do with all of it?

These and many more questions will find their answer- the lecture is a comparative, amusing two-way discussion about the good old times when all roads lead to Rome.

After the amphitheater, we continue in a circular way and chronologically follow the still well preserved three roman gate structures: Double Archers, Hercules' Gate, Sergi's Arch at the old golden gate entrance. See you here!

Cranes of the Pula shipyard perfoming a light-show.

Sunset over one of Pula's marinas and shipyard.

The Emperor Augustus temple from the 1st century c.e. and City Hall at the Forum square.

Roman amphitheatre in Pula- the 6th one by size still standing.

Pula's temple- still standing after a little over 2000 years.

Since the mid 18 hundreds Pula has had an important shipyard.

Golden Gate square with Sergi's Arch. The main entrance/exit in Roman times, the main public square of modern Pula.

Modern events take place between May and September.

Today everything turns around the shipyard and the industrial activity around it.

Local fresh produce at the farmers' market- the best selection in all of the county.

I have always been impressed by shipyard structures.

110 year old beauty: Pula's covered market.

Roman life festival at the Golden Gate in Pula.

Architecture from the 1930s, when all of Istria was part of the then Kingdom of Italy.

Pula Forum, girls fighting over the bride's bouquet.

Roman Diana's temple, incorporated into the back wall of the City Hall at Pula's Forum Square.

Not much has changed over time at the Pula Forum.

Roman colosseum and temples of Pula with a guide

Pula Tour with a local

Taste and learn about truffles, these famous underground mushrooms that are so hard to find and so good to taste.
In the depths of the Motovun forest there is a hidden gem, a roman aphrodisiac and venetian forbidden devil's fruit. . . in these modern times, a mushroom known as a truffle. Did you know this mushroom has to be hunted? And for that hunt, we need a dog. . . . join me for the truffle hunt.

After the truffle search demonstration, we'll climb up the street where Mario Gabriele Andretti used to race hand-crafted wooden cars downhills with his brother Aldo. I will tell you who Josef Ressel was and who Andrea Antico was, why is the Motovun forest so famous even today and back in the Venetian times why it was fully protected, … these are only some of the stories

I will tell you about one of the richest towns of the Venetian Istria.
You are welcome to contact me for more details or just to customized the tour especially for you.

Land of giants - Countryside of Istria peninsula in a half day trip

Black Truffle Search & Hilltop Town Tour

This great tour will take us into the heart of the Istrian peninsula and a hilltop town of Motovun, one of the oldest European settlements. Turbulent history, great architecture, breathtaking viewpoints, pure charm, stories, fairytales, and even giants, seducing smell of truffles all over the place, Motovun is just all that.
Being known as the kingdom of truffles, the tour will lead us to an amazing experience of a real truffle hunt in the Motovun forest led b a professional truffle hunter and his cute and friendly, mandatory assistants, the dogs.
That will not be all, after the truffle hunt and the city tour of Motovun, we will enjoy some of the truffle delicacies, from pure truffle to truffle chocolate, all accompanied with some and great Istrian wine.

Authentic Istrian pasta with white truffles

Experience an amazing truffle half-day hunt!

Motovun and the kingdom of truffles!

This tour gives you an opportunity to visit both biggest places of Istria, Pula and Rovinj, with free time.

Pula is a real center of Istrian Peninsula, with more than 3000 years of being inhabited, it offers a lot of historic landmarks from different periods, thus it is nowadays a modern industrial city.

Rovinj is considered to be one of the most charming and picturesque places on the Mediterranean, it is a combination of traditional Adriatic fishing town and modern global summer resort place with lots of art and other mumbojumbo stuff within the old town.

Bale hilltown is still one of the still undiscovered gems of Istria, former castle/fort existing/non existing for almost 4000 years, and it is located near to Western Istrian Coast between Rovinj and Pula. Bale is also one of my favourite still not fully tourist discovered places. . .

Since there is not so much for driving, if timeframe allows, this tour has limitless options for wineries, olive oil farms, restaurants etc.

Pula tours

Explore with 36 tours and 5 guides.

Violeta P.

$ 232 (USD)

Ana G.

$ 215 (USD)

Matt

$ 149 (USD)

Matt

$ 138 (USD)

Ana G.

$ 215 (USD)

Romina K.

$ 157 (USD)

Goran C.

$ 179 (USD)

Violeta P.

$ 193 (USD)

Goran C.

$ 279 (USD)

Ana G.

$ 1,074 (USD)

Violeta P.

$ 955 (USD)

Matt

$ 557 (USD)

Meet your local guides in Pula

Customize your tour

Pula tours

Things to do in Pula