Poreč (Croatia)

Despite looking a little like Dubrovnik, with its magnificent old town surrounded by fortified walls and blue sea, Poreč has its own specific identity, an identity also shared by the region in which it is located, Istria. I particularly enjoyed being here, in the exquisite little town centre under the benevolent eye of its magnificent 7th-century basilica, which is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

As everywhere in Croatia, unfortunately, I found the area around Poreč to be a bit spoiled due to the rapid construction of large hotel complexes for tourists and the excess of tourism-related activity that takes place there once summer arrives.

This did not, however, prevent me from enjoying Poreč, which I would recommend visiting out of season so that you can better enjoy both the town itself and its coast, and not forgetting the region's wonderful and strongly Italian-influenced culinary specialities as well. Poreč is definitely somewhere worth making a stop at when visiting Croatia.