Istria is a large, beautiful Mediterranean region covering a little bit of Slovenia and a bigger bit of Croatia.. It stretches along the entire Croatian coast from Rijeka to Pula then up to Umag and connects with the Slovenian seaside towns of Portoroz and Piran at the busy border..

And there is a big fat rolling Istrian hinterland too, stuffed with pretty hilltop villages you might have heard of like Grozjnan and Motovun. 

Inside the main defensive wall arch, very unlikely you can park anywhere inside here..

Well Buzet is another lesser known stunning little Istrian medieval hill top village tucked away right next to one of the quieter border crossings and is perfectly placed for Lodge guests to sneak down into Croatia and have an Istrian experience!

Now Croatia has joined the European Schengen agreement, you still need to slow down at the Croatian Slovenian border, but in principle there are no border checks any more, so this particular route we are gonna tell you all about is an even better short cut into Istria AND a terrific secret alternative route for guests travelling to Green Slovenia from Istria or the rest of Croatia!   

So you could stop off in Buzet as part of a longer journey in or out of Slovenia to stretch your legs, have a bit of an explore around the old town and a bite to eat OR include Buzet as part of a fantastic daytrip from the Lodge with some other stellar secret places, we will tell you all about below..

View of Buzet old town from the river..

There are lots of other options for special places you could add into this roundtrip in many different directions, but the route down through the Slovenian coastal Hinterland to Buzet is so clear & simple from the Lodge that we will just mention the unmissabubble places along the way to create an Istrian roundtrip via Buzet that you probably would never had imagined you could do in a day here in Green Slovenia.. But you can!

Hope you are sitting down now, cos it is ONLY 55 mins direct from the Lodge to Buzet and if you follow this route you will also get to see a big chunk of the secret Slovenian Istrian Coastal Hinterland too..

the old town is not too big to fully explore..

We will be focussing on Buzet old town in this article, but we will also mention the other secret places we recommend including into this particular daytrip with extra links to our Secret Place to Visit articles on them if you want to read up more..

OK, so go down the motorway direction Koper and turn off at the CRNI KAL / HRASTOVLJE exit.. Follow the road towards Hrastovlje, but don't forget to look up towards the giant cliffs for the village of Crni Kal, (Black Pond) which has a church with a wonky steeple..

This enormous cliff marks the edge of the "Karst" region, which covers most of southern Slovenia in leaky limestone.. perfect for forming those caves, disappearing lakes and other underground paradises you might have heard of!

the last Karst cliff in Slovenia, vineyards, olive groves and a castle protecting a church protecting a rare fresco.. wow..

If you are gonna visit Hrastovlje on this trip, then we recommend you swing by in the morning on the way out rather on the way back as it might be closed later in the day if you come back later..

Hrastovlje is set in an uberstunning location and is the best example of what we describe as call a Fortress Chuch, which is a church that had a castle built around it for protection during the middle ages when the Ottoman empire raiders were attacking at will in this part of Europe.

What makes this church extra special is that the 4 inside walls and the ceiling are covered in stunning medieval frescoes with one long wall telling the incredibly rare and powerful "Dance of Death" story, elevating this hidden gem into one of the 50 plus secret places that we would have to try to shoe horn into our own Top Ten for Green Slovenia.. it is that good!

try to find this lovely little walk around the side of the massive rock wall at Kubed..

Guests often visit the Hrastovlje fortress church as part of another daytrip to the Slovenian coast, but it could also be part of your Buzet daytrip.. If so, just loop back towards KUBED now after the fortress church to get back on track.

But you won't be in the car for long as Kubed is another place worth stopping off at to have a look at another most peculiar church.. this one has a 5 walled tower!

The tiny village of Kubed houses St Florian church, also protected by another castle towering above the road on top of a rugged cliff and you can still see the crumbled castle there..

The village is really tiny and a bit higgledy piggledy so it would be so easy to drive past without noticing, but now you know to look out for it and find your way up to the top of the village with some easy parking spaces next to the tower with 5 sides!!

the 5 walled church tower of Kubed..

Also notice the doorway halfway up this kooky tower, which was essential during Medieval times for villagers to put a ladder up against one of those 5 stone walls to climb up in, pull the ladder out of reach behind them and then they would be safe from the invading Turks!     

You could offer me a view of any of the skyscrapers in Manhattan, but I would take this little imperfect 5 walled tower with all it's history any day of the week, baby!

You have to see the 5 walls to believe it. The views from up here are stunning and this tower is part of a network of fortresses, including Hrastovlje that lit fires and rang bells to warn when Ottoman troops were raiding.

View from the back of the old town to the current Slovenian Border on the cliffs..

The road gets more dramatic now as you continue along the curvy main road towards the border, following signs for Buzet.

But there is still time for one more surprising Slovenian stop with a sharp left at the sign for St Kvirik, go up a steep narrow road to a wonderful little Roman church and park up.

It is either time for a quick photo or another unexpected opportunity to do a fantastic hike to the Big "Ears" or the "Bridge", which are natural rock formations on the far edge of the Slovenian Karst cliffs, right along the border, but you are so high up you can see down to the Slovenian border crossing!

Lovely Buzet Old Town..       

So now finally we will cross the border and it isn't far at all to Buzet.. Yep, you are now in a different European country folks.. There is a larger, scattered new town and a few roundabouts in the valley below, but you are aiming for the pretty old town on top of the hill..

There are a lot of things we love about Buzet and one of them is how quiet it is compared to the busier better known hill top villages of Motovun and Grozjnan, so even in the busiest time of the summer you still stand at least a chance of getting a parking spot!

Excellent sneaky spot to park in this little car park halfway up the hill next to this church..

We usually visit Buzet outside the the main summer season cos we can and we llive here, in winter, this part of the world can be magical and COMPLETELY empty, but also fantastic and not so busy in the cooler months of April, May, September and October..

We would always recommend driving up the hill towards the old town and there is a church half way up with quite a big car park and that would be where we would try to park..

If you can walk ok, then this is a superb spot to walk up some steep steps and then you are right at the main stone Arch gate of the old town.

Steep but simple walk up to the old town from this car park..

If you are a bit greedier or have more trouble walking then you could give it a go driving further up the road, through the main arch onto the cobbled stone and do a loop of the very narrow old town in case you do find a spot, but don't count on it!

If there is absolutely nowhere to park on the hill, then you could go back down to the new town and easily park there with quite a walk up or maybe try to catch a bus up..

The medieval town is perched high up on top of the hill and is every bit as beautiful as Motovun or Grozjnan. Once you arrive at St Georges big gate you are at the entrance to the old town and from here you can pretty much do a circle, going left up into the town past cafes and bars. 

Main walkway up into the old town from the Arch..

There are pretty little ancient buildings, narrow cobbled streets, a tower & church, with little cafes & restaurants to enjoy the majestic views down into the valley.

You can tower above the Mirna river, which is still a very important water source for Istria, providing irrigation for an area that was also historically so important as the market garden area for Venice, Trieste and Ljubljana, offering the very first green crops of the season.

Indeed some consider the Mirna river was the true border between Slovenia and Croatia, so Buzet would actually be Slovenian, certainly Istrian in any case and now without a border it is almost academic, but maybe interesting for you as the visitor!

Fantastic view from Buzet citadel down to the Mirna river and across to the Buzet Gorge..

There is also a great vista from the top of the town back across the new town far below and across to the towering jagged Karst cliffs high up above that lead to Slovenia.

The town itself is like a medieval museum with excellent signs outside all the historical buildings explaining their function and little bits of history. There are lots of these signs and they help to bring the town to life, so we recommend you just walk around and explore and this little old town would be great for kids to run around in and explore!

Buzet is kind of a mix between a quiet sleepy Slovenian hill top village and a more marketed Croatian hill top village, with refreshingly not so many places to eat & drink & buy souvenirs, but just enough!

Fab truffle restaurant in the old town..

There is a tradition of truffles here in Istria and we have a favourite truffle restaurant with superb views in Buzet, but if you are interested in truffles you might also want to read our Truffle Hunting article coming up soon!

If you follow the line of the Mirna river back to the hills it pops out of you will see some commanding rocks which could be the start of yet another epic adventure for you, also covered seperately in a forthcoming  Secret Places to Visit article..

You are looking across at the head of the Buzet Gorge which can offer an epic 5 hour walk with waterfalls, little bridges, cute villages and crystal clear river rock crossings as part of your adventure..

One of the first waterfalls along the Buzet gorge hike..

Indeed you could decide to drive directly to Buzet, park up and JUST do that amazing Buzet Gorge walk with a visit to chill out in the old town afterwards for another completely different daytrip.. 

But it is also possibe to just tickle the edge of the gorge in a couple of hours if you do not want to do the whole walk..

So what a day and what a load of other possibilities you could decide to mix with Buzet that we haven't even mentioned and also possible in a fab daytrip..

Maybe you will loop off left and see either Motovun, Groznan or another little hill top Istrian village or maybe you will loop off right and go see the stunning Opatija for a swim with a journey back via Rijeka?

there is always a cat or two to say hi too in these hill top villages..

Maybe you will come back from Buzet the same way.. We cannot resist mentioning that every time we cross the border back into Slovenia we are overwhelmed at how Green it all looks!

You could also take a slightly different way directly back into Slovenia from Buzet  ascending steeply into the those Karst cliffs you can see from the Buzet old town walls, where there is another even smaller border crossing awaiting.. 

You could stop off on top of the cliff to see a hair raising place where paragliders take off and float around up here for hours on end! It's not so high, a little over 1,000m, but scary enough and nice to go for a bit of a stroll along the rocky ridge where you will see really excellent examples of the white Karst limestone rocks jutting out of the patchy grass everywhere.

Vista from the Truffle restaurant towards Slovenia..

Apart from the valley view, the white rocks and the odd paraglider floating past, the other amazing thing up here to see is the railway that runs across the side of these huge cliffs.. it really is incredible how they built it, seemingly hanging off the side of the cliff, about 50 metres from the top!

With the Mediterranean windy climate up here you will notice the typical dinky Karst trees are mainly needles, which can only grow in this rocky windswept ground to maybe just 20% of normal size and make it quite a place to drive through, so well worth taking this detour home.

Main Buzet church on the hill in the middle of the old town..

You basically continue along the cliff, tracing the railway line and pop in and out of little stony villages on your way back towards Crni Kal. Remember we told you that meant "Black Pond" and up here you should also keep your eyes peeled for what look like perfectly round ponds.. which actually had to be dug out and were traditionally used for animals to drink from in an area where getting water here was quite tricky.

There is a lovely little village called Podpec with a small car park just after you go under the railway bridge. From here you can see up perfectly to yet another stunning little fortress tower that kept watch and helped controlled this region in league with Kubed and Hrastovlje..

Whichever way you come and go to Buzet it is gonna be a great and now you realise it is worth planning your route and what you do and visit here, cos a little bit of logistics can help you go a really long way in this stunning part of the world..