This mini section is about those narrow stone streets, high walls & arches, wonky old houses, terracotta roofs & perhaps a castle or two to be found sitting on the tops of the hills in the lots of stunning medieval villages around here.. All with fantastic Mediterranean views..

We will highlight just a few of our favourite hill top villages, ALL not far from the Lodge, either in Green Slovenia or Istria, (the neighbouring bit of Croatia), but there are a lot of hills and a lot of villages around here to explore, so you very well might find your own special hill top village during your Green adventures here!

 

These very special Mediterranean villages share common features.. they are all like living museums with antique stone houses, cobbled streets and high defensive walls protecting a medieval settlement on top of a hill. Often there is a castle or crumbling old castle wall with high arched entrances, a beautiful church and a network of steep, winding tiny streets.. just waiting to be explored.

When you approach these places from a distance and look up.. they all have that feel of a mountain or hill that you want to go up and explore and all these villages here that we will tell you about have at least a restaurant or cafe & maybe somewhere to get local souvenirs to complete your visitor experience.

 

If ALL of you in your group are fit enough to walk up the hill, then one word of advice is to park below the village top, either at the foot of the hill, in the new town below and then enjoy the walk up. The closer you get to the top of these villages, particularly in Croatian Istrija, the less parking you will find and the tiny bumpy, cobbled roads become incredibly narrow.

As a rule of thumb, if you get to a big archway gate in the castle wall, then this is as far as your car will go to relaistically get parking! But it is never a problem to drop off someone who cannot walk so well here at the gates and then drive back down to park the car.

 

All these villages have their own special character and feeling to them.. You can only really tap into this when you are walking around and looking around the corners, down the narrow alleys, seeing the washing strung out on lines, bright flowers on window sills or tiny balconies above the hand made wooden doors, or sipping a cappucino admiring the view from a cafe terrace..

These villages are also great places to stop off for lunch on the way to somewhere and have a wander around to explore and stretch your legs..

 

For example, we had an American family recently who were arriving at Pula airport in south Istria and driving up to the Lodge, so we recommended they take a really quiet route and stop off to visit Buzet hill top village on the way, with the added bonus of a very quiet border crossing and stunning Green scenery on the Slovenian side..

They arrived totally buzzing from this unexpected adventure.. they didn't just get the motorway experience from the airport, they had really made the most of their travel day! Each of these villages really does have their own character and depending on your travel logisitics, may be a better choice to suit your prefences..

 

So here we go.. park the car, get your hiking sticks out and start walking up that curvy hill to the top of our favourite hill top villages.. in no particular order..

 

Vipava Kriz in the Green Vipava Wine Valley.. (Slovenia, 30 mins from the Lodge)..

Perched on top of a hill, bang in the middle of the biggest Green Secret in Slovenia.. the Vipava Wine Valley.. surrounded by vineyards and mountains.

 

This is the perfect place to have a pit stop on your E Bike trip around the Vipava valley as there is a wonderful little shop/cafe offering tasting for the unique Vipava Valley wines, local prosciutto and also stocked full of local souvenirs. This cafe made your visit to Kriz possible, so please support it!

There is a castle up here that has been half converted to a school, a monk who has a cellar and a jail.. all protected by the big town walls and a huge entrance archway from the car park.

 

You could also hike up here as part of a longer wander and if you are driving through the valley towards the Soca river one way or Lipizzaner Lodge the other way, then it really is a perfect place to jump off the motorway or main road and go back in time in a Green paradise for a while.

Read more about Vipava Kriz here..

 

Stanjel in the Red Karst Teran Kras Wine Region.. (Slovenia, 30 mins)..

There are uberfantastic views of the Kras Teran wine region AND the neighbouring Vipava valley with Mt Nanos in the distance from the little green park at the very top of Stanjel.

The castle tower up here is pretty much destroyed and the main church can be best described as an enormous lemon shape!

 

There is just one restaurant here inside the main castle walls where you can get drinks, but if you want to eat, be sure to book a table in advance.

We particularly recommend looping around by foot up here to see all the little corners and nooks & crannies of this town and once you are at the very top the 360 degree vista is just superb. 

 

There is a walled garden with little ponds and waterfalls to visit called Ferrari and we love the other little gardens and allotments scattered around up here and the thick Karst stone windows and door frames.

There is museum accessed from the castle shop and just one other shop selling local artwork and souvenirs, so this is a very relaxed, laid back hill top village for you to explore.

Read more about Stanjel here..

 

Smartno in the Gorica Brda Wine Region.. (Slovenia, 55 mins)..

It takes just 55 mins from the Lodge to whizz up through the Vipava Valley past Nova Goricia, crossing the famous bridge over the Soca River and pop into the Goricia Hills, (Goriska Brda) arriving at St Martin, Smartno..

 

Smartno is in the heart of the Goricia Hills BRDA wine region, yet another completely different Slovenian wine region to the other 6, producing unique Rebulla & Sauvignasse Tokaj wine.. you can try it too and see it growing all around here!

Smartno is a medieval walled village protected by several chubby round towers and high walls with sensational views over those vineyards and cherry orchards.

 

There is a car park on the edge of the village and the views from here are pretty good too, but go for a stroll inside the walled village and find a couple of restaurants and some opportunites to buy local goodies too. 

You then enter the village through a big stone arch and there is plenty of medieval eye candy and warm mediterranean colours to treat your senses as you stroll round and explore.

Read more about Smartno here..

 

Marezige in the Slovenian Istrijan Coastal Hinterland.. (Slovenian Istrija, 40 mins)..

There are lots of lovely little Mediterranean hill top, mainly residential, villages scattered across the hill tops of Slovenian Istrija.. another one of the 7 Slovenian wine regions..

Marezige is one particular village, just up from Koper on the coast, sitting in the middle of them, with a nice local restaurant and a Wine fountain, where you can try the local Refosk and Malvazija wines..

 

There are beautiful views down from Marezige across the start of the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland to Koper and across to Italy..

Marezige is also on a very handy country road giving you access to all the hidden delights of this undiscovered wine region..

 

Read more about Marezige here..

 

If these stunning Slovenian hill top villages were over the border in Croatian Istrija, we get the feeling they would have just a few more souvenir shops, restaurants, artist studios and the like, but in these quiet, more shy Slovenian hill top villages, you will find just one or two tourist shops or eateries, which is absolutely fine by us!

Ok, so now we will pop over the paper border and tell you all about our fave Croatian Istrian hill top villages, where in most, you will not be short of shops and other places to spend your hollibubble money in!

 

Buzet with GORGEous River views (Croatian Istria, 54 mins)..

This beautiful medieval village is just over the other side of the Slovenian border and looks back towards the high limestone cliffs that mark the border with Green Slovenia, where you might also see the odd paraglider floating around..

On the other side of the castle walls, in the other direction, you can see the river Mirna as it appears from the very impressive Buzet Gorge.

 

You could do the most wonderful day trip form the Lodge to do the 4-5 hr hike along Buzet Gorge and then go explore the delights of Buzet hill top village.. What a day out!

Otherwise you could just stroll from the town along the river to the start of the gorge.. Some say this river Mirna marks the old border between Slovenian Istria and Croatian Istria and then Buzet would be on the Slovenian side!!

 

Buzet is certainly a much quieter, relaxed alternative to the much better known Motovun or Groznjan, but it still has all you need.. with some lovely truffle restaurants close to the main arched gate entrance, a castle, beautiful church tower high up and some fab little shops.

We were really impressed how each Medievel place of significance up here has a sign outside, also in English, telling you what the building was used for in the past.. bakery, school etc. So you can have a very interesting walk around Buzet.. with really sensational views back to Slovenia and down to the river and gorge!

Read more about Buzet here..

 

Visnjan.. (Croatian Istria, 60 mins)..

We love coming here to this very quiet hill top village just off the main motorway from Piran to Rovinj for a trypical Istrijan meal in the little restaurant in the high street.

 

There is a lovely little bakery here too in the high street and particularly in the off season, you could be the only car on the motorway!

After the meal you can have a nice stroll around and are so close to so many other Croatian AND Slovenian Istrijan options!

Read more about Višnjan here..

 

Kastav.. High above Rijeka (Croatian Istria, 65 mins)..

If you want to combine a visit to the main Croatian port city in Istrija of Rijeka or the fab seaside town of Opatija, with a quiet hill top option on the way home, then cute Kastav would be our hot tip!

 

Parking will be tricky and you would need to book your restaurant, but otherwise this is a lovely quiet option with a fantastic panorama vista across the entire Rijeka riviera from Opatija with the big holiday islands, just beautiful!

This is a lovely little village to go explore with a big church and round towers at the top of the hill..

 

We loved the cafe at the start of the little High st and like the look of the restaurant too, so we definetely have a soft spot for Kastav!

Read more about Kastav here..

 

Motovun.. the best known hill top village (Croatian Istria, 1hr 10 mins)..

This is the one that will have buses cramming the car parks on the way up the hill in high season and tourists all over the place, but for good reason.. it is high up and the views are incredibly beautiful. There is quite a walk up from the lower car park, so this might be the one village that you try to get as close as possible to the main entrance.

There are cafes, bars and restaurants and plenty of other opportunities for you to be quickly seperated from your money..

So if you want to see the difference between how Croatia does a hill top village and how Slovenia does it, then maybe visit here and Stanjel!

 

Groznjan.. village of Artists (Croatian Istria, 60 mins)..

Just next to Motovun is Groznjan, which is quieter, relaxed and stuffed with artist galleries. There are some really nice places to eat and relax up here and just like all the other hill top villages, this place was made to explore, admire and wander around!

 

We visited here on a rainy December day, but we absolutely loved it, parked easily, had all the tiny streets to ourselves and still found a restaurant open! The parking is quite tight and in the high season don't expect to just roll up to the top and park.

It is just like a big stone maze up here with very tight streets to explore!

Both Groznjan and Motovun have a great position near to the Croatian motorway and main roads leading into Slovenian Istrija, so could be the perfect hill top partner for your Istrian adventure!

 

Labin with a view to the sea (Croatian Istria, 1Hr 40 mins)..

We went to Labin, (again in the off season, which we totally recommend), on the way back from a fantastic round day trip to Pula. Labin is further down the Istrian peninsula and looks out to the sea in one direction and over to the lovely mountains that you can drive up through on your way home!

There is actually a lovely cafe at the foot of the old town on the other side of the main road in a hotel where we also got a yummy cake! You then cross the main road and walk up into the hill top town to explore another medieval maze of streets.

This place has a real character about it.. a little bit like the old towns of Piran or Izola, where people are living their lives in these pretty little colourful stone houses with thick wooden shutters, underwear flapping around on washing lines and incredibly tight narrow streets that really make you wonderhow they can park!

 

This place is well worth a stroll around, it is pretty and bright and it seems that all paths lead up to the beautiful church at the top.

We also went a bit further down to the coast later to see how Croatia does the seaside in southern Istrija and we were quite shocked how it seems every cm of land by the sea down here is used for caravans, tent pitches or hotels..

Unless you want to have a whole week by the sea then for us, this part of Istrija would be just a day trip location and will be extremely busy in the high summer.. but if you come a bit off season.. you can pick & choose where and when to come!

We hope you will get to experience several of these lovely hill top villages during your stay at the Lodge, maybe combined into bigger days out and that you now specifically hunt down this genre for a nice stroll & explore, with some lovely food and great views from a Medieval hill top!