Row Beneath the Bell Tower.

Rowing in Rovinj means open Adriatic water with a skyline few places can match. The town's old peninsula rises straight out of the sea, its pastel houses stacked beneath the Baroque bell tower of St. Euphemia's Church, visible from far out on the water in every direction. A scattering of small islands sits just offshore, breaking up the open sea into calmer channels close to shore.

A short drive from Rovinj brings you to the Lim Channel, a narrow sea inlet that cuts 12.8 kilometers into the Istrian peninsula between steep green cliffs. It is one of Croatia's most striking rowing waters, used year round and for some of the country's biggest distance races and it pairs naturally with a stay based in Rovinj.

Rovinj's old town was a true island until 1763, when a channel was filled in to join it to the mainland, and it still feels like one. Narrow stone streets climb steeply from the harbor to St. Euphemia's Church, whose bell tower, modeled on St. Mark's Campanile in Venice, stands over 60 meters tall and is visible from boats well out at sea. Grisia, the town's old artists' street, climbs the same hill, its stones worn smooth by centuries of foot traffic.

Rovinj's fishing heritage lives on in the batana, a flat-bottomed wooden boat native to the town and recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. The small Batana House museum on the harborfront tells its story, and on summer evenings the local bitinada singing style can still be heard drifting across the water. A short walk south of town, the pine forests of the Golden Cape (Zlatni rt) offer shaded paths and swimming coves along the coast. Istrian cuisine rounds out a visit well: olive oil, truffles, and wines from the surrounding countryside, served in the old town's taverns.