Visit Pula

A taste of Pula

Pula is Croatia's largest Istrian city and an open-air Roman monument hiding in plain sight. The headline act is the 1st-century Arena — the 6th-largest surviving Roman amphitheatre in the world and the only one with all four side towers still standing, originally seating 23,000 spectators for gladiator games and still hosting concerts and the Pula Film Festival under the stars (Tom Jones, Sting, and Norah Jones have all played here in recent years). The Arch of the Sergii (27 BC) and the perfectly preserved Temple of Augustus on the small Forum square complete the Roman triad. Beyond Antiquity, the city has a Venetian-era hilltop fortress, an extensive system of WWI Austro-Hungarian tunnels (Zerostrasse) now lit and open as a cool walk under the city, and a remarkable abandoned-Yugoslav-naval-base feel out at the Brijuni Islands National Park — Tito's old summer playground, complete with safari park and dinosaur footprints. Pula also makes the perfect base for the Istrian coast: 30 minutes north gets you to the medieval hilltops of Rovinj and the truffle country around Motovun.