Motorhome Rental in Pula

Camping near Pula: Istria is Croatia's camping heartland

Istria has the densest concentration of campsites in Croatia and a decades-long head start over the rest of the country, so a campervan trip around Pula is well covered. You'll find everything from large coastal resorts with their own beaches, pools and restaurants to small family sites and inland farm pitches, and the region holds a large share of Croatia's top-rated and ADAC-awarded camps. Istria is also the cradle of European naturism: Koversada near Vrsar opened as the continent's first commercial naturist resort back in 1961, the FKK (Freikörperkultur) culture remains strong, and dedicated naturist camps and beaches sit alongside regular "textile" sites across the peninsula.

Most Istrian campsites run from roughly mid-to-late April to early October and close over winter. A handful near Pula stay open year-round, including Arena Stoja in Pula itself and San Servolo near Buje, which is worth knowing if you're touring in the shoulder months.

What you'll actually pay

Croatia is now the most expensive country in Europe for camping, according to ADAC's PiNCAMP price survey, so don't expect bargains in summer. In July and August a standard pitch for two adults with a campervan typically runs around €40–55 per night at the coastal Istrian sites, and a family with a larger motorhome at a premium resort can pay well over €70 once tourist tax, electricity and a sea-view pitch are added. Coastal pitches command roughly 30% more than inland ones.

Timing makes a big difference. Prices drop sharply either side of the peak, and if you carry an ACSI CampingCard many Istrian sites offer off-season nights from about €14–22 for two people. Inland agro-tourism pitches on working farms are the cheapest option of all, and they put you next to the region's white truffles, olive oil and wine.

A few campsites near Pula

Arena Stoja sits on the pine-covered Stoja peninsula about 3 km from Pula's centre and the Arena, with sea-view pitches, beach access and year-round opening. Arena Grand Kažela at Medulin (around 10 km away) is one of the largest camps in the country, stretching along 2 km of coast with pools and sports, and it's the closest big site to Cape Kamenjak.

Just south of the city, Arena Indije near Banjole (about 7 km from Pula) is a quieter, forested site dropping in terraces to small coves, while Mon Perin near Bale is a sprawling family resort along a long stretch of shoreline, roughly midway between Pula and Rovinj.

Wild camping, aires and the rules

Wild camping and sleeping in your van outside a registered campsite are illegal everywhere in Croatia. The country has no general right-to-roam or freedom-to-camp tradition like the Nordic countries; public access lets you walk in nature, but it does not entitle you to park up and stay overnight. Fines run to around €400 for a standard offence and climb into four figures inside protected areas, and coastal police patrol actively in summer.

There is also no France-style network of motorhome aires in Croatia, so registered campsites are effectively your only legal overnight option (a few will let you park in a basic area near the entrance, but you still check in and pay at reception). Two spots near Pula make the point: Cape Kamenjak is a protected nature park where camping is forbidden and everyone must be out by 10 PM, and the Brijuni islands form a national park reachable only by boat, where the only accommodation is the park's own hotels and villas and there is no camping at all.

Best activities and adventures near Pula

Pula sits at the southern tip of Istria, and a campervan is the easiest way to combine the Roman old town with the rest of the peninsula. From a base here you can reach wild coastline, offshore islands, medieval hill towns and one of the Mediterranean's best truffle-and-wine regions, most of it within an hour's drive.

The city grew up around its Roman core, so almost everyone starts at the amphitheatre before heading down the coast or inland into the green interior.

Pula Arena (Roman Amphitheatre)

The Pula Arena is the city's landmark and one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. It is the only one to keep its full outer wall together with all four side towers, and in Roman times it held around 23,000 spectators. The underground passages that once held gladiators and animals now house a permanent exhibition on olive oil and wine production in Roman Istria.

In summer the Arena is still in use. It stages open-air concerts and opera and hosts the Pula Film Festival, the country's oldest film festival, running here since 1954. A performance inside walls this old is one of the highlights of any trip to Istria.

Cape Kamenjak and Brijuni National Park

Cape Kamenjak, on the Premantura peninsula just south of Pula, is a protected nature park with about 30 kilometres of rugged, undeveloped coast: low cliffs, hidden coves, clear turquoise water and the well-known Safari Bar above a popular cliff-jumping spot at Mala Kolombarica. The internal tracks are unpaved and narrow, so drive a campervan slowly and use the marked parking rather than heading down to the water.

Up the coast, boats leave the Fažana waterfront for Brijuni National Park, the group of islands that served as Tito's summer residence in the Yugoslav era. A guided day trip on Veliki Brijun takes in Roman ruins, a safari park stocked partly with animals gifted by visiting heads of state, and dinosaur footprints along the shore. Book the boat ahead in high season, as sailings fill up.

Truffles, wine and the Istrian hill towns

Inland Istria is truffle country, and the Motovun forest around the village of Livade is one of the best places in the world to find them. The prized white truffle season runs from autumn into early winter, peaking in October and November, and guided hunts with trained Lagotto dogs usually end with a tasting of truffle-laced dishes.

The same back roads link a string of medieval hill towns, among them Motovun, Grožnjan and tiny Hum, listed by Guinness as the world's smallest town. Build in stops at family wineries along the way for the local Malvazija white and Teran red, usually poured alongside Istrian olive oil.

Currency, costs and motorway tolls

Croatia switched to the euro (€) on 1 January 2023, replacing the kuna, so there's no exchange hassle arriving from elsewhere in the eurozone. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, including at campsites and supermarkets, and ATMs are easy to find in Pula and the larger Istrian towns. As a rough guide, a coffee runs about €2–3, a simple meal in a local konoba around €12–18, and a coastal pitch for a campervan typically €35–50 a night in shoulder season, climbing well above that in July and August.

Croatia has no motorway vignette — you pay by distance at toll booths instead. The Istrian Y (the A8/A9, the peninsula's main motorway running from Pula north towards Umag and the Slovenian border, with the western towns of Rovinj and Poreč reached just off it) is run separately by Bina-Istra: take a ticket on entry and pay on exit, in cash (euros) or by card. Since Croatia joined the Schengen Area in 2023, there are no border checks driving to or from Slovenia, Hungary or Italy, though controls remain at the Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro frontiers.

Language and staying connected

Croatian is the official language, but Pula and the wider Istrian peninsula are officially bilingual, so you'll see Croatian and Italian on street signs and hear both day to day — Italian is genuinely useful here. English is widely spoken in tourist areas, restaurants and rental offices, so getting by is easy. A couple of words like "Dobar dan" (hello) and "Hvala" (thank you) always go down well.

Mobile coverage is strong across Istria, and as Croatia is in the EU, visitors from other member states roam at no extra cost on their home plans. Free WiFi is common at campsites and cafés. Croatia runs on 230V / 50Hz with the standard round-pin plugs used across continental Europe — sockets are Type F (the two-round-pin Type C plug fits too), worth knowing when you plug your van into an electric hook-up.

Where to sleep and staying safe

The rule worth remembering: wild camping and overnighting outside official sites is illegal in Croatia, and it's enforced strictly along the coast, on the islands and in national parks. Fines can climb to around €1,000, so plan your nights around registered campsites or designated motorhome stopovers rather than pulling over at a beach. The Pula area is well served, with a cluster of campsites around Medulin and Premantura near the Cape Kamenjak nature park, so this is rarely a problem in practice.

Croatia is one of Europe's safer countries and tap water is clean and safe straight from the tap, so refill your van's bottles for free. Carry travel insurance — EU visitors should also bring an EHIC (UK visitors the GHIC that replaced it) for state healthcare — look for the green-cross "Ljekarna" sign for a pharmacy, and remember that 112 is the number for all emergencies.

Pula Film Festival (July)

Founded in 1954, the Pula Film Festival is the oldest film festival in Croatia and one of the oldest in Europe. Each July it screens Croatian and international films after dark inside the 2,000-year-old Roman Arena, with several thousand seats in the stone tiers under the open sky. The national film awards, the Golden Arenas, are handed out here too.

If your trip falls in mid-July, it is worth building an evening around a screening. Tickets are cheap and sold per film, and turning up early gets you a better spot on the tiers.

Concerts at the Pula Arena (June to September)

Through the summer the same Roman amphitheatre turns into one of the most striking concert venues on the Adriatic. Recent seasons have brought Tom Jones, Bryan Adams, Jean-Michel Jarre, Ludovico Einaudi and opera tenor José Carreras, alongside well-known Croatian and regional acts, with shows running from June into September.

Big names sell out, so book ahead if something on the calendar appeals. Pula sits at the southern tip of Istria, which makes the Arena an easy base for a night out before you carry on around the peninsula by campervan.

Istrian truffle festivals (September to November)

Autumn is white truffle season across inland Istria, and the villages around Motovun mark it with some of the country's best food events. Zigante Truffle Days in tiny Livade runs across ten weekends from late September into early November, named for Giancarlo Zigante, who in 1999 dug up a 1.31 kg white truffle nearby that Guinness World Records recognised as the largest found at the time.

Up the valley in Buzet, Subotina takes over the town on the second weekend of September, when a giant truffle omelette made with thousands of eggs is cooked in a huge pan on the main square and shared with the crowd. Both are easy day trips from the coast and a good reason to eat fresh truffle shaved over pasta.

Wine, jazz and more across Istria

Each May, Poreč hosts Vinistra, Istria's main wine fair, where local growers pour hundreds of wines led by the region's signature white grape, Malvasia. Through July, the medieval artists' village of Grožnjan fills its lanes and courtyards with Jazz is Back!, an intimate festival founded in 1999 by Croatian vibraphonist Boško Petrović.

Add the summer art, music and food events in nearby Rovinj, and Istria gives a campervan trip a steady supply of evenings to plan around, whichever month you travel.