17 April, 2026

Motovun is a walled town of about four hundred people on a hill 277 metres above the Mirna valley, an hour inland from Rovinj. On the right autumn morning the valley below fills with fog and the town appears to be floating on it. That photograph is the reason most people come, and it is worth planning the day around.

The other reason is truffles. The forest directly below the town is one of the best white truffle grounds in Europe, and the town above it has built a small industry on that fact. Both things are real. Neither is the whole day, and knowing what else is up there is what separates a good visit from an hour of photographs and a coffee.

The town, and the walk up to it

Motovun came under Venetian rule in 1278 and the double ring of walls that still encircles the town is the best preserved in Istria. You can walk the full circuit of the ramparts, and that walk is the single best thing here: the view runs the length of the Mirna valley in one direction and over the forest in the other. Note that the wall circuit is ticketed — €5 for adults in 2026 — and closed from December to mid-March.

Be clear about the approach before you go. The walled town keeps cars out. You park below and walk up, roughly twenty minutes on stone and cobble, and the climb is the part people underestimate on a hot afternoon in July. It is hard work with a pushchair or with anyone unsteady on their feet. There is a shuttle from the lower car park, but it is not free and it leaves when it is full rather than to a timetable.

The hilltop town of Motovun seen across wooded slopes, with fog lying in the Mirna valley behind it

A cobbled street inside the walls of Motovun in autumn, with café tables under a large tree

Truffles: what is actually in season

Most sites say Motovun is famous for truffles and stop there. The seasons matter, because they decide what you will be eating and what you will be paying.

White truffle — late September to January, peaking in October and November. This is the expensive one, shaved raw over pasta or eggs, and it is what the autumn crowds come for.
Black winter truffle — roughly October to March. Cheaper, stronger, better cooked than raw.
Summer black truffle — harvested through most of the year. This is what is in the jars, the oils and the cheeses you will see in every shop, and what you are most likely eating if you visit in June.

In 1999 Giancarlo Zigante and his dog found a white truffle weighing 1.31 kilograms near Motovun. It went into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever found, and it is the reason the name Zigante is on half the shopfronts in the valley.

Two autumn events are worth timing a visit around. Zigante Truffle Days runs through October in Livade, at the foot of the hill, with hunts, tastings and cooking demonstrations. And Subotina in nearby Buzet, on the first Saturday of September, opens the season with a truffle omelette made in the town square from two thousand eggs.

If you want to see the truffle side of Motovun properly rather than buying a jar in a shop, arrange a hunt with one of the local families in the forest below the town: you follow the dogs into the oaks for an hour or two, and they find things. It needs booking ahead, and it is the part of the day people talk about afterwards.

How long to allow

Motovun itself is small. The walls, the church, the main street and a coffee take about two hours, and you will have seen it.

The reason to allow longer is lunch. A proper truffle lunch in or below the town runs to two hours and is the point of the trip for most people, which makes it a five to six hour day from Rovinj including the drive. Add a truffle hunt and it becomes a full day.

If you are short of time, go for the late afternoon instead: arrive around four, walk the walls in better light, eat early and drive back. The town empties after the coach parties leave and it is a different place.

When to go

October and November are the best months, and it is not close. White truffle is in season, the vines below are turning, and the valley fog that makes the famous photograph is an autumn and early-winter phenomenon — it forms overnight and usually burns off by mid-morning, so you need to be there early to see it.

Late July and early August bring the Motovun Film Festival, running since 1999, which fills the town with several thousand people and screenings in the squares. It is a good time to be there if that is what you want and a poor one if it is not.

Midsummer outside the festival is hot, exposed and busy with day-trippers between eleven and four. Spring is quiet and green, with no white truffle.

Getting there from Rovinj

There is no realistic bus. Motovun is inland, the connections run through Pazin or Buzet, and nothing lines up for a day trip — this is the single most common reason people give up on the idea.

Driving takes about an hour on good roads, and the last stretch is a narrow climb with parking below the walls that fills by late morning in season. If you intend to have the truffle lunch and the wine that goes with it, someone has to stay sober.

That is the case for a private transfer from Rovinj to Motovun. We drop you at the gate, wait, and take you back — which for a town built around long lunches and local wine is the part that matters.

Practical notes

Park below and walk up. The climb is steep, stone-paved and slippery in the wet.
For the fog photograph you need to be there at or before sunrise in autumn. By ten it has usually gone.
Book a table for a truffle lunch in October and November. The good places fill up.
Truffle hunts must be arranged in advance — they are not something you can join on the day.
Opening hours shorten considerably from November through March, and some places close entirely.

Travel time from Rovinj: about one hour each way.