Croatia & Slovenia wine & food gourmet tour
Indulge in an extended gourmet weekend at the crossroads of Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia where a beautiful landscape sets the stage for a refined gastronomic journey. This unique experience is designed for those with a passion for exquisite cuisine and world-class vintages.
Begin your adventure in the renowned Collio and Goriška Brda, often called the "Tuscany of Slovenia". Here, you’ll explore a tapestry of hilltop villages, cypress-lined roads, and rolling vineyards. Conclude your flavored escape in Istria, settled in a postcard-perfect estate of olive groves and vineyards overlooking Brijuni National Park. Whether you are sipping bold reds or tasting fresh local oils, all you need is a love for discovery and a lust for the finest flavors of the Mediterranean.
Services
Included:
- 4 nights accommodation in 4 or 5-star boutique hotels
- 4 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners
- Land transfers as per the itinerary
- Activities & admission fees to sites as per the itinerary
- Educated guide/sommelier during wine cellar visits
Excluded:
- Single room supplement upon availibility
- Room upgrade upon availibility
Optional:
- Vespa rentals (1 scooter & 1 helmet)
- Additional helmet
- Bike rentals
- Horsback riding
Itinerary at a Glance
Goriska Brda
Welcome to the Wine Region
Dobrovo V Brdih - Medana
Explore the Gastronomy of the Region
Bale,istria
Bathe in Luxury
Buje, Istria - Bale, Istria
Immerse Yourself in the Produce
Bale, Istria - Pula
Farewell Croatia!
Detailed Itinerary
Goriska Brda
Day 1: Welcome to the Wine Region
Your journey starts in Italy, at La Subida – a little relais hotel nestled amongst the beautiful landscape of Friuli near the Italian border with Slovenia.
La Subida offers a picture-postcard setting amongst the most famous Collio Goriziano vineyards, as well as a warm welcome from the Sirk family and Michelin-starred dining from chef Alessandro Gavagna.
Welcoming is the key feeling evoked at La Subida – it is the family’s home themselves, and their aim is to make all their diners and guests feel equally at home.
The combination of stunning surroundings, peaceful woodlands, and excellent hospitality seems to be doing the trick. Fragrant, tempting cuisine, modern and special, yet traditional and tied to its countryside roots.
Dobrovo V Brdih - Medana
Day 2: Explore the Gastronomy of the Region
This morning, your English speaking driver will take you on a tour and tasting of the best Slovenian wine cellars - Ščurek and Movia – Kristančič, after which we suggest an exquisite lunch at The Klinec Inn.
Each year, the Ščureks release up to 80,000 bottles of top-quality wine. They have remained faithful to fresh but full-bodied wines, and delay the first racking until late spring. Movia is more than a mere wine brand, it is a label beyond time, a mark of standards surpassed as sought by so many wine connoisseurs around the world.
On your tour, you'll try different kinds of marmalade and chutney, bruschetta with tomato salsa, polenta cake with Tomaj goat cheese with chutney, the list could go on. You'll also get to visit a lavender farm and traditional Karst house visit where you can sample different lavender products.
Bale,istria
Day 3: Bathe in Luxury
Welcome to an authentic Istrian estate from the beginning of the 20th century.
The hotel, restaurant, and winery were built on a 120.000 square meter estate that is surrounded by olive and vineyards, only 2 kilometers from the sea coast.
This will give you total peace and quiet to soak up the sun beside the pool, stroll through the grounds, or sample the restaurant’s delights: healthy, fragrant Mediterranean cuisine which showcases local ingredients served with the property’s own wine.
Indulge yourself by having a massage and treatment, take the Finnish sauna or immerse yourself in the SPA at one of two hydro massage pools. Spend your evening by taking a long walk through the estate and enjoy an endless journey of exploration.
Come evening, enjoy a unique gastronomic experience with refined dishes and delicious cuisine in a renowned gourmet restaurant at the chateaux's restaurant.
Buje, Istria - Bale, Istria
Day 4: Immerse Yourself in the Produce
Spend the morning at leisure in your hotel. Enjoy nature, walk, ride a bike, take a spa treatment, and relax!
Now that you are in Istria, a small peninsula with 3 proud indigenous varieties - Malvasia, Teran, and Muscat - you will get to know the most famous wine cellar in the neighborhood, Kozlović wine cellar.
Kozlović family prepared a private tasting and tailor-made tour for you. Wines will be paired with light food provided from local farms and small producers and served in a smart wine bar overlooking the mild slopes of Valle vineyard.
After lunch, you'll taste digestive brandy made from Muscat grapes, with lush, almost perfume notes of grapes. It is the best way to meet both Istria as a region and Kozlović winery.
Bale, Istria - Pula
Day 5: Farewell Croatia!
It's time to say Goodbye- according to your flight schedule, your driver will take you to Pula aiport for your flight back home.
Our journeys consist of fairytales that happen, magic that lasts, nature that inspires and emotions that stay.
