Istralandia Water Park

Istralandia opened in 2014 on farmland inland from Novigrad and was the first purpose-built water park of its size in Croatia, a country whose tourism had always run on the sea rather than on pools. It covers around eighty thousand square metres with some twenty slides, wave and relaxation pools, children's areas and the usual food and sunbed apparatus, and it works as the wet weather and small children answer for families staying on the western Istrian coast. It is open only through the summer season, roughly late May to mid September, and it is busiest in the middle of the day in August.

Highlights

• Croatia's first large water park - opened in 2014.
• Around eighty thousand square metres - slides, wave and relaxation pools.
• A family alternative to the sea - for weather or young children.
• A summer-only operation - closed outside the season.

When to go

June to September; it closes entirely for winter. A full day.

Practical notes

It is a commercial water park and priced as one, with extras on top of entry. Queues for the main slides are long in August. There is no public transport worth the name - a car is effectively required. Shade is limited.

Nearby

Novigrad and the coast are west; Brtonigla's cellars are next door.

Key facts