Istria is a good place to bring children, for reasons that have little to do with what the brochures emphasise. The distances are short, the sea is calm and shallow-shelving in the right coves, and there are no dangerous animals worth worrying about. What it is not is a place with a lot of built entertainment.
Choose the cove, not the resort
The single most important decision is which beach. Two coves a hundred metres apart can be completely different: one drops away immediately, the next lets a small child wade for twenty metres.
Look for the ones with a gentle shelf and fine pebble, and be prepared to try two or three in the first days until you find the one that works for your family. Once you have found it, go back to it — children want the same beach every day and that is fine.
Water shoes for everyone, without exception. It removes the sea urchins, the sharp stones and the complaining, all at once.
The heat is the real constraint
July and August routinely reach the low thirties, and the coast has very little natural shade outside the pine belt. Plan the day around it rather than fighting it: out early, indoors or in the shade from noon to four, out again in the late afternoon.
This is also why an apartment or house with its own shaded terrace matters more here than in a cooler country — the middle of the day has to happen somewhere.
June and September are considerably easier with small children. The sea is warm enough from mid-June, and September is warmer in the water than June is.
Which sights work at which age
The Roman amphitheatre in Pula works from about six upwards — it is big, obvious, and the underground passages are a story. The Brijuni islands, with the boat, the little train and the animals, work from about four.
Hill towns are for the adults. Motovun and Grožnjan are beautiful and they are, from a nine-year-old's point of view, a hot walk uphill to look at a wall. One per week, timed for late afternoon, with the promise of ice cream, is the sustainable rate.
Where to stay
Apartment Gordana
Where to stay
Villa Karla
Eating out
Croatian restaurants are relaxed about children and dinner starts late by northern European standards. Grilled fish, grilled meat and pasta are on every menu, and the portions are generous. Nobody will mind a child leaving the table to walk around.
Self-catering solves the other half of it. Markets sell good produce, the supermarkets carry everything you would expect, and being able to feed a tired four-year-old at six o'clock is worth a great deal.
Practical
Pharmacies are widely available and well stocked, and pharmacists generally speak English or German. Tap water is safe to drink everywhere.
Bring high-factor sun cream from home if you use a specific brand for sensitive skin — it is available here but the choice is narrower and the price higher.
And bring one indoor thing per child. There will be two afternoons that are too hot to go out, and a pack of cards is worth more than any excursion.
