IstraPanorama

Our house in Balini was renovated in 2002. The other buildings in Balini were abandoned in 2000. So we, and all our guests, had the whole mountain top for ourselves. Staying at this beautiful place, where the breathtaking 'view' is physically present, surrounded by nature, makes any stay unforgettable.

Living in luxury is the ever present feeling when staying in Casa Acqua Dolce, certainly in contrast with the town of Oprtalj, which seems to have been frozen in history.

Oprtalj is a little town, small enough to feel like a small village. The history of Oprtalj dates back to the Roman times. Many Italian speaking inhabitants left for Italy and further. They left their houses behind and with it a city which seems to be frozen in time. One can really feel history in Oprtalj.

Balini is much more beautiful as what we saw in the pictures - a real oasis of peace and quite - in the middle of pure nature - just heavenly for getting back on track. Aline guided us to the most beautiful places and made us meet really nice people. Rosemie and Min Aline brought us together to her house where we immediately felt at home. We made...

This very active group thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of their stay in Istria. They discovered many hidden treasures of this peninsula. They visited historical towns, strolled through idyllic small towns, went to the coast, made long walks in the surrounding nature, tried out the local wines, hunted for truffles, enjoyed many terraces, and last...

We all had been in Istria once or more. But now it was time to test Oprtalj. Not just the house, but also the many activities and arrangements that IstraPanorama offers. In September 2006 we were so lucky to be the test group. We went hiking in the mountains in the Ucka range; biking from Oprtalj to Zrenj, the castle, Sovinjak, Vrh, Livade and...

We stayed for a week with 9 in a half finished building with a view. We were invited to come to help "tadelact" the showers in the bathrooms and paint some walls. Tadelact is an ancient Moroccan technique for making walls waterresistant, using special clay from Morocco, black soap and olive oil. The result is just beautiful. It gives a new meaning...

We can offer a real truffle hunt. A unique event where you will accompany a local truffel hunter and his dogs into the woods in the Mirna valley, one of the best truffle areas in the world. Do you know that a large part of the truffles offered in Italy, in fact come from this area. In result, you also will be able to enjoy truffles cheaper than...

In istria, being a peninsula, the sea is never far away. The coast line is 536 km. Most of this coast has beaches suitable for swimming. On the West coast, protected from the Bura wind, you will find most of the tourist beaches. This coast is also dotted with historical Venetian port towns as Umag, Novi Grad, Porec, Rovinj, Vrsar and Pula. The...

Have you been in Istria, or did you stay at one of our houses. Here you will find some albums with pictures taken by our guests, both in the houses as of its surroundings. And do you have interesting, beautiful or just funny pictures yourself? Send us your pictures and we might post them here!

Staff TerbankIn January 2007 the Staff of ter Bank, Leuven, came for a long WE, but never expected this. The house is just perfect, the region so beautiful, Istria has so much to offer and the people so friendly. And the weather: we had snow in the beginning and blue skies most of the time. Just perfect. The plan was to have long WE with the staff...

In Istria people know to party and above all to eat and drink. In the hills around Oprtalj food means grilling meat in the first place. But with a few glasses of wine, people also start dancing.