Pula is a city on a heavily indented coast, and its beaches are mostly what that coast makes: pebble coves, flat rocks and concrete platforms under pine woods, rather than long stretches of sand. The Pula Tourist Board puts the coastline around the city at 30 kilometres, and most of the swimming is on the peninsulas south and west of the centre, Verudela and Stoja above all, and along the Lungomare promenade.
The sand is further south. Beyond the city, in the municipality of Medulin, the coast opens into a series of bays, and Medulin itself has a sandy beach more than a kilometre long. At the very tip of Istria, Cape Kamenjak is a protected landscape of coves and cliffs with no hotels at all.
This guide goes from the city out to the cape, with what each beach is like underfoot, who it suits and how to reach it.
What to expect underfoot
The beaches the Pula Tourist Board lists are pebble, rock or concrete, and the sandy exceptions tend to say so in their names: Pješčana Uvala means sandy cove. On the rocky and pebble beaches, entry is over stones or from a concrete platform, so shoes you can swim in are worth packing. The reward is clear water close to the shore.
The organised beaches, with sunbeds, showers and bars, are on Verudela, at Stoja and in the bays of Medulin, close to the resorts and campsites. On the Lungomare and on Cape Kamenjak much of the shore is simply rock and pine, and the facilities are few and far between.
Verudela: Ambrela and the Hawaiian beach
The Verudela peninsula, south of the centre, is what the Pula Tourist Board calls the tourist area of the city, and it holds two of its best-known beaches. Ambrela Beach is the one the Pula Tourist Board recommends first for families with small children. It is a white pebble beach close to a large car park, with access suitable for wheelchairs, shade from the woods behind it and water sports on offer. The Verudela Art Park, a small sculpture park with seven installations, lies between the car park and the beach.
Hawaii Beach, known locally as Havajka, also lies on Verudela, below the Grand Hotel Brioni. It is a pebble cove surrounded by pine woods, with the pebbles in the middle, where families settle, and high rocks on both sides that younger swimmers jump from. The Istria Tourist Board lists it among the beaches of southern Istria.
At Ambrela the sea stays shallow for some distance from the shore, pedalos are for hire and restaurants stand close to the bay. The Hawaiian beach is reached down a staircase cut into the rock, and because the bay faces the open water, it can bring in strong waves.
Punta Verudela, the Golden Rocks and the Canyon
The rest of Verudela is a long, broken shoreline of coves and rocky platforms in pine forest. Around Punta Verudela, near the Park Plaza Histria hotel, the tourist board describes pebbly coves and rocky beaches with sports facilities close by. The Golden Rocks, below the Splendid resort, are a rocky beach reached through pine woods that come down almost to the sea, with sun on the rocks all day and shade a few metres above them.
On the same peninsula is Verudela Canyon, a cliff about 20 metres high from which the bold jump into the sea while everyone else takes photographs, especially at sunset. Beside it stands the so-called Holy Rock, a single church wall on the cliff that many take for an ancient ruin. It is in fact what is left of an abandoned film set, and it has become a favourite spot for wedding photographs.
For a break from the water, the Aquarium Pula occupies Fort Verudela, an Austro-Hungarian fort about 3 kilometres from the centre, with around 200 animal species and a sea turtle rescue centre.
Stoja
Stoja, on its own peninsula south-west of the centre, holds one of Pula's two organised city bathing areas. The tourist board describes it as sheltered by its position, with a concrete plateau that gives easy access to the water, a fenced area free of traffic and a range of facilities. It also has a beach building from 1936, now protected as a cultural monument.
The tourist board presents it as a place to play, sunbathe, swim and meet people, with facilities for entertainment, and the concrete plateau means nobody has to pick their way over stones to get into the water. It is the most straightforward city swim for anyone staying in the centre.
Pulapromet, the city bus company, runs a line to Stoja, which makes it one of the easiest beaches to reach without a car.
Valkane and the Lungomare
The Lungomare is a coastal promenade about four kilometres long, running from the Valkane bathing area past Gortanova Cove to Valsaline. The tourist board describes the whole length as one long rocky beach, particularly popular with younger swimmers.
Gortan Cove, or Gortanova uvala, is different: pebbly and gently shelving, and chosen by parents with small children, as well as by older visitors for the shade of the pine forest behind it. At the southern end of the promenade, Valsaline, also known as Mornar, sits in a small bay with a mixed shore of pebbles, rock and concrete. The sea there deepens gradually, which the tourist board says makes it safe for children and inexperienced swimmers, and the pines give enough shade to do without an umbrella.
Both ends of the promenade have a beach bar. Valkane Beach Bar serves coffee, smoothies, beer and cocktails on the shore of Valkane bay and books DJs for beach parties in summer, and at Valsaline, Beach Bar LaPlaya mixes cocktails and serves burgers on the edge of the cove, with a children's play area beside the tables.
Valovine and the Muzil shore
Valovine beach is, in the Pula Tourist Board's words, known for its natural surroundings and clean sea: a rocky beach with a few pebbly patches beside a forest park, with clear water for diving and exploring underwater, parking, a few restaurants nearby and wakeboarding at the wake park beside it. The board says it draws locals and visitors who prefer a quieter spot away from the crowds.
Beyond it runs the rugged shore of the Muzil peninsula, most of it reachable only from the water. Cliff and Coast Pula runs three-hour kayak tours from Valovine along that coast, with a small sea cave, a secluded beach for swimming and optional cliff jumps, and Pula KayaKing paddles round the Muzil peninsula from Valsaline beach, through its canyon to the Purple Cave.
Hidrobaza, north of the centre
On the other side of the city, Hidrobaza beach looks out towards the Brijuni islands: 700 metres of pebble with a promenade, a marked cycle path and playgrounds, and a section where dogs are welcome.
Pješčana Uvala
In the municipality of Medulin, next door to Pula, Pješčana Uvala is a bay built up by people from Pula over the last few decades, with private houses, family-run hotels and restaurants along the shore. The Medulin Riviera Tourist Board describes a beach of sand and pebbles, as the name promises, with shade from umbrellas and trees.
The water is clear, and the tourist board calls the beach a favourite with children and beginner swimmers. A seaside promenade runs along the bay with places to eat and drink, which is why the board recommends it for a long day with the whole family.
It is also sheltered. The Medulin board notes that the hillside above the bay faces south-west, gets the sun all day and is protected from the wind, which is why a large marina has been built nearby towards Veruda Bay. For anyone staying in Pula who wants sand as well as pebbles, it is the first bay to try.
Banjole
Further along the same coast, Banjole is a village whose people, the Medulin board says, have always lived from the sea and from fishing, and now almost all work in tourism. Its main beach, Centinera, is a well-kept pebble beach of about 430 metres below old pine trees, next to the hotel of the same name. The board says it slopes gently into the sea, so children can play in the shallows.
Accommodation in the village means apartments in private houses, small family campsites and a large campsite by the sea among the pines. The fishing tradition shows in its seafood restaurants, and the board suggests going down to the small harbour at daybreak to buy fish straight from the boats.
Medulin and Bijeca
Medulin is where the sand is. Its best-known beach, Bijeca, is a sandy beach more than a kilometre long in the town itself, with a mild, gradual entry into the sea. The Medulin Riviera Tourist Board says it draws families with young children, and it has enough facilities to spend the whole day there.
Next to it are two more organised beaches. Belvedere is a modern, organised beach with showers, steps into the water, a lifeguard and rows of sunbeds with umbrellas. Alba Chiara is a pebble beach alongside, with sun loungers, canoes, pedal boats, jet skis and bicycles for hire, and drinks and ice cream on sale.
Expect company. The Istria Tourist Board counts Medulin among the twenty best-known tourist destinations on the Croatian Adriatic, with nearly 5,000 beds, and in high summer the sand is shared with a good many of their occupants.
Premantura and Cape Kamenjak
South of the village of Premantura, Cape Kamenjak is the southernmost part of Istria and the least developed stretch of coast in the area. Premantura itself, the Kamenjak Public Institution notes, is about 10 kilometres from Pula. The Medulin Riviera Tourist Board describes a protected landscape of about 404 hectares with some 30 kilometres of coastline broken into coves and small beaches, rocky for the most part with pebble coves between. There are no hotels or campsites on the cape; it has been protected since 1996 and is managed by the Kamenjak Public Institution.
Kamenjak can be reached from Premantura by car, bicycle or boat. In summer a fee is charged for motor vehicles entering the lower part of the cape, while cyclists and walkers go in free, and drivers must stay on the marked roads and park only in the marked areas. The institution recommends coming by bike, and runs a cycle trail away from the roads. There are beach bars at several coves, among them Pinižula, Polje, Njive, Mala Kolombarica, Debeljak, Mali Portić, Školjić and Dražice; on Mala Kolombarica, the Safari Bar is built from living plants and bamboo canes, and Njive Beach slopes from pebbles into a deep bathing area ringed by cliffs, with a beach bar beside it.
Take the sea here seriously. The Kamenjak Public Institution warns that currents all around the cape are very strong, especially between Cape Kršine and the island of Fenoliga, and that boats come close to the shore in summer, so it asks swimmers to stay within 100 metres of the coast. At the southernmost tip, jumping into the sea from the high cliffs is one of the cape's attractions, according to the Medulin board. On the way, the institution's dinosaur trail at Cape Grakalovac leads to fossilised footprints about 98 million years old.
Tours & Day Trips in Pula
Boat trips, day tours and skip-the-line tickets around the city and the Istrian coast, via GetYourGuide.
Brijuni Islands Cruise with Lunch and a Swim
A double-deck boat round the Brijuni islands, with lunch, drinks and a long swim stop at Fažana.
Check availability
Sunset Dolphin Watching Around Brijuni
An evening cruise off the Brijuni islands looking for wild dolphins, with drinks and an optional dinner.
Check availability
Brijuni by Boat with a Swim on St Jerolim
A traditional boat round the Brijuni islands, with dinner aboard and time to swim on St Jerolim.
Check availability
Small-Group Sailing with Snorkelling and SUP
A 13-metre yacht with no more than eight guests, with snorkelling, paddleboarding and cliff jumps.
Check availabilityIn Premantura itself
Premantura has one beach that deserves a special mention. Munte, in the village, is one of the few beaches in the region adapted for blind and partially sighted visitors and for visitors with disabilities: a wide stairway with a protective fence leads down through the pines to a paved sunbathing area, with fenced steps into the sea and a pebble beach on its south-eastern side.
Water sports are the other draw. The Kamenjak Public Institution recommends Školjić Cove for kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and windsurfing, and the Medulin board notes that the winds suit water sports from summer into late autumn. From Camp Stupice, Kayaking Premantura runs guided kayak trips around the Medulin archipelago and the cape, including snorkelling in the Kamenjak caves, and Jistra Adventures paddles to the sea cave under the cliffs of Velika Kolombarica.
Getting to the beaches
Stoja and Verudela are both served by the city buses of Pulapromet, which runs lines to Stoja and to Verudela, and its suburban lines reach Medulin and the Banjole, Pomer and Premantura route. The timetables are on the Pulapromet website.
By car, Verudela has the large car park by Ambrela. For Kamenjak, a car gets you along the cape's marked roads to the designated parking areas, while a bicycle avoids the summer vehicle fee and, the Kamenjak Public Institution argues, gives the better experience.
The water, the wind and what to watch for
The Pula Tourist Board links to the published sea quality results from the visitor information pages on its website, which is the place to check the latest readings for any beach in the city.
On the rocky beaches, look where you put your feet, and on Kamenjak respect the Kamenjak Public Institution's rules: no fires outside the fire pits, no camping, dogs kept on a lead, and no picking of protected plants. If dolphins appear, as they sometimes do off the cape, the institution asks boats to keep their distance and not chase them.
Picking a beach
For a swim close to the centre, off a concrete plateau and with a bus back, Stoja.
For small children and a full day with facilities, Ambrela on Verudela, Pješčana Uvala or Bijeca in Medulin, depending on how much sand matters.
For rocks, pines and a late swim, the Lungomare or the Golden Rocks.
And for the day that feels furthest from a city, Cape Kamenjak, ideally in late spring or early autumn as the Kamenjak Public Institution suggests, with water, shoes and a healthy respect for the currents. The day trips guide covers the cape as an outing in its own right, and the where to stay guide explains which of these bays make a good base.
