The best museums in Rovinj

Rovinj is small, and its cultural sights are too — but they're distinctive, and a couple of them you won't find anywhere else. Here's what to seek out between the harbour and the hilltop church.

Batana House

The one truly unmissable sight. Batana House (Kuća o batani) is a tiny eco-museum devoted to the batana, the flat-bottomed wooden fishing boat that defines Rovinj's maritime culture — a tradition inscribed on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. In summer the museum runs evening rowing outings and songs (bitinada) down at the harbour.

The Heritage Museum

On the main square, the Rovinj Heritage Museum (the town museum) occupies a baroque palace and shows old-master paintings alongside contemporary Croatian art and the town's own history — a calm hour out of the sun.

St Euphemia & the old town

Crowning the peninsula, the baroque Church of St Euphemia holds the saint's relics and a Venetian-style campanile you can climb for the rooftop-and-sea view. Getting there is half the pleasure: the steep marble lanes of Grisia, lined with artists' studios, and the Balbi Arch marking the old town gate.

Rovinj rewards wandering more than ticking off museums. Do Batana House and the climb up to St Euphemia, then let the old town's lanes take care of the rest.

Browse our boutique hotels in Rovinj to stay close to the old town.