THE OPATIJA RIVIERA
A part of the Mediterranean that has it all
THE OPATIJA RIVIERA
The Opatija Riviera is a unique location, where the Adriatic’s blue Kvarner Gulf meets the green peninsula of Istria. The area is dotted with charming small towns like Matulji, Opatija, Ičići, Lovran and Mošćenička Draga.
MATULJI
OPATIJA
IČIĆI
LOVRAN
MOŠĆENIČKA DRAGA
DISTANCES
By road
480 km - Munich, Vienna, Milan, Budapest
Railway stations
Opatija - Matulji (5 km)
Rijeka (12 km)
Airports
Krk / Rijeka (40 km)
Pula (83 km)
Trieste (105 km)
Ljubljana (135 km)
Zagreb (180 km)
Venice (215 km)
ZAGREB
PULA
RIJEKA
Old passion
The awakening of homo ludens, primal and passionate, surrendering to the charms of celebration, entertainment and togetherness.
Fresh curiosity
Indulging in the exploration of the new and unusual while awakening unique creativity.
Long-awaited relaxation
Cleansing the mind, body and spirit from the hustle and bustle of the city, information overload, and everyday stress.
New energy
Releasing strength and courage while pushing personal limits and opening the door to new opportunities.
Proven elegance
Immersion in the elegance of the Riviera’s architecture, cafés, parks and restaurants.
13 interesting facts
Inspirational and useful information about the Opatija Riviera, a part of the Mediterranean that has it all. 26
Opatija
A blend of elegance, nature, and life’s pleasures
This is the historical crossroads of Slavic and Roman cultures. Scampi and game. Boats and yachts. The pool and the sea. Hotels and holiday homes. Urban and rural. Čakavian tradition and international modernity.
It is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved reminders of the heyday of Austro-Hungarian culture –a rich Central European heritage that remains here for future generations.
It is also a warm-hearted place, revealed by its gentle vegetation, architecture and people, an area where authentic local everyday life still intertwines with cosmopolitan encounters with guests from all over the world. It is a place of arrivals, but also a base for departures from which the special cultural area from Milan and Munich to Budapest and Vienna is easily accessible: perfect for holidays that include creation, life dynamics, exploration and reflection.
Let’s go!
Agricultural terraces in Zvoneća ₋ Cultural intangible asset ₋ Matulji
The Opatija Riviera
OLD PASSION
“Come on let’s twist again like we did last summer” – the music comes from a classic car slowly making its way between hotels and villas at the traditional RetrOpatija, a June event that evokes a magically entertaining nostalgia. But this is only part of the passion offered by the Opatija Riviera.
In Johan Huizinga’s cult book Homo Ludens, the Dutch father of cultural anthropology suggests that play – with its movements and sounds, as well as unconscious and magical elements – is the basis of the development of civilisation. In defiance of the winter season, January and February on the Opatija Riviera are the months for freeing the ludens through the traditional pageant of zvončari bell ringers, which has been inscribed on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Balinjerada ₋ Opatija
Participation in gatherings of bell ringers, especially in the Matulji area, connects the community in a goodhumoured ritual featuring men dressed in sheepskins.
To the sound of their bells, the Carnival and the desire to put on a mask and become someone else for a while take over the entire Opatija Riviera through imaginative processions, parties and themed events such as the Balinjerada soapbox race.
Lovran Brass Band
Bell Ringers’ pageant ₋ Matulji
The long-awaited spring is reserved for the scents of festivals dedicated to asparagus (a plant that got the flattering nickname ‘imperial vegetable’ in Roman times, when the first villas were built in the area of the present-day Opatija Riviera) or to specialities prepared with Kvarner scampi.
Autumn opens the door to the celebration of the delicious Lovran marun sweet chestnut that grows on the slopes of Učka and is then transformed into tasty desserts and other culinary specialities. The scents that waft in the air throughout the region cannot be described in words, but there is no doubt that on the Opatija Riviera, the passionate and playful homo ludens is active in every season.
Asparagus Festival ₋ Lovran
Lovran cherries
Marunada Sweet Chestnut Festival ₋ Lovran
LONG-AWAITED RELAXATION
Cleansing. From information. From the hustle and bustle of everyday life. From too much of everything. This is the main ambition of all those who yearn for the feeling of fullness of mind, which is effectively achieved through the Opatija Riviera’s nature, trails, waves and fine cuisine.
Let’s put away our mobile phones for a while – Instagram and TikTok can wait while we admire the view of the captivating vegetation of Opatija’s American Gardens, stroll for hours along the ten-kilometre-long Lungomare coastal promenade to the sound of the waves, or enjoy a boat trip along the Liburnian coast and to the Kvarner islands.
The Opatija Riviera
American Gardens ₋ Opatija
Opatija Camping ₋ Ičići
Traditional Sailboat Regatta ₋ Mošćenička Draga
This is an area of clear sea for swimming by the Opatija Riviera’s varying beaches – rocky, pebbly and concrete, or even with the backdrop of a cliff beneath the medieval town of Brseč. Maybe you are part of a camping or sailing adventure, catching waves in a place that is only yours. Or perhaps you prefer swimming in winter, alongside members of the ‘Opatijski kukali’ association, who don’t mind the lower temperatures when connecting with the sea.
Promenades are designed to cater for every taste – from shorter urban paths amongst landscaped greenery to long hiking trails where one can get acquainted with area’s rich flora and fauna.
Mount Učka, so gentle and yet so mighty at 1401 metres above sea level, will impress you at every step. “In walking, the authentic sign of assurance is a good slowness”, says the philosopher of wandering in nature Frédéric Gros in his book APhilosophyofWalking. This “good slowness” may also lead you to Kraj, a small town located on a cliff above the sea dominated by the Votive Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the scent of laurel in the air, and a meditative view of the Kvarner Gulf.
Sipar Beach
Mošćenička Draga
Also beneficial is relaxation with a glass of local wine from the area’s vineyards in the Liburnian hinterland along with various fish and meat specialities in dozens of restaurants from Matulji to Mošćenička Draga. Now we can turn on our mobile phones and share photos and videos with our community. We will also need them for the urban aesthetics of the Opatija Riviera.
PROVEN ELEGANCE
In continuing the escape from the classic consumerist world that is always the same wherever one goes, we are looking for those proven points of a different period. The time of the European empires in the second half of the 19th century, when a good part of the distinctive appearance of the Opatija Riviera was created, is certainly something special that has largely been preserved here.
We cannot invent classicism, nor can we fake it.
It is a layer of culture that is worn with style.
The Opatija Riviera was created from charming fishing villages to be classy, imperial and aristocratic, which is visible in the impressive architecture encouraged by powerful investors from the heyday of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Opatija Riviera
Villa Angiolina ₋ Opatija
It was the time when the Viennese fin-de-siècle was successfully transferred to the Adriatic, and luckily no later trend succeeded in erasing this. Elegance is reflected in the façades of hotels and villas, the town’s gardens and parks, cafés and pastry shops.
All these places with the recognisable Central European Viennese aesthetic still have their own distinctive vibe today, giving the appearance of a living interactive museum.
Lungomare ₋ coastal promenade
Villa Denes ₋ Lovran
When the region’s finedining cuisine is sweetened with events such as the Opatija Chocolate Festival or the Matuljicious project in Matulji, the experience of sophistication is complete.
Chocolate Festival
The Opatija
FRESH CURIOSITY
Curiosity is the basis of all creativity and creation, and the best way to kindle it in ourselves is through exposure to places where intriguing stories abound. On the Opatija Riviera, they reach from the depths of the past.
Lovranska Draga ₋ Učka ₋ Lovran
Riviera
If you go for a walk along the coast of the Opatija Riviera, you can start from the picturesque fishing village of Volosko, in front of the birthplace of Andrija Mohorovičić, one of the most important scientists in the history of world seismology, who identified the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle. Volosko is also home to an interpretation centre that bears his name.
The Opatija Riviera has been visited by prominent people known for their creativity or scientific expertise like James Joyce, Gustav Mahler, Isadora Duncan, the Lumière brothers, Leo Henryk Sternbach, Vladimir Nabokov, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Kirk Douglas, Robert De Niro, Donald Sutherland, Naomi Watts or Goran Višnjić. Let us not forget some equally significant local creators: Josip Kaplan, one of the greatest Croatian composers, who worked in Lovran; the writer Viktor Car Emin, whose birthplace and museum is in Kraj; Drago Gervais, the literary giant of the Čakavian language from Opatija; Ivan Matetić Ronjgov, master of the Istrian musical scale; or the Croatian music legend Ivo Robić.
James’ Church ₋ Opatija
Mošćenice
But this curiosity, the desire to explain or play creatively with the world is deeper, much older and beautifully preserved in the southernmost point of the Opatija Riviera, where we travel back in time to the sixth century, when the Roman people who had previously lived there were replaced by the Slavs. They chose a beautiful area above Mošćenička Draga, between the hamlet of Trebišća and the peak of Perun, as the stage for their most sacred beliefs, upon which the mythical events of their gods took place.
Today, this area offers a fascinating mythology trail that will prepare you for new exploration and ideas.
Today, the Opatija Riviera is one of the largest Croatian centres for congresses, scientific conferences and business events organised by top professionals. The atmosphere of Opatija’s convention halls can be combined with trips to the green landscapes of the Učka Nature Park throughout the year.
This is how a new energy of creation is started.
The Opatija Riviera
NEW ENERGY
Travel is a reflection of our questioning of personal limits and possibilities, after which we return more rested and ready for new challenges. From its beginnings, the Opatija Riviera has understood the importance of renewing personal energy through dynamic activity.
Climbing area ₋ Mošćenička Draga
There are relatively few regions where the combination of geography and climate, mountains and sea, offers such a range of possibilities to pursue one’s favourite adrenalineactivating activity.
On the Opatija Riviera, activities like biking or mountain running on kilometres-long trails through unspoilt forests, windsurfing at dawn, exploring hiking trails or free climbing are all possible for most of the year.
Carmen Sylva Forest Promenade ₋ Opatija
Trail ₋ Opatija
Cycling
₋ Matulji
In addition to the long tradition of sailing and the organisation of sailing regattas, this region is characterised by its exceptional conditions for windsurfing, thanks to the tramontana wind that blows from the land towards the sea.
In the spring of 1889, Emperor Franz Joseph I officially declared Opatija a climatic health resort, making it the first AustroHungarian resort on the Adriatic coast. The Opatija Riviera has preserved this tradition – keeping abreast with the times – to this day through its numerous spa and wellness centres, dental clinics, or independent cardio walks along the beautiful coastal promenade as prescribed by medical professionals.
Kayak ₋ Brseč
The Opatija Riviera
INTERESTING FACTS
MEDVEJA
is a beach that is named after the sorceress Medea, the granddaughter of the mythical sun god Helios.
CAMELLIA
is a favourite local dessert cake, named after the flower that is the symbol of Opatija, and made from dried figs, almonds, oranges, raisins, carob, chocolate and marzipan.
ART NOUVEAU VILLAS
beautiful luxury buildings in combination with parks characterise the aesthetic of the entire Opatija Riviera.
40 METRES
is the maximum length of yachts that can berth in the ACI Marina Opatija in Ičići.
GLAGOLITIC LETTERS
are found on the medieval walls of Brseč and Mošćenice and in churches in Lovran as the remnants of original literacy in the oldest Slavic alphabet.
UNESCO - Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
- annual pageant of carnival bell ringers from the Kastav area
- the Mediterranean diet
- the art of dry stone walling: knowledge and techniques
POKLON
the attractive Učka Nature Park visitor centre, at 930 metres above sea level, provides information and education about this magical mountain.
MARUN
a local variety of sweet chestnut, whose delicious fruits come from trees on the slopes of Učka, provides a specific base for local cuisine.
ANGIOLINA
is a bathing establishment in a retro-style with a range of facilities that offer much more than just swimming.
PICANJE
is an entertaining local Easter competition in Mošćenice, the goal of which is to hit an egg with a coin from a distance of 2.8 metres and break its shell.
JARBOLA
the village of Zvoneća in the Matulji area is the only place in the whole world where this unique grape variety is grown and produced. The still wine has a fresh taste, while the sparkling is aged for several years.
A BENCH IN VEPRINAC
there is one beneath Učka, where you can sit and enjoy the view of the Kvarner Gulf for hours.
MATULJICIOUS /MATULJIŠS/
the best of Matulji in one place – events and initiatives including gastronomy, education and outdoor activities, with a guarantee of quality.
IMPRESUM: www.opatija-riviera.info
Publisher: The Tourist boards of the Opatija Riviera (Matulji, Opatija, Ičići, Lovran, Mošćenička Draga)
On behalf of the publisher: Marijana Kalčić, Suzi Petričić, Tatjana Bartolin, Zvijezdana Klobučar Filčić, Nensi Dretvić
Text: Kristian Benić
Photos: Studio B (Borut Brozović), Marko Matešić Riža, Rivijera plus - Ičići, Anton Unković, Explorer_bz (Zoran Bakić), Liburnia Hotels&Villas, Marko Vrdoljak, Nereo Crnić, Petar Kürschner, Renco Kosinožić, Siniša Gulić, Vladimir Franolić, Marko Valjak, Damir Zamaklar, Hrvoje Duvančić, Jan Mastrović, the Tourist boards of the Opatija Riviera archive
Translation: Adverbum
Print: Kerschoffset
Concept, design and layout: Molekula
Year: 2024