Izola, the old fishermen's island between Koper and Piran

A fishing town that was an island

Izola was an island, like Koper, hence its Italian name, Isola. Today it is a bilingual municipality, and its medieval centre keeps the narrow, winding streets that climb to St Maurus’s church, built on the highest point of the old island. Beside it stands a viewing tower over the town and the coast, and that is the first thing I would do to get my bearings.

The Tourist Board credits it with a certain Venetian charm, a large marina and good restaurants and bars. Next to the town is the mandrač, the fishermen’s inner harbour, which sums up Izola better than any monument. It also holds the Slovenia Green label for sustainable management.

What to see in Izola

In the old town, the standout building is the Besenghi degli Ughi Palace, which the Tourist Board considers one of the best-preserved pieces of late Baroque architecture in Slovenia and one of the most striking buildings in Istria. Close by is the Podestà Palace, with the winged lion of Venice.

To understand the town, Izolana, the House of the Sea, is an interactive museum on the fishing tradition with 35 ship models, a full-size restored fishing pasara and a 3D model following Izola’s development from 5,000 years ago to the present. There is also a simulator for cycling the old Parenzana line. It was set up with the Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum in Piran and offers one-hour guided tours.

Outside the centre, Simonov zaliv Archaeological Park holds the remains of a 2,000-year-old Roman seaside villa with its harbour. Inland, near the village of Korte, the Kastelir site is one of the largest prehistoric hillforts on the coast. The Tourist Board suggests visiting with a local, on a walk round Korte that includes the old open-air washing place and home cooking.

If you have children with you, there is also an outdoor game around the old town, with eleven challenges and a digital guide, which tells the town’s history as you solve the riddles.

Izola’s eight beaches

The Tourist Board counts eight beaches along 5 km of coast. They are compared with the others in beaches in Slovenia, where I explain which are accessible and which allow dogs. Among the best known are Simonov zaliv bay, next to the Roman villa, the lighthouse beach and the white rocks of Bele skale, which the Tourist Board suggests reaching by sailing boat at sunset.

For food, the pier is the place. Izola holds the Pier of Tastes, a food event on the pier itself with local specialities, fish, Istrian wines such as refosco and malvasia, and olive oil. Fish is not the whole story, though. The Tourist Board points out that seasoned food lovers come for the wines and olive oils too, and suggests visiting the producers who blend tradition with modern methods to taste them at source.

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Getting there and around

The Ljubljana to coast bus line has ended in Izola since 28 September 2026, without carrying on to Piran. On Monday 19 October there were 12 departures, from 6:10am to 7:10pm, taking 1h34 to 1h41, and 11 on Saturday 24 October. To reach Piran from here you take the local bus; I explain it in Ljubljana to Piran.

By bike, the Parenzana, the old narrow-gauge line between Trieste and Poreč, passes through Izola marked D6 or D8 and leads to Koper or Portorož, of medium difficulty with gravel sections. The wider region is covered in the coast and Karst.

What I make of Izola

I would stay in Izola if travelling the coast without a car. It is where the Ljubljana bus ends, it sits between Koper and Piran and it has a life of its own beyond summer. I would give it an afternoon for the old town, the tower and the harbour, and a morning on the beach or cycling the Parenzana. Towards Koper, the seafront path runs along the former railway bed of the Parenzana, now a cycling and walking trail.

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