13 Reasons Why Autumn is the Perfect Time to Visit Croatia

Falling on November 11, Martinje is more than just a stand-out saint’s day in the Croatian calendar. In the run-up to it, restaurants offer special seasonal menus with goose as the focus. Martinje is also the time of new wine, so areas such as Istria go big on traditional festivities, with cellar tastings and ritual ceremonies. The day itself usually sees concerts and dances held across the region, and in the bigger cities of the north such as Zagreb.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMwinYzhrIQ/?tagged=martinje

Now held in November, the nine-day Zagreb Film Festival celebrates its 15th running in 2017. Screenings take place at cinemas such as Europa and Tuškanac, with prizes awarded for Best Feature, Best Short and starting in 2017, for Together Again, to a filmmaker whose earliest work was showcased at the ZFF. Previous first-time directors here include Steve McQueen and Jeff Nicols. All in all, more than 100 films are screened, with talks and special events taking place throughout the programme.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZf-BbFngML/?taken-by=zagreb_film_festival

Held over six days in early October, Zoom brings some of Europe’s most radical performance artists to the edgy port city of Rijeka. The main acts to appear in 2017 are London-based Ursula Martinez, a hit at The Barbican and Edinburgh, and David Hoyle, who has performed at the Soho Theatre and Tate Britain.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZUOdgNA0Ra/?taken-by=ursulamartinez

September and October are when communities across Istria celebrate the product for which this region is most famous: the truffle. On the main square in Buzet, they make a huge communal truffle omelette with as many eggs as numbers in the year. In Livade, where the world’s largest white truffle was found, weekends between mid September and mid November are designated Zigante Truffle Days, after the man who discovered it and opened a restaurant in his own name. In nearby Motovun, the Teran & Truffle Festival also focuses on the fine red wine for which Istria is equally renowned.

Silent film lives on thanks to PSSST!, perhaps the world’s only festival that focuses on this long-lost art. Staged at and by the Trešnjevka Cultural Centre in Zagreb, this annual November event screens both contemporary and vintage classic works over the course of three days. The best film wins the Brčko Grand Prize, named after the main character in Croatia’s first feature produced in 1917.

Running for the fourth time in October 2017, the Dubrovnik Good Food Festival is a four-day event that culminates in a 300-metre long showcase for chefs, pastry makers and caterers to exhibit their wares along the whole length of Stradun, Dubrovnik’s main street. In the run-up, hotels, restaurants and wine bars stage workshops and presentations, accompanied by occasional musical performances.

For a challenging yet satisfying cycle ride, surrounded by gorgeous autumn colours, Istria’s Parenzana is hard to beat. Following part of the route of the narrow-gauge rail of the same name that ran between Poreč and Trieste in the early 1900s, the Parenzana ride may take in Grožnjan, Buje, Motovun and Višnjan. Several international races are staged along it during the year, such as the MTB Parenzana Cube in late September.