Rijeka is Croatia's largest seaport and third-largest city (116,000 people) — a city on the Kvarner Bay of the Adriatic with a turbulent 20th-century political history: it was simultaneously claimed by Italy and Yugoslavia after WWI, briefly constituted as a separate free city, then taken over by the Italian fascist D'Annunzio (Gabriele D'Annunzio, the poet-soldier who occupied the city with his private army in 1919 and invented many of the theatrical rituals that Mussolini later copied — the Fascist salute, the black shirts, the balcony speeches, the mass rallies), then Italian under the Fascists (1924-1943), German-occupied (1943-1945), and finally Yugoslav. The city was designated European Capital of Culture 2020 (the first Croatian city to receive this title) and used the occasion to transform its industrial waterfront into a cultural infrastructure. Rijeka's defining cultural contribution to the world is the most famous European carnival after Venice — the Rijeka Carnival (Riječki karneval, February, traditionally since 1296 though documented continuously from the 18th century) has the Zvončari (Bell Ringers) — groups of men in animal masks and sheepskin costumes who ring enormous cowbells to drive away winter spirits, a pre-Christian tradition specific to the Kvarner mountains — alongside the International Carnival parade with 100,000+ spectators. The Kvarner Bay around Rijeka has the islands of Krk (the largest Croatian island, connected to the mainland by a bridge), Lošinj (the island with the highest oxygen concentration in Europe, the blue-and-white Mali Lošinj) and Cres (the island with Eurasian griffon vultures breeding on the cliffs), plus Opatija (the 19th-century Habsburg Riviera resort 12 km south of Rijeka, with the finest Belle Époque hotels on the Adriatic).
The Korzo (the main pedestrian promenade of Rijeka, a 600 m street of 19th-century Habsburg architecture with the finest café terraces in northern Croatia) runs through the heart of the city — the Roman Arch (Stara Vrata, 2nd century AD, a gate of the ancient Tarsatica Roman settlement, incorporated into the medieval city walls and now standing isolated in the street grid) is Rijeka's most unusual monument: a 2,000-year-old triumphal arch that Rijekans walk under to buy coffee.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Rijeka City History Museum (Guvernerova palača, the Governor's Palace, 1895, the finest building in Rijeka, a Neo-Gothic and Neo-Renaissance palace on the waterfront) covers the extraordinary 20th-century history of Rijeka — D'Annunzio's 1919-1920 occupation and the Estado Libre de Fiume (the Free State of Rijeka, the world's first proto-fascist state, where D'Annunzio held balcony speeches in Roman costume, invented the Roman salute and the black shirt uniform that Mussolini then adopted wholesale), the Italian interwar period and the transition to Yugoslavia.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTrsat Castle (Gradina Trsat, 13th century, on a 138 m cliff above Rijeka, a 560-step staircase — Petar Kružić's Stairs — from the city below) gives the finest panorama of Rijeka, the Kvarner Bay and the Kvarner islands (Krk, Lošinj, Cres visible on clear days); the adjacent Franciscan Sanctuary of Our Lady of Trsat (1453, the most important Marian pilgrimage site in Croatia — pilgrims have been climbing the stairs on their knees since the 15th century) and the Loreto Chapel (the allegedly miraculous Holy House briefly rested here before flying to Loreto in Italy, according to Catholic tradition).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Mrtvi Kanal (Dead Channel) is the inner port of Rijeka — a canal between the city and the Brajdica port basin, lined with the former torpedo factory buildings (Rijeka invented the modern torpedo, developed by Giovanni Biagio Luppis, 1860, and developed by Robert Whitehead in the Rijeka factory — the world's first self-propelled underwater weapon was built here) now converted to cultural spaces; the Rijeka port area (the Delta, the former industrial waterfront) is the 2020 Capital of Culture legacy with galleries, music venues and restaurants.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideRijeka cuisine is the meeting point of Croatian, Italian and Central European traditions — šugo (the Rijeka meat sauce for pasta, slow-cooked with the rough-chopped tomato and meat combination of the Kvarner coast), škampi na buzaru (Kvarner scampi in garlic, white wine and breadcrumb sauce — the finest scampi in the Adriatic come from the Kvarner Bay), and Terrano wine (the red wine of the Istrian plateau, high in iron, tannic, slightly rustic, the traditional wine of the Kvarner hinterland).
Opatija (12 km south of Rijeka, 20 min by bus) was the premier seaside resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1844-1918) — the Austrian aristocracy, Emperor Franz Josef, Gustav Mahler, Anton Chekhov, James Joyce and the Viennese upper class all summered here; the grand Belle Époque hotels (Kvarner Hotel, 1884, the first grand hotel in Croatia; Grand Hotel Quarnero; Villa Angiolina) and the 12 km Lungomare promenade (the Opatija coastal walk with sea views and Mediterranean vegetation) are the finest Habsburg resort infrastructure on the Adriatic.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideKrk Island (connected to the mainland by the Krk Bridge, 1980, 1,430 m, the first pre-stressed concrete bridge in Yugoslavia) is the most accessible Croatian island from Rijeka — Krk Town has the finest medieval walls in the Kvarner area (Venetian, 14th century), the Cathedral of the Assumption (12th century Romanesque) and the Glagolitic stone inscriptions (Glagolica — the oldest Slavic script, used by Croatian priests in liturgy until the 20th century, and the Baška Tablet, 1100 AD, the oldest document in the Chakavian Croatian dialect, is from Krk).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideVrbnik (Krk island, a medieval village built on a 40 m cliff above the sea) is the home of Žlahtina — the white wine grape unique to Krk, producing a light, fresh, slightly effervescent white wine that pairs perfectly with Kvarner seafood; the village has the narrowest street in the world at 43 cm (Klanac Street) and the Adamic wine cellar (the oldest functioning wine cellar on Krk, 16th century) where Žlahtina tastings are given in the medieval cave below the village.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe return Rijeka evening dinner featuring the crossroads cuisine of this corner of the Adriatic — Istrian truffle pasta (the Istrian peninsula, 30 km south of Rijeka, has the finest white and black truffles in the world outside Périgord and Alba; fresh pasta with shaved white truffle from the Motovun forest in October-November) and the Kvarner Bay scampi (the cold, deep Kvarner waters produce the finest scampi in the Adriatic, larger and more flavourful than Italian alternatives).
Mali Lošinj (connected to Cres, 100 km south of Rijeka by ferry or catamaran) is the island with the highest atmospheric oxygen concentration in Europe (the specific combination of pine and laurel forest microclimate produces measurably richer air — this was known in the 19th century when the Austrian medical establishment designated Lošinj a health resort); the Adriatic Dolphin Project (the first dolphin protection project in the Mediterranean, 1987, monitoring the 180+ resident bottlenose dolphins of the Lošinj-Cres dolphin community) runs dolphin-watching boat tours.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCres Island (joined to Lošinj, accessible by road) has the Caput Insulae Beli Eco Centre (northern Cres, Beli village) where the resident Eurasian griffon vulture colony (the only remaining griffon vulture breeding colony in Croatia, 70-80 breeding pairs on the dramatic Cres cliffs) can be observed at close range from the viewing platform; the griffon vulture (wingspan 2.5 m, the second largest vulture in Europe after the Cinereous vulture) circles on thermals above the cliff village of Beli; the nature trail to the nesting cliffs takes 2 hours.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Zvončari (Bell Ringers, from the villages of the Kvarner mountains — Halubje, Kastav, Viškovo) are groups of men who dress in sheepskin coats, animal masks (painted faces or carved wooden masks representing bears, goats and demons) and carry enormous iron cowbells (up to 10 kg) that they swing vigorously to ring during the carnival procession — a pre-Christian pagan tradition to drive away winter spirits; the Bell Ringers were designated UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009; during carnival (February), they march through Rijeka and the surrounding villages.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideLovran (35 km south of Rijeka on the Opatija Riviera, medieval tower village on the coast) is famous for the sweet chestnuts (marun, the Lovran variety) that grow on the hills above the village — the Marunada chestnut festival (October) transforms the village with chestnuts roasting on open fires, local wine and craft market; outside October, the medieval village tower, the old church and the waterfront fish restaurants serving locally-caught fish (brancin, orada, škarpina) make Lovran the most atmospheric stop on the Kvarner Riviera.
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