Pazin: the chasm, the castle and Jules Verne

Most of Istria is gentle: rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves. Pazin is the exception. Here, in the middle of the peninsula, the river Pazinčica runs into a sheer limestone gorge and vanishes underground below the walls of a medieval castle. It is one of the most dramatic sights in Istria, and an hour or two in Pazin makes a good half-day trip from the coast.

The Pazin chasm

The cave mouth sits at the bottom of cliffs about 100 m high. In wet weather the Pazinčica pours into it; in a dry summer the riverbed can be almost empty. Behind the entrance, an underground passage about 270 m long ends in a lake. The French cave explorer Édouard-Alfred Martel partly explored it in 1896, and it is considered the best example of karst hydrology in Istria.

There are viewpoints over the gorge from the edge of town, and a marked footpath leads down into the canyon for a closer look. The path is steep in places; wear proper shoes and avoid it after heavy rain.

The castle (Kaštel)

The castle on the lip of the gorge was the seat of the Istrian margraves. It was rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries and has been a museum since the end of the Second World War. Inside you will find the town museum and the Ethnographic Museum of Istria, with traditional costumes, tools and everyday objects from across the peninsula. It is a good place to understand the rural Istria you see on the drive inland.

Jules Verne and Mathias Sandorf

In his 1885 novel Mathias Sandorf, Jules Verne imprisons his hero in Pazin castle and has him escape by jumping into the chasm and being carried through the underground river. Pazin has embraced the story: a viewpoint near the end of the zip line is named after Verne, and you will see the name around town.

The zip line

For something more active, a zip line crosses the chasm in four sections of 80, 80, 220 and 280 m, about 660 m in all. The longest line reaches up to 50 km/h. It runs daily from 1 May to 30 September, 10:00 to 18:00, and by appointment for groups of five or more the rest of the year. Allow 30 to 50 minutes.

Practical tips

• Getting there: Pazin is on the A8 branch of the Istrian Y motorway, around 40 minutes from the Poreč area. See our driving guide.
• Time needed: one to two hours for the viewpoints and castle; longer if you walk into the gorge or do the zip line.
• Rainy days: the castle museums make Pazin a good choice when the weather turns. More ideas in our rainy day guide.

Combine it with

From Pazin it is a short drive north to the hilltop towns of Motovun and Hum, or south-west to the coast. Villa Bina and Villa Cvita Domenica in Labinci are on the inland side of Poreč, which shortens the drive.