Where to stay in Piran
The old town for quiet and walking, Portorož for choice and the beach, Strunjan and Fiesa for nature, and the car stays outside the walls.
- Old town
- driving in is free for 15 minutes
- Arze garage
- €2 an hour
- Fornače garage
- €3.20 an hour, minibus €1
In Piran the district you sleep in decides two things at once: how your evenings feel and how you arrive. The old town is car-free and quiet after dark, while Portorož and Strunjan are a bus ride away and the car stays in a garage whichever you pick. Choose by how you reach the bed, then by the sea.
For those on foot
Sleeping inside the old town means walking everywhere and carrying your own bags, because the centre is largely closed to visitor traffic. Driving in to unload luggage is free for 15 minutes. Longer stays cost €6 an hour from 1 March to 31 October and €4 from 1 November to the end of February. Signs are bilingual, because Slovenian and Italian are both official languages in the municipality.
Most guests leave the car outside. The Arze garage charges €2 an hour and the Fornače garage €3.20, so pick the one nearer your hotel. Arze has about 210 spaces and lies ten minutes downhill from Tartini Square, while Fornače has 838 spaces and sits about fifteen minutes along the shore, or a minibus ride away for €1. One hotel, the Zala, has a private car park.
Check the same room on both sites: price and cancellation terms can differ.
Choice and the beach
Portorož is a resort in the same municipality, and it has more hotels and more beaches than Piran itself. The Bernardin, the central beach and Meduza all sit here, and city bus line 1 runs between Portorož and Piran every day. Seča, a little farther along in the same municipality, is part rocky and part pebble and known for its kitesurfers. Pick Portorož if you want a swim between sights, and pick the old town if you would rather finish a day of walking by stepping out of your door onto the waterfront.
Some booking listings place Portorož hotels under Piran, so look at the map before you pay, because the bus ride between the two is part of the price you really pay.
Nature
Strunjan is the quiet end of the coast. Its cliff rises to 80 metres, and the bathing areas at Krka and Salinera are grassy with easy access to the water. From 1 July to the end of August a free summer minibus runs from 8 to 22, and line 2 serves the rest of the year. Fiesa is a pebble beach under pines, with a campsite, and paid parking at €1.80 an hour from March to October. The coastal promenade leads from Fiesa to Piran on foot, and buses run there as well, so a bed near the pines does not cut you off from the old town.
The tax and when to book
The tourist tax is paid separately on the spot and is not included in the room rate. Its amount is not quoted here. Summer gets busy from July, and Tartini Square has no parking from 1 July to 1 September, so book July and August well ahead.
Where to next
What to eat in Piran
→Sardines and grilled fish by the harbour, Istrian malvasia and refosco, and salt from Sečovlje that is still made by hand.
Ljubljana · 93 km
→Slovenia’s capital with no cars in the centre: Plečnik’s bridges, a riverside market and a castle on the hill
How well does Piran suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Piran
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
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