Things to do
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Fiesa Lakes
A coastal path from the cemetery below the church reaches two small brackish ponds behind a pebble beach, twenty minutes north of the walls. The larger pond carries water lilies in summer and the pair sit close enough to the sea to be separated by the road. Swimming is off the pebble beach, and the ponds themselves are protected ground.
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Piran Town Walls
Seven towers and a stretch of fifteenth century rampart survive on the ridge above the rooftops, reached by a steep lane behind the church. Climbing the wall gives the full geometry of the peninsula, red tiles narrowing to the lighthouse, with the Croatian coast and the Alps visible on clear days. The parapet is narrow and unshaded; entry is ticketed.
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Sečovlje Salt Pans
Salt has been harvested here by hand since the medieval period, using a cultivated microbial mat on the pan floor to keep the crystals clean. The park south of Portorož holds working fields at Lera, a museum in the abandoned Fontanigge section, and flamingos among more than two hundred bird species. Wind and sun are relentless across the open pans, and shade is scarce.
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St. George's Parish Church
Above the town on a terrace of its own, a Baroque church with a free standing campanile modelled on the one in Venice's St Mark's Square. Inside are a statue of the dragon slaying saint and a small parish museum of reliquaries; the tower can be climbed on wooden stairs. The terrace is the easiest place to watch the sun go into the gulf.
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Tartini Square
An oval of pale stone at the head of the harbour, paved over the old inner dock in the 1890s and named for the violinist born in the yellow house on its edge. Cafés, the town hall and the red Venetian House with its balcony inscription ring it. Evening concerts and markets fill it in summer; cars are kept out.