Cycling route Portoroz – tunnel Parenzana – Strunjan
Cycling trip guide
Distance
13.20 km
Time
0:58 h
Elevation
210 m
Difficulty
Medium
The Portoroz - Parenzana Tunnel, Strunjan Landscape Park, Terme Krka beach to the fishing harbour and the salt pans in Strunjan cycling tour is a very eventful and worthwhile experience. Most of the time you will be driving along the road where the Parenzana narrow-gauge railway ran, connecting Trieste and Poreč during the Italian rule on the Slovenian coast. The route is mostly on local roads and some on pavement. The trip is suitable for all levels of fitness. You will only drive on asphalt surfaces. You can go by mountain-bike, trekking or road bike.
Cycling tour on Komoot application
To make it easier for you to follow the cycle route, click on the larger map button below. The Komoot app will open where you can see an interactive map and additional information. The cycling route Portoroz-tunnel Parenzana-Strunjan become even more interesting with your help. If you are logged in to the app, you can add your pictures and comments. The gpx file allows you to download the route on your navigation device. You must have WIFI or mobile data turned on.
The start of the cycling tour is in Portorož, from the Marina car park. From the car park, turn left past the health centre to the roundabout. Take the third exit towards Portorož. Go to the first roundabout where you turn right and then left between the blocks in front of the overpass up a steep short hill.
You will be on the Senčna pot Street, which leads you to the tunnel of the Parenzana narrow-gauge railway that connected Trieste and Poreč. Along the way, you will have a very nice view of Portoroz and the bay in some parts.
Before you reach the tunnel, you have to go down a slight incline and immediately turn right. You will see the entrance to the Tunnel. Drive carefully through the tunnel as it is not well lit. In the summer months, it will keep you cool.
After a few minutes' drive through the tunnel, go 1 km down the road to the crossroads in front of the Strunjan campsite. Turn right here and after 200 m, at the end of a slight incline, turn left towards the main road and the roundabout in Strunjan. We suggest that you cross the road at the roundabout at the pedestrian crossing for your safety.
Continue straight along the Strunjan Landscape Park, where the salt pans used to be. Follow the main road along the pine trees for 2 km, or follow the pavement to the crossroads leading to the left towards Terme Krka Strunjan. After a 5-minute drive, you will reach the Terme Krka hotel resort. Before the macadam parking area, turn right at the chapel and follow the cobbled road uphill for 500m to the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and then a few hundred metres to the Strunjan Cross. Go back and turn right to the car park.
Drive through the car park until you see the beach and the sea. On your left you will see a road that will lead you along the beach, along the "Stjuža" Slovenian sea lagoon, classified as a salt marsh on one side and one of the most beautiful beaches overlooking Piran on the other side, to the Strunjan Fisherman's Mandrake, which is also the park's headquarters in a renovated salt-panner's house.
Now get off your bike and walk alongside it to the wooden bridge and through the salt pans to the road on the other bank. Please observe the instructions about the prohibition of cycling through this part of the salt pans.
When you reach the next bank, turn left onto the main road. After 500 m, turn right at the Strunjan campsite. Be careful not to miss the road. Turn off where the children's playgrounds are at the Strunjan campsite bar .
Go straight along the road past the campsite to the underpass under which you turn right uphill. You will find yourself on the road that took you from the tunnel to Strunjan. Head uphill to the tunnel on the Sončna pot Street back to Portoroz, where you started your trip.
