Vineyards at harvest
September is picking season. An afternoon at a family estate among the vines, Malvazija and Teran straight from the cellar, bread, cheese and prosciutto on the table, the crates coming in behind you.
Adria Vitalis · Istria in September
Escape to your perfect Mediterranean wellness week
Seven days of Istria as it is meant to be experienced — a sea still warm from August, empty beaches, vineyards in harvest, long lunches under the olive trees and conversations that go somewhere. A week for women, moving at the pace of the Mediterranean.
Reserve your place — €1,490
Founding Retreat Rate
€1,490
Special inaugural rate · limited to our first Adria Vitalis retreat
26 September – 3 October 2026 · Istria, Croatia · limited places
- Luxury villa in Pula
- ·
- Three meals a day
- ·
- All transportations
- ·
- Five excursions
- ·
- Daily yoga
- ·
- Holistic nutritionist workshops & individual consultation
What is included
One week. Everything you need to know.
Here, in one place, is exactly what your week includes, at our Founding Retreat Rate of €1,490 per person for this inaugural gathering.
Where you stay
- Seven nights in a luxury villa in the centre of Pula
- Steps behind the Roman Arena, in the heart of the old town
- Pool, terrace, and the privacy of a small group
Food & wellbeing
- Three organic Mediterranean meals a day
- Menus handpicked with our holistic nutritionist and the chef
- A daily yoga session for whoever wants it
- Three sound baths during the week
- Daily short guided meditations by Marina — energetic hygiene to cleanse, recharge and renew
- Two workshops with our holistic nutritionist
- A private one-to-one consultation with the nutritionist
Five excursions
- Vineyards at harvest
- Truffle hunt in the woods
- Markets and makers
- The herbalist
- A day at sea
All transfers, all entrance fees, all tastings, all meals, wine at the table, and every detail of each excursion are included. The only thing you arrange is your flight to Pula.
Why September
The month experienced travellers keep for themselves
There is a reason this week exists in September and in no other month. The Adriatic spends the whole summer storing heat and gives it back now: the water is warmer in September than it was in June, and clearer. Meanwhile the coast quietly empties.
The peninsula belongs to locals again. Restaurants slow down and cook properly. Vineyards begin harvest and cellars open their doors. Olives darken on the branch. The light drops and turns gold by five, and the evenings stay warm enough to eat outside until midnight.
Anyone can come to Istria in August. Coming in September is the difference between seeing a place and being let into it.
- The sea
- Still holding all of August's heat — warmer, in fact, than it was in June, and clear as glass.
- The beaches
- Empty by the first week. You will often swim off a cove with nobody else in it.
- The towns
- Rovinj and Pula belong to the people who live there again. You can walk in at ten and get the good table.
- The vineyards
- Harvest. Crates of Malvazija coming in, the cellars open, everyone at their best and busiest.
- The groves
- Olives darkening on the branch, the mills getting ready, the first oil weeks away.
- The light
- Lower, softer, gold from five o'clock. Long evenings that stay warm enough to eat outside.
The destination
Istria is the reason. We are only the way in.
Istria is a small green peninsula on the northern Adriatic where Rome, Venice and the Slavic hinterland have been folded into one another for two thousand years. It produces some of the finest olive oil in the world, wild herbs on every hillside, Malvazija and Teran from family plots, sea bass landed at dawn and sold at the Pula market by nine.
Roman arenas and hill towns, Mediterranean gardens gone slightly wild, fishermen who still go out alone, potters and oil makers and herbalists who have never had to explain themselves to a tour bus. Hidden coves down unmarked tracks. Markets where nothing has travelled more than an hour.
Nothing here is staged for visitors. You are simply let into a way of living that has been going on quietly for a very long time — and you leave feeling you discovered a place, not that you attended something.
The idea
Not a retreat you attend. A month you inherit.
Seven nights, a small group of women, and a week built so that nothing is rushed and nothing is required. You never plan a meal, book a table, arrange a car or pick up a bill — and you are never handed a timetable either.
Quiet luxury
What luxury actually means now
Not marble and monograms. Not a bigger suite. Luxury in the Mediterranean in 2026 is space and quiet: no queues, no crowds, no rushing, no schedule, no over-tourism. The rarest thing on this coast is having it to yourself.
- Swimming in warm water with almost nobody else there
- Walking through Rovinj after breakfast, before it fills
- A family vineyard, mid-harvest, more or less to ourselves
- Lunches that last three hours because nothing follows them
- Mornings with no alarm and no plan
- Silence, when you want it, all week
The table
Half the reason to come, and half of what you take home
Three meals a day, all week, all included — but that is the least interesting thing about them. Breakfast outdoors: figs still warm, tomatoes that taste of September, fresh cheese, bread from the baker on the corner, a small jug of oil pressed down the road. A long lunch that no one hurries. Dinner as it gets dark, outside whenever we can, always at one table.
Our cook shops the Pula market at eight and decides the menu from what the boats and the growers brought in: sea bass, scampi, wild greens, late figs and tomatoes, the last of the summer melons, herbs cut the same day. You cook alongside her when you want to, and leave able to make a handful of it yourself.
Wine belongs on the table here, so it is on ours: Malvazija from a family plot half an hour inland, poured without ceremony. Everything is seasonal, organic and Mediterranean, shaped with our holistic nutritionist — food that happens to be extremely good for you, and would be worth the journey even if it were not.
The one you will remember
Dinner in the olive grove
One September evening we take a private grove of thousand-year-old olive trees, set a single long table under them, and cook there. Oil pressed from those same trees, fish bought that morning, herbs cut on the way in, ceramics made by a potter down the road. The sun goes into the sea, someone lights the candles, and no one wants to leave. Years later, this is the evening women write to us about.
With the makers
Istria, tasted slowly
This is not a programme to get through. Over the week we spend time with the people who actually make things here, one thing a day at most, always with hours afterwards to sit down — or to skip it entirely and swim.
Truffle hunt in the woods
A morning in the late-summer forest with a local hunter and his dogs, searching for Istria's white and black truffles. You walk the cool paths, watch the dogs work, and taste what they find — shaved over eggs, folded into cheese, or simply with good bread and oil.
The herbalist
A morning among the lavender, sage and immortelle with an Istrian herbalist. Pick your own, learn what each plant is for, and distil a small bottle of essential oil to take with you.
A day at sea
One full day on a boat chartered for us alone, anchored in coves you cannot reach by road. Swimming off the back into September water, lunch on deck, no schedule but the tide.
Markets and makers
The Pula fish market at eight, a potter's studio, a fisherman's morning catch, whatever Monica decides is worth showing you that week. Not an itinerary — an introduction.
Women only
Seven days with nothing to organise
Something changes when a group of women is together for a week with nobody to look after. The conversation goes somewhere else by the third evening. You can be tired, unmade, quiet or very loud. You can say the true thing at the table.
Most women arrive alone. Nobody stays alone. You go home slower, better fed, in your own company again — and usually with four or five friendships you did not expect.
Wellbeing
Wellbeing woven in, not the point of it
There is a yoga session every day, outdoors whenever the weather allows — slow and strengthening in the morning, restorative when we practise again in the evening. All levels; you will never be the only beginner. It is there if you want it, and nobody counts who came.
Three evenings we lie down for a sound bath at dusk and let the day empty out. And our holistic nutritionist is with the group all week — two unhurried workshops and a private one-to-one for every woman — less a programme than a long conversation about how you actually eat and live when you get home.
Each day, Marina leads a short guided meditation. A moment of energetic hygiene: cleanse, recharge, renew. It is brief enough not to feel like another item on the schedule, and deep enough to reset the whole day.
The stay
A luxury villa behind the Arena
A private villa in the very centre of Pula, with a heated pool, a curtained cabana and a walled olive garden to come back to. Step out of the door and you are in the old town: the market, the sea, a two-thousand-year-old amphitheatre at the end of the street.
Individually styled rooms, linen and soft light, breakfast laid under the olive trees, festoon lights and lounge chairs for the evening. Long quiet September days where everything is already paid for.
Time and space
Half of this week is yours
We deliberately leave large parts of every day open. Sleep, swim, wander the old town, read in the shade, or do absolutely nothing at all. A week that is full from morning to night is not a rest, and it is certainly not a luxury.
The rhythm
How the days tend to go
There is no printed schedule. This is the shape a week usually takes, and it bends to the weather, the sea and the mood of the group.
- Mornings
- Slow. Coffee on the terrace, breakfast that goes on, and a yoga session for whoever wants one.
- Middays
- Something Istrian and unhurried — a vineyard, a grove, the woods, the water — or nothing at all.
- Afternoons
- Yours. The sea, the old town, a book in the shade, a long swim, sleep.
- Evenings
- One table, outside whenever we can. Wine, food from that morning's market, conversation that outlasts the candles.
- Three nights
- A sound bath at dusk, bowls and gongs, and the day emptying out.
- One night
- Dinner in a private olive grove as the sun goes into the sea.
Your hosts
The people behind your week
Marina Maric
Co-Founder & Host
Marina has spent more than twenty years in international luxury hospitality, leading hotels and creating memorable guest experiences around the world. A certified Mindfulness Coach through the Flower of Life Institute, she is passionate about helping women reconnect through nature, mindfulness, nourishing food and authentic human connection. She co-founded Adria Vitalis to offer elegant Mediterranean retreats that restore body, mind and spirit.
She believes the best hospitality is invisible — the room prepared before you ask, the wine already pouring at the table, the conversation allowed to go nowhere. On this retreat she handles every detail so guests never think about logistics, reservations or the bill.
Her presence throughout the week is quiet and constant: a word at breakfast, a walk into the old town, the small adjustment that makes the day feel effortless. She is the reason nothing feels like an organised tour.
Monika Jurić
Co-Founder & Host
Monika co-founded Adria Vitalis. With a background in cultural studies and years of experience creating events that bring people together, she designed these retreats as a space for women to slow down, reconnect with themselves and leave with practical tools for everyday life. Her love for Istria and for building real community is behind every detail of the week.
She grew up between the hill towns and the Adriatic coast, and she still finds the best things by asking a local rather than reading a guide. That instinct — knowing who is harvesting this week, where the fish came in at dawn, which grove is worth showing — is what shapes each day.
Her work is built on the belief that real rest happens in community: women cooking together, swimming together, sitting together long after the meal is finished. She is the one who makes sure the group becomes a group.
Mirela Tomasevic
Holistic nutritionist
Mirela is a Certified Nutritional Practitioner with twenty years of experience guiding people toward sustainable health. After graduating with First Class Honors from The Institute of Holistic Nutrition in Toronto in 2004, she built a career rooted in one simple principle: preventing nutritional imbalances before they become problems.
Her work has taken her from The Big Carrot and Noah's Natural Foods to Enerex Botanicals, where she trained health food store staff across Ontario. She has also taught Comparative Diets and Symptomatology at The Institute of Holistic Nutrition, and shared her expertise on CTV National News and SUN TV.
During the retreat, Mirela leads two relaxed workshops and a private one-to-one with every guest. She translates the week's organic Mediterranean meals into simple, lasting habits you can take home — less a programme than a long conversation about how you actually eat and live.
Rowena
Yoga teacher & creative
Rowena is a creative artist, designer and yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga for the last 35 years and is dedicated to sharing the classical, holistic path of Hatha yoga — the traditional lineage of Swami Sivananda — infused with a dynamic zest of Kundalini to awaken vital energy and elevate consciousness.
With a warm and calming presence, she focuses on the five points of yoga to help students cultivate a peaceful mind, a radiant body and a vibrant spirit. Her classes offer a supportive space for beginners and experienced practitioners alike to experience true inner peace and spiritual growth.
By beautifully blending Hatha's structured physical alignment with Kundalini's powerful breathwork and chanting, Rowena creates a deeply transformative, holistic experience — a sanctuary to build physical vitality, release energetic blocks and access profound spiritual peace.
Founding Retreat
Be part of our very first Adria Vitalis retreat.
For our inaugural gathering in Istria we are offering an exclusive Founding Retreat Rate of €1,490 per person — a one-time invitation to the women who will become part of the beginning of Adria Vitalis.
Special inaugural rate · limited to our first Adria Vitalis retreat
Future retreat rate €1,790
26 September – 3 October 2026 · Istria, Croatia · the week is limited to ten women
- 7 nights in Istria
- Daily breakfast
- Lunch & dinner
- Daily wellness experiences
- Curated Istrian excursions
- Local transportation
- Small-group experience
Included: seven nights’ accommodation with breakfast, daily yoga, nutrition sessions, curated Mediterranean meals, boutique winery tasting, truffle hunt, private boat excursion, herbalist workshop, and all local transfers.
One price for the whole week: your room, three meals a day and wine at the table, the grove dinner, everything we do with the makers, and all the yoga, sound and nutrition you want. Nothing is an extra, nothing is an upsell, nothing arrives as a bill. Only your flights to Pula are not included.
Join the founding retreat- Seven nights in a small luxury hotel in the centre of Pula, behind the Roman Arena
- Three organic Mediterranean meals every day, cooked from the morning market
- The signature sunset dinner in a private olive grove
- Wine at the table, and fresh fruit, herbal teas and cold drinks all day
- Vineyard visit and tasting at a family estate, in harvest week
- Morning truffle hunt in the Istrian woods with a local hunter and his dogs
- Long, unhurried swims in the Adriatic, and time entirely to yourself
- A full day at sea on a private boat
- Herbalist morning, with your own essential oil to take home
- A daily yoga session, for whoever wants it
- Three sound baths
- Two workshops and a private one-to-one with our holistic nutritionist
- Daily short guided meditations by Marina
- All transfers to and from everything above
- Generous free time, every single day
Questions
- Why September?
- Because it is the best week of the Istrian year: the sea is at its warmest, the crowds have gone, and the vineyards and groves are in harvest. It is the season locals keep for themselves.
- Is this women only?
- Yes. The whole week is held for women, and limited to only ten.
- Do I need to do the yoga?
- No. There is a session every day and it is there if you want it. Several women swim instead. Nothing on this week is compulsory.
- How do I get there?
- Fly into Pula airport, twenty minutes from the hotel, or drive. Everything once you are here is included.
- What are the dates?
- Our inaugural retreat runs 26 September – 3 October 2026, at the Founding Retreat Rate of €1,490 per person. Places are limited to ten women.
- What should I bring?
- Swimwear, something soft to practise in, a light layer for the evenings, and shoes you can walk old stone in.
What you take home
You will come back with new friendships, recipes you will actually cook again, a bottle of wine you chose, oil from the grove dinner, a small vial of your own essential oil, and the particular kind of tan you only get from swimming every day in September.
And a slower rhythm that stays with you: the memory of a sea that was still warm long after summer had officially ended, of a table under the olive trees where nobody was in a hurry, and of a week that belonged entirely to you.
Come when everyone else has gone home.
26 September – 3 October 2026 · Istria, Croatia · limited places · Founding Retreat Rate €1,490 per person.