Portorož & Piran – a green and safe destination

Portorož and Piran are geographically located between two salt pans – the Strunjan Salt Pans on one side and the Sečovlje Salt Pans on the other. Both landscape parks ensure the preservation of biodiversity and landscape diversity.

The Adriatic Sea is ranked among the healthiest seas in the world. Most local beaches and marinas receive the Blue Flag each year, an international ecological symbol of quality for natural swimming areas and marinas.

The most distinctive part of the Strunjan Landscape Park is the Strunjan Cliff, rising up to 80 meters high, which, together with its vegetated edge and the 200-meter strip of sea below, has been declared a nature reserve. It is also the longest stretch of unspoiled coastline along the entire 130-kilometer shoreline between Grado in Italy and Savudrija in Croatia, which together form the Gulf of Trieste. The sheer walls and the pebbly shore at the foot of the cliff are left entirely to natural processes, where the sea, rain, and wind tirelessly reshape the fragile rock layers, tracing new features upon them.

Salt makers produce Piran salt using a 700-year-old method and still harvest it by hand with traditional tools. The greatest secret behind the quality and natural white color of the salt from the Sečovlje and Strunjan salt pans lies in the clayey bottoms of the salt fields, which are covered with a thin layer of petola—a biosediment just a few millimeters thick, formed by minerals and microorganisms. This is a “living” substance, full of microorganisms and algae, which hardens after being spread and, during salt harvesting, prevents the mud from mixing with the salt, while also enriching it with minerals. The amount of oxygen produced by petola on the same surface area corresponds to that produced by a tropical rainforest 30 to 40 meters high, enriching our air. This unique microclimate enhances the air, making it the richest in antioxidants in all of Europe!

Fleur de sel forms on the surface of the brine from salt crystals that create a characteristic downward-pointing pyramid structure in the form of a thin, delicate crust. Fleur de sel can crystallize throughout the entire salt crystallization area, but the highest quality forms in brine with higher concentration. Its color ranges from white to slightly pink.

The richness of local natural healing resources in Portorož and Piran was already used by the Benedictines in the 13th century. Even at that time, Portorož was known as a health resort, where the monks of the St. Lawrence Monastery treated with seawater and brine. The healing effects for illnesses such as rheumatism, dropsy, scrofula, obesity, and wounds were well known both nearby and further afield. Portorož was officially declared a health resort by state law of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of the Interior on July 25, 1897.

The Piran hinterland is a true paradise for olive growing. Many indigenous olive varieties grow here, such as Piran komuna or rosulja, Piran žižula, Piran zmartel or mortino, Piran štorta, Piran mata, Piran črnica, and Piran buga. These magnificent beauties can also be admired in the Forma Viva park near Portorož. Thanks to the specific climatic conditions of this area, Istrian olive oil is renowned for its distinctive flavor even beyond the borders.

The double-row avenue of 110 pine trees, part of the Strunjan Landscape Park, is the longest and best-preserved in Slovenia. In 2004, it was protected and declared a natural monument.