We did an organised tour with a company called Kompass - it cost £40 per person and went to the Brijuni Islands.
The Brijuni National Park is a group of 2 large and 12 small islands protected as national park since 1983. It only opened to the public in 1984 - before this former presidents kept it as their summer retreat, including the former Yugoslav leader Tito.
He spent 6 months a year on the island for over 35 years. In his 31 years as head of state, Tito built 3 summer palaces and a safari park which survives to this day.
We travelled by catamaran from Rovinj to Brijuni. The catamaran was great - air conditioned, lots of seats, very comfortable and large windows to admire the lovely views. The trip took 40 minutes and was really smooth.
The islands are only 6km from Pula. To visit you must either have a hotel reservation for the main island, or come with an excursion. You cannot just go there for the day and wander around and then leave.
We were met at the quayside by our guide - a very nice lady who spoke good English. There were about 20 English people in the tour that day. The tour takes about 3 hours. You visit the safari park, go past Tito's former residence (but do not actually see anything as it is hidden in the trees), see some ancient ruins and have half an hour in a small museum. The museum has a large display of stuffed animals - Tito shot them and had them stuffed. There is also an interesting area with information and pictures of Tito on the island and some of the famous guests he entertained there - Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to name a few.
A small tourist train then takes you through the safari park and around the perimeter of the island. It is very cramped, hardly any legroom and no air conditioning - we were so hot.
The safari park is not that impressive - it has mainly zebras, horses, donkeys and lots of deer. There are 2 elephants - nearly 40 years old which were given to Tito by Indira Ghandi. The train stops for about 15 minutes near the elephant enclosure and you can stretch your legs and get a much needed drink at the little bar there.
It is interesting to visit the island, given its history and the Tito connection but you do not have any free time to explore. As soon as the tour finishes you are shepherded back to the catamaran and off the island.