☰Villa Angiolina and Park

The villa that started it all. In 1844, Rijeka merchant Iginio Scarpa built this neoclassical house and surrounded it with an exotic botanical garden, planting camellias, magnolias, Japanese banana trees, and Himalayan cedars among the native bay laurels and oaks. When Austrian aristocracy began arriving to visit, the Opatija resort was effectively born. The villa is now home to the Croatian Museum of Tourism — the only museum in Croatia devoted to the history of travel — and the park surrounding it is open to the public year-round. The camellia garden is at its best in February and March.