On a clear day from the 15th-century bell tower in Buje, a small hill town in Croatia's Istrian interior, you can see into Slovenia, Italy and Austria. Not a bad payoff for a town of roughly 3,000 residents — and one more reason this corner of northwest Istria rewards travellers who push a few kilometres inland from the coast.

Buje sits on a hill about 222 metres above sea level, ringed by vineyards and olive groves, and just 13 kilometres from the Adriatic at Umag. Its clock tower beside the Church of St. Servulus is one of the tallest in Istria and once served as the town's lookout — locals dubbed it the guardian of the town, and its image appeared on Buje's town seal back in the 13th century. A second, 22-metre tower with a clock stands by the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, where one of Istria's finest wooden sculptures is kept.

The history here runs deep. The hilltop was inhabited in the Bronze Age, later settled by the Histri (the peninsula's first documented people), and first appears in written records in 981, when Emperor Otto II's charter named it Castrum Bugle. Four centuries of Venetian rule from the early 1400s left the biggest mark: the Church of St. Servulus, the Freedom Square loggia, and the surviving Tower of St. Martin, all that remains of the Venetian walls.

Wet-weather option: the local ethnographic museum fills four floors with the tools, furniture and carved chests of a traditional Istrian household, plus a blacksmith's workshop and an old olive press in the basement. On the first floor there's a replica of the hearth that anchored every Istrian home, alongside displays of local pottery and cuisine.

Round off the trip with the town's quirky modern claim to fame: San Servolo brewery, producing beer since 2013 from barley malt, hops, yeast and spring water from the Mirna valley. Their pub pours beer soup and, yes, beer misu. The surrounding wine and olive oil roads make easy detours, as does the medieval Momjan castle above the Dragonja river and the Piski marl dunes — an unexpected mini-desert that counts among northwest Istria's strangest sights.

Buje suits travellers who've done the Istrian coast and want the hill towns without the crowds: walkers, food-and-wine types, and anyone chasing views. Combine it with Motovun or Grožnjan and you've got a proper inland Istria loop.