There is no single “truffle season”. Different species appear at different times. For most travellers, however, autumn is the emotional centre of Istria's truffle calendar because it brings the prized white truffle and the region's best-known truffle events.
The white-truffle window
Istria's official tourism portal lists Tuber magnatum from mid-September through January, while its destination material describes the Motovun white-truffle season broadly from September to December. It also highlights October as the peak month.
If your trip is about atmosphere as much as gastronomy, late September through October is the strongest planning window: forest, harvest, wine, hill towns and truffle culture converge.
Black truffle windows
The wider black-truffle calendar includes summer and winter varieties. Official Istrian material lists Tuber aestivum from May to October, Tuber melanosporum from November to March, and other black varieties over overlapping autumn and winter periods.
2026 truffle-event snapshot
For 2026, the official Istria tourism calendar lists the opening of white-truffle season in Motovun on 5 September; the Teran and Truffle Festival in Motovun on 17–18 October; Tuber Food Fest in Livade on 24–25 October; Zigante Truffle Days in Livade from 3 October to 1 November on weekends; and the Istrian Truffle Festival in Buzet on 7–8 November.
How to use this calendar
Do not build the entire trip around a festival date. Use the events as anchors, then stay long enough for a forest experience, a quiet meal, a walk through Motovun and at least one neighbouring hill town.
Stay for the morning.
Use the truffle calendar as a reason to sleep in Motovun, then let the forest and hill towns shape the rest of the trip.