The Gulf of Piran or Piran Bay ( sl, Piranski zaliv, hr, Piranski zaljev, it, Baia di Pirano) is located in the northern part of the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

, and is a part of the southernmost tip of the

Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste ( it, Golfo di Trieste, sl, Tržaški zaliv, hr, Tršćanski zaljev, german: Golf von Triest) is a very shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice an ...

Overview

It was named after the town of

Piran Piran (; it, Pirano ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. The town is known for its medieval architecture, with narrow streets and compact houses. P ...

, and its shores are shared by

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. It is delimited by a line connecting Cape Savudrija ('' Savudrijski rt'') in the south to the Cape Madona ('' Rt Madona'') in the north and measures around . On the eastern Slovenian coast lies the town of

, and the settlements

Portorož Portorož (; it, Portorose) is a Slovenian Adriatic seaside resort and spa town located in the Municipality of Piran in southwestern Slovenia. Its modern development began in the late 19th century with the vogue for the first health resorts. In ...

and Lucija. On the southern Croatian coast are tourist camps of Crveni Vrh and Kanegra, built in the 1980s. The main river flowing into the gulf is the

Dragonja The Dragonja (; it, Dragogna) is a long river in the northern part of the Istrian peninsula. It is a meandering river with a very branched basin and a small quantity of water. It has a pluvial regime and often dries up in summer. It features ...

, whose mouth is on the border. Along the mouth of the Dragonja lie the Sečovlje saltpans, covering an area of . The Gulf area has been a theatre of a maritime and land border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia.

External links

Conditions in the Gulf of Piran
- graphs, in the following order, of water temperature, wave height, wave (interval) period, wave direction, current speed, current direction, maximum wave height data for the past 30 days (taken near

ARSO The Slovenian Environment Agency (Slovenian: ''Agencija Republike Slovenije za okolje'' or ''ARSO'') is the main organisation for environment of the Republic of Slovenia. It was established in 2001 with a reorganisation of the ''Hydrometeorological ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Piran Gulfs of Croatia Gulfs of Slovenia Disputed waters Territorial disputes of Croatia Territorial disputes of Slovenia Croatia–Slovenia border

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodies ...

Adriatic Sea