Due to the growing tourist demand for cultural and archaeological tourism in Istria, there is a need to develop, create and improve the archaeological heritage through various innovative models of valorization. The paper defines archaeological tourism and analyzes the archaeological heritage and archaeological parks of Istria. For the purposes of writing the final paper, research was conducted on key challenges and opportunities for improving and valorizing the archaeological heritage of Istria in order to determine the issues and solutions for sustainable valorization of cultural heritage and the development of archaeological tourism. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate models of valorization and interpretation of the archaeological heritage of Istria, while the aim of the paper is to explore optimal models of valorization of valuable archaeological heritage in cultural tourism based on the current situation and the project. The paper will also discuss the ArchaeoCulTour project, the main goal of which is to valorize the archaeological heritage of Vrsar in order to develop sustainable cultural tourism. The final results of the project led to five key sites that are connected by a cultural itinerary and the application of innovative models of valorization of archaeological heritage and the development of archaeological parks.