Vacation in Croatia: on the island of Pag, we explored the local beaches instead of camping

I already wrote about the surprise with the ferry here. It’s a shame that the ferry only ran for 15 minutes, next time we have to plan more of those ferries. We originally planned to go camping Scary, which, like the Omišalj campsite, belongs to the Valamar group. Straško is even better in that there is a water park there, which would probably keep our son busy for the whole day, as well as me. Unlike my husband, I am not so attracted to the sea, I just enjoy it with a view. In the end, we didn’t go to the campsite because, as we already found out at the Krk campsite, we are probably too old for camping, so we ordered an apartment.

Right after we got off the ferry we were in awe of the landscape. No trees, just rocks and rocks. This is what Pag looks like. However, Pag is also famous arm lace and Paž cheese. We drove through the lunar landscape, our first stop was a small town Novalja, where we went to buy basic food at the Plodine store. On the way, we mainly noticed young people buying cans of beer and other alcohol. It could be seen that many young people were heading towards the acquaintance Zrće beachwhich is a place of endless entertainment, discos and acquaintances Zrće festival. On the beach you will find many bars, clubs, even festival stages or a party boat. Well, not having a child, so I think we wouldn’t miss it.

We bought and arrived in the village Zubović, where we had booked an apartment. We were greeted by a nice lady who invited us for a beer and had a little chat with us. In the meantime, the child had fun with the local cat and was given chalk by the lady to draw on the terrace (actually it was the roof of the garage). We immediately found out where the beaches are, luckily we got some tips.

We unpacked a little and immediately set off for a short walk beach Plat. To get to it, we had to walk along the path around the rocks above the sea, and it was a beautiful walk in the early evening. There was also a bar, a seating area on the beach, there were not many people, and overall there was a sense of well-being. The place was absolutely great, especially my husband enjoyed it, because not far from the apartment you could get into the water from the pier and swim around the rocks to the beach, which according to my husband was an incredible experience (I don’t swim much, so for me swimming along the rock without the possibility of getting caught in something and climbing out of the water sounds rather horror-like).

Since we also wanted to taste the sandy beach, we inquired with the hostess and got a tip for Planjka beach in the city of Stara Novalja. And we also went there the next day. There is a large parking lot by the beach, so parking was not a problem at all. The beach is quite popular, so a lot of people flocked there during the day. Soon there was a head to head. We unpacked the beach tent and went to test the sandy beach. You might be thinking, why all the fuss about a sandy beach, that we look like fools who have never been to the sea. Well, basically they weren’t. Me more than ten years ago in Spain and husband in England, which does not count! At Planjka beach, the entry into the water is gentle, so it’s good for children and non-swimmers like me, there is a quite retro water slide, a swing, and inflatable attractions for an extra charge. Of course, the water isn’t that clear and it’s also strangely warm. Well, in the end we rented a pedal boat for an hour and paddled off somewhere far away, where we landed on a deserted shore, where again there were pebbles and beautiful clear water. And above all, peace. We find that we are not quite into the crowds and attractions. In addition, sand is quite annoying, which you all probably know. You get out of the water on the beach and then you have to go and wash off the sand again, the sand is in the tent, but just everywhere. So we enjoyed the day on the sandy beach and went back to the apartment. The best part of the day was when we put the baby to sleep, sat on the terrace, lit a huge candle against mosquitoes and with a beautiful view of the mountains and the sea we drank wine and ate cheese while listening to a podcast or talking for an hour or two.

On the last day, we were already leaving the apartment and headed a little further south.

On the way, we still wanted to visit the beach Simon, which is announced there. We arrived at the reception of the camp of the same name, where some young people were standing and arguing about who would take care of me. The lady explained to me that they wouldn’t let us in there, even without a car, that we would have to pay to enter the campsite. Well, the whole experience was so weird that we would definitely never go camping there again in the future. Anyway, according to the reviews, you can get to the beach elsewhere. But we decided that we don’t want to be all wet and salty while we’re on our way anyway. So we covered the entire Šimuni beach and I think we didn’t lose anything.

Overall, we are happy that we tried different beaches, got to know the local people, but I think a campsite would suit us better (so not sleeping in a tent). Otherwise, I don’t think there is much interesting on Pag, unless you go to Zrće beach to have fun.

Do you have any tips on what not to miss in Pag?