{"id":3135,"date":"2024-10-06T10:51:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-06T08:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/dugi-otok-croatia\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T19:53:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T18:53:54","slug":"dugi-otok-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/dugi-otok-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"Dugi Otok, Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Packing and getting there<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s Monday in late June 2023 and we\u2019re packing for our two-week road trip through Croatia & Italy. The rough plan: a week by the sea on the island of Dugi Otok in Croatia, then a ferry over to the Italian mountains. This time our two-year-old fox terrier Ibo is coming too. He watches us pack all day and, by evening, stations himself by the bags in the hallway so we don\u2019t accidentally leave him behind (as if\u2014without him, we wouldn\u2019t be us). In the end, the car is bursting at the seams; I don\u2019t get it\u2014we only packed the essentials :))<\/p>\n\n

Around midnight we roll out of Bratislava, through Hungary, bound for Zadar, where we\u2019ll catch the ferry to Dugi Otok. The drive flies by, no holdups anywhere\u2014at least according to Boris; I slept great and, for once, didn\u2019t share the driving. We make a short stop at the first gas station after the Hungarian border to fill up (wouldn\u2019t recommend it; we later learned prices are higher than at other stations), stretch our legs\u2014ours and Ibo\u2019s\u2014and, of course, grab the first coffee of the day.<\/p>\n\n

About an hour in we leave the highway and pull into the village of Cetina, where the river of the same name springs. From the parking area you can already see a small pool glowing with color\u2014according to the internet it\u2019s 130 m deep. Ibo immediately tries to charm the local village dog who\u2019s come to say hello; never mind she\u2019s at least three times his size. A German woman pulling out of the lot yells “drei” from her car window\u2014I don\u2019t know what she\u2019s on about, so I just wave politely and leave it. Moments later another giant dog bounds over and I start to realize what that “drei” meant. Before we know it, a third member of the free-roaming village pack is on Ibo, and he lets out a squeal as one bites him on the neck. “Dobro do\u0161li” was not quite the welcome I had in mind, but never mind\u2014we disinfect the wound, hop back in the car and continue on…<\/p>\n\n

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Before the ferry we top up on groceries at Kaufland, have lunch and fill the tank again\u2014options on the island are limited. The not-quite-two-hour ferry from Zadar to Brbinj goes without a hitch. Good thing we ate on the mainland, because with a dog you can only stay up on deck; you\u2019re not allowed into the restaurant. By the way, Ibo nailed the escalator from the car deck to the upper deck\u2014Boris had been training him for months in an unnamed shopping mall \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n

Why an island?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Fewer people, peace and quiet, more freedom with a dog\u2014and you can usually find a beach all to yourself. Dugi Otok is the seventh-largest island in the Adriatic, with around 1,500 residents. Over a week, in between downtime, we explored local beaches and most of the villages, Tela\u0161\u0107ica Nature Park, the salt lake Mir, the Veli Rat lighthouse on the far end of the island\u2014and Boris even squeezed in some diving.<\/p>\n\n

Our house sat on a hill with a large terraced garden right inside the Tela\u0161\u0107ica reserve, reached by a several-kilometer gravel track\u2014perfect for morning runs. We fired up the grill and firepit more than once\u2014pork tenderloin, sausages, grilled vegetables and cheese were spot-on. Even not finding charcoal didn\u2019t stop us; we gathered dry wood from the garden and that did the trick. Ibo could bark on at length about his own gourmet tastings off the grill :)). We tried a couple of local restaurants too; for reference, two pizzas and two drinks set us back \u20ac35 at one pizzeria, while at another we stuck to drinks because mains started around \u20ac40 per person. Later we realized boats drop tour groups there, and if they don\u2019t want to go hungry, that\u2019s where they eat… business is business.<\/p>\n\n

Beaches<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

On the first evening Boris shortlisted a few beaches for the morning; whichever we liked, we\u2019d stay. First pick, Ripisce beach, didn\u2019t work out: the turnoff from the main road was marked with a no-entry sign. Even walking down wasn\u2019t an option\u2014there was nowhere to leave the car up on the main road. No matter; we checked the second option\u2014two coves with beaches side by side. The access track runs about 2 km, descending the whole way. We park on a bend roughly 200 m from the sea and head right toward Samotvorac beach.<\/strong> From above it looked fantastic, but just before the end a chain and a PRIVATE sign stop us. Boris would have pressed on (signs are only advisory, right?), but one look from me and he changes course\u2014we try the cove to the left. Success: Orihovica beach<\/strong> is lovely; a family with a baby and one couple are sunning there. We drop our stuff on the rocks and head straight in. It\u2019s Ibo\u2019s first time at sea; we\u2019re curious how he\u2019ll react. At first he jumps back from the waves and refuses. Then he ventures in, only to dislike the breakers hitting him. He tries his little diving routine and in seconds learns this water isn\u2019t like the puddles he investigates at home with his nose. Once he\u2019s done coughing and licking the salt, we tempt him with a toy to coax a swim; he\u2019s not thrilled and after a few meters turns back to shore. No rush\u2014we won\u2019t push it; there\u2019ll be plenty more chances. Meanwhile the family leaves, then the couple\u2014hooray, the beach is ours \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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The next day we scout another beach on the list; we never did catch its name. The access path passes the larger Brbi\u0161\u0107ica beach<\/strong>, where a handful of people are, and then left across the rocks about 50 meters further. We meet a Mexican\u2013German couple who are happy to share the spot. It turns into a very pleasant afternoon: we talk about all sorts, the guys fly the drone, and Ibo heads off for a swim all by himself… yippee. One note: there were plenty of jellyfish in the water\u2014some harmless, others with a proper sting.<\/p>\n\n

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From Brbi\u0161\u0107ica beach you can paddle a kayak to the famous Golubinka cave<\/strong>…<\/p>\n\n

The island\u2019s most-hyped Sakarun beach<\/strong> left us with mixed feelings; we dropped by while touring the west coast. We found no one on the sand, just heaps of debris and seaweed\u2014maybe the gray weather plus the lull before the season. And “sandy” is a stretch in our book.<\/p>\n\n

Veli \u017dal beach…<\/p>\n\n

Lake Mir and the Grpa\u0161\u0107ak cliffs<\/p>\n\n

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Good to know before you go to Dugi Otok<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Food and drink<\/strong> – we arrived well stocked and it proved a good call. Local groceries had very limited choice and steep prices. Any initial guilt about carting food across borders vanished fast.<\/p>\n\n

Mosquitoes<\/strong> – evenings in the garden were thick with them, so we burned mosquito coils non-stop. Bring your own; our hosts left a pack, and it was gone in the first few days.<\/p>\n\n

Healthcare <\/strong>– there\u2019s no hospital on the island, only a GP and a pharmacy. Pack a well-stocked first-aid kit.<\/p>\n\n

Vet –<\/strong> if you\u2019re traveling with a pet, the nearest veterinarian is in Zadar.<\/p>\n\n

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Packing and getting there It\u2019s Monday in late June 2023 and we\u2019re packing for our two-week road trip through Croatia & Italy. The rough plan: a week by the sea on the island of Dugi Otok in Croatia, then a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Dugi Otok, Croatia Travel Guide: Beaches, Tela\u0161\u0107ica & Lake Mir \u2022 IBO GUIDE","_seopress_titles_desc":"Road-trip notes from Dugi Otok: ferry from Zadar, beaches, Tela\u0161\u0107ica Nature Park, Lake Mir and Veli Rat, plus tips on supplies, mosquitoes and pet travel.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[108,105,87,132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-croatia","category-europe","category-road-trips","category-with-a-dog","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3137,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions\/3137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibo.guide\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}