Destinations
Destinations - archive
Lopar: The sandy empire of Kvarner area
Text and photo: B. Pletikosa
Source: Croatian Traveller
It is well known that the island of Rab is one of our tourist destinations in highest demand, with a rich cultural and historical heritage. Its northernmost part contains the peninsula and the town of Lopar, with the most beautiful sandy beaches in the Adriatic. Looking from the air, it looks a bit like a bear’s paw, where the claws are long capes with beautiful sandy coves between them.
You can reach Lopar in several ways, and the fastest is the catamaran from Rijeka or Novalja on the island of Pag. Since it docks in the Rab town port, you can reach the 12-kilometer away Lopar by local transportation. Ferry from Valbiska on the island of Krk docks into the port of Lopar. This is also the fastest connection to those who land on Krk airport. Finally, there is also the ferry from the town of Jablanac beneath mount Velebit. No matter what, you will be surprised by what you see and experience.
The town organizes tournaments in futsal and boulles, tug of war and other interesting events. Of course, they don’t lack “live music” so everything ends in the early morning hours of the next day. Loparske noći (Lopar nights) are also famous. It’s an event that shows the tourists how people lived before and how they worked, complete with folk costumes and ancient songs. The town often organizes fishermen parties and various folklore events for the tourists.
This year, CNN announced that the island of Rab and Lopar are the finest nudist destinations in the world, with its three nudist beaches: Sahara, Ciganka and Stolac. Do you know that nudism has its roots in Lopar? English king Edward VIII and his lover Wallis Simpson swam nude in 1936 on the beach of Kandalora. However, not a lot of people know that there were photos of nude swimmers on Lopar posted in Czech newspapers even before Edward, in 1908, together with the letter of the Lopar parish priest from that time, in which he calls for a ban on indecent behavior of some Czech tourists.
Entire Lopar is covered in forests of pine trees and the Mediterranean holly oak. Together with other geological specialties, it was proclaimed a protected landscape. The untouched nature, walks through the woods and enjoying the pine tree smell have become somewhat of a brand for the island. The situation is the same with the beaches. It is forbidden to build anything on most of them, not even tourist facilities. Very narrow dirt roads lead to the majority of beaches. In places these roads are almost impassable, but a few people find that to be a problem. People come to Lopar exactly for this, to walk from the hotel to the beach and back one and a half hour every day. Hiking and trekking are definitely in demand today. The paths are very well marked so it is very difficult to get lost. You can walk freely because there are no venomous snakes or insects on the island.
Believe it or not, Lopar has its Sahara. It can be reached only by a trail that leads through the woods. It used to have sand dunes up to 9 meters high. The wind moved them around freely, giving them shapes it wanted to. Unfortunately, some thirty years ago, the politicians passed a decision for the sand to be taken away and used to cover other beaches on the Adriatic. Besides, the terrain was afforested, so the dunes disappeared completely.
Entire island of Rab is known for its specific geomorphologic structure of rock and interesting shapes made by the wind and rain over thousands of years. Sometimes these unusual shapes are kept together only by the roots of the trees that grows on them. Most of them can be found on Ciganka Beach.
There are 22 sandy beaches in Lopar alone. The best known one is called Rajska plaza, a kilometer and half long. Next to it is a campsite that is completely full during the warm days of the year. The trademark of the beach is beach volleyball. Besides the sports enthusiast playing volleyball with their friends, this beach is also a venue for competition of the best Croatian and international volleyball players.
Source: Croatian Traveller
It is well known that the island of Rab is one of our tourist destinations in highest demand, with a rich cultural and historical heritage. Its northernmost part contains the peninsula and the town of Lopar, with the most beautiful sandy beaches in the Adriatic. Looking from the air, it looks a bit like a bear’s paw, where the claws are long capes with beautiful sandy coves between them.
You can reach Lopar in several ways, and the fastest is the catamaran from Rijeka or Novalja on the island of Pag. Since it docks in the Rab town port, you can reach the 12-kilometer away Lopar by local transportation. Ferry from Valbiska on the island of Krk docks into the port of Lopar. This is also the fastest connection to those who land on Krk airport. Finally, there is also the ferry from the town of Jablanac beneath mount Velebit. No matter what, you will be surprised by what you see and experience.
The town organizes tournaments in futsal and boulles, tug of war and other interesting events. Of course, they don’t lack “live music” so everything ends in the early morning hours of the next day. Loparske noći (Lopar nights) are also famous. It’s an event that shows the tourists how people lived before and how they worked, complete with folk costumes and ancient songs. The town often organizes fishermen parties and various folklore events for the tourists.
This year, CNN announced that the island of Rab and Lopar are the finest nudist destinations in the world, with its three nudist beaches: Sahara, Ciganka and Stolac. Do you know that nudism has its roots in Lopar? English king Edward VIII and his lover Wallis Simpson swam nude in 1936 on the beach of Kandalora. However, not a lot of people know that there were photos of nude swimmers on Lopar posted in Czech newspapers even before Edward, in 1908, together with the letter of the Lopar parish priest from that time, in which he calls for a ban on indecent behavior of some Czech tourists.
Entire Lopar is covered in forests of pine trees and the Mediterranean holly oak. Together with other geological specialties, it was proclaimed a protected landscape. The untouched nature, walks through the woods and enjoying the pine tree smell have become somewhat of a brand for the island. The situation is the same with the beaches. It is forbidden to build anything on most of them, not even tourist facilities. Very narrow dirt roads lead to the majority of beaches. In places these roads are almost impassable, but a few people find that to be a problem. People come to Lopar exactly for this, to walk from the hotel to the beach and back one and a half hour every day. Hiking and trekking are definitely in demand today. The paths are very well marked so it is very difficult to get lost. You can walk freely because there are no venomous snakes or insects on the island.
Believe it or not, Lopar has its Sahara. It can be reached only by a trail that leads through the woods. It used to have sand dunes up to 9 meters high. The wind moved them around freely, giving them shapes it wanted to. Unfortunately, some thirty years ago, the politicians passed a decision for the sand to be taken away and used to cover other beaches on the Adriatic. Besides, the terrain was afforested, so the dunes disappeared completely.
Entire island of Rab is known for its specific geomorphologic structure of rock and interesting shapes made by the wind and rain over thousands of years. Sometimes these unusual shapes are kept together only by the roots of the trees that grows on them. Most of them can be found on Ciganka Beach.
There are 22 sandy beaches in Lopar alone. The best known one is called Rajska plaza, a kilometer and half long. Next to it is a campsite that is completely full during the warm days of the year. The trademark of the beach is beach volleyball. Besides the sports enthusiast playing volleyball with their friends, this beach is also a venue for competition of the best Croatian and international volleyball players.
