Explore Northern Dalmatia
Some 43km long and at no point more than 4.5km wide, Dugi otok (Long Island) is the largest and arguably the most beautiful of the Zadar archipelago islands. Fewer than two thousand people live here, and parts of the island are very remote – some settlements are accessible only by sea, and the fresh water supply can be limited. It boasts a wilder and more dramatic landscape than any of its neighbours, with sheer cliffs on its western side and a rugged, indented coastline.
Dugi otok’s main attraction is Telašćica Nature Park, which is best approached from the island’s main settlement, Sali, although the quiet villages and headlands of the northern part of the island are also worth a visit. It’s also a possible base from which to visit the Kornati archipelago, with boat captains in Sali offering trips, though the archipelago is more usually approached from Murter.
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Telašcica Nature Park
Telašcica Nature Park
It’s about 3km from Sali to the northern edge of Telašćica Bay (telascica.hr), a 7km channel overlooked by smooth hills and indented with numerous smaller bays which run down to the tangle of islands at the northern end of the Kornati archipelago. The flora along the shoreline marks the transition from the green vegetation of the Zadar archipelago to the bare wilderness of the Kornati – banks of deep forest slope down towards the western shore of the bay, where maquis-covered offshore islands rise like grey-brown cones from the water – and the whole place has been designated a nature park.
