Kornati National Park

The Kornati archipelago sits in northern Dalmatia, south of Zadar and west of Šibenik — less a scatter of islands than a wall of bare, layered rock rising straight out of the sea. The wider archipelago has around 150 islands and islets, but the national park itself covers 89 islands, islets and reefs across 217 square kilometers, protected since 1980. Two islands, Kornat (32.5 km²) and Žut (14.8 km²), make up roughly 70% of all the land here.

What you notice first is how stripped-back the landscape is — 85% bare stone, barely 5% ever farmed, with almost no fresh water and little shade past midday. People have still been coming here a long time: there's evidence of Neolithic settlement, Illyrian remains on Kornat, and the mosaic floors of a Roman villa. The Tureta fortress on Kornat, possibly built around the 6th century, likely served to watch over shipping lanes through what was then a genuinely dangerous stretch of the Adriatic; the ruined apse of an early Christian basilica still sits at its base.

The other landmark worth knowing about is the Church of Our Lady of Tarac, a small rural church standing where an even older basilica once stood — nobody agrees on exactly when the current building went up, with estimates ranging from the 12th to the 16th century. Every first Sunday of July, fishermen and families from Murter sail over for a pilgrimage and a votive boat procession, one of the more striking religious traditions on this coast.

Most people experience Kornati from the water, and it's one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet cruise in Croatia for good reason — the coves here (Vrulje, Kravjačica, Lavsa among them) are sheltered, the water is clear enough for decent snorkeling, and you can dive around underwater cliffs and grottos where moray eels and the occasional Pinna nobilis, a protected giant clam, still turn up. On land, trails up to Metlina and Opat give you a proper view over the whole chain of islands, though there's next to no shade, so early mornings are the way to go. Spring and autumn are quieter than the July-August crowds if you'd rather have the anchorages to yourself.