Saplun Island

Saplun is a small, uninhabited island in the Lastovnjaci group, just off Lastovo, and it has something the rest of the archipelago doesn’t: a proper sandy beach. Locally, “saplun” is said to mean “sand” in the old dialect, and it’s easy to see why the name stuck — most of Lastovo’s other islets are rock and pebble.

The island is thickly forested with pine, which means plenty of shade around the beach, and since there’s no infrastructure or accommodation of any kind, it stays genuinely quiet even in peak season. You get there either on your own boat or by water taxi from Lastovo — there’s no other way in.

It’s a short detour rather than a destination in itself, but a worthwhile one, and it’s best reached during a Dubrovnik gulet cruise that already has Lastovo on the itinerary.