Veli Losinj

Veli Lošinj sits in a narrow, sheltered bay on the southeastern side of Lošinj Island in Croatia's Kvarner region, about 5 kilometers from its larger neighbor Mali Lošinj. Despite the name — "Veli" means "big" in the local dialect, a naming quirk that confuses first-time visitors since it's actually the smaller of the two towns — this is a quiet fishing-village-turned-resort with a population of just 857 as of the 2021 census.

The settlement was first recorded in documents in 1398 under the name "Velo selo." Local tradition holds that twelve Croatian families sailed into nearby Javorna Bay around 1280 and settled near what's now the Church of St. Nicholas, though the oldest surviving structures in the village date to the 13th and 14th centuries.

Veli Lošinj's real claim to fame dates back to the Austro-Hungarian era. Archduke Karl Stephan of Habsburg chose it as his holiday retreat in 1885 and built a villa there; the year before, he'd already planted over 200 imported plant species in a castle garden. The air and mild winter climate impressed Vienna enough that in September 1892 the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Health formally declared Veli Lošinj a "Climatic Health Resort" — one of the earliest such designations on the Adriatic. Wealthy visitors came for the respiratory benefits, and the villas built to house them are still scattered across the village today, many now converted into small hotels.

The harbor is dominated by the Church of St. Anthony the Hermit, rebuilt in its current form in 1774 after two earlier versions on the same spot. Local sea captains funded the reconstruction and commissioned artwork to give thanks for safe voyages, which is why the church now holds one of the richest collections of Italian old-master paintings on the Kvarner coast.

Above the harbor stands a circular defensive tower built in 1445 to guard against pirate raids. It's now a small museum, and its ground floor holds a full-size replica of the Apoxyomenos — the bronze Greek statue that a diver found on the seabed near Veli Lošinj in 1999. The original is on display in Mali Lošinj's dedicated museum, but the replica here shows the statue exactly as it was found, still lying on its side.

Punta Beach, right in the center of the village, is the easiest option: sand and concrete terraces, sunbeds, a snack bar, and lifeguards on duty. For something quieter, Javorna Beach is a pebble cove about 20 minutes on foot through pine forest from Rovenska, on the southern side of the peninsula.

Veli Lošinj's harbor is sheltered from every wind except the bora — during a strong bora, the entrance gets genuinely dangerous, so it's not a place to approach in bad weather. In calmer conditions the entrance runs around 6 meters deep, dropping to about 2 meters at the outer quay; the eastern side of the harbor is generally the recommended place to moor. The small, well-protected bay and its easy walk into the old town make Veli Lošinj a popular stop for gulet charter guests exploring Croatia.

The Blue World Institute runs its Lošinj Marine Education Centre on the Veli Lošinj waterfront, open since 2003. It's built around more than three decades of research into a resident population of roughly 200 common bottlenose dolphins living in the waters around the island, and it runs dolphin-watching trips under a strict code of conduct alongside its exhibits on the Adriatic marine environment.

Veli Lošinj also hosts Downhill Lošinj, a mountain bike race that made it onto the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup calendar in 2018. The 1,600-meter track drops from St. John's hill straight through the middle of town and finishes by the sea — the first World Cup downhill course in the world to run through an urban center.