Pakoštane: Croatia’s Best-Kept Secret on the Dalmatian Coast

Where the Sea Meets the Lake

Pakoštane’s entire identity is built around a combination that sounds almost too good to be true: the Adriatic Sea on one side, and Vransko jezero (Croatia’s largest natural lake and a protected nature park) on the other.

The two are literally minutes apart on foot. The locals even have a slogan for it in Croatian: “Na moru pokraj jezera”, meaning “on the sea, beside the lake”.

On the lake side, you’ve got Park prirode Vransko jezero, one of the most important bird sanctuaries in Europe, with cycling paths, lookout points, and agricultural fields that have been feeding the local population for centuries.

Locals will tell you, with a big smile, that they used to grow everything here…except bananas and pineapples.

On the sea side, the water is dotted with three small islands: Sv. Juština, Veliki Školj, and Babuljaš, which you can visit via the “Staza Tri Otoka” (Trail of Three Islands).

Each islet has its own personality: a little church, a cross, a patch of wild forest. We visited Sv. Juština, which is the most recognizable symbol of Pakoštane: you’ve probably seen it in photos without realizing it.

It’s directly across from the village, tiny and beautiful, with a little church on top. For centuries it was a refuge for locals fleeing raids from the mainland. Today you can get there by kayak, boat, or, in the warmer months, you can just swim over!

What I was most surprised to find on the island: sea asparagus! I had never seen it before, or even knew it existed, but we tried it on the spot.

Apparently the island also has a freshwater spring somewhere in the soil, which may have something to do with Vransko jezero being so close. I still don’t fully understand the geology of it, but it is pretty cool nonetheless.

The World’s First Club Med Was in Pakoštane. Yes, Really.

Back in 1960, a Belgian adventurer and water polo champion named Gérard Blitz was so enchanted by Pakoštane that he chose it as the site for the very first Club Méditerranée resort in the world.

He built it in a deep sandy cove surrounded by pine forest, sprinkled it with simple straw-roofed bungalows and infused it with relaxed Mediterranean energy. And for the next 45 years, it ran as Club Pakoštane.

This was a huge deal for the tiny Dalmatian village of Pakoštane.

All of a sudden, locals had jobs. They were traveling and working at Club Med resorts around the world.

New languages, new cultures, new customs started arriving in Pakoštane. And with them, “neviste”, foreign, single women that fell for locals! These ladies came from places like Morocco, Greece, Egypt, Chad, and even Madagascar. Their descendants are still here, creating one of the most quietly multicultural communities you’ll find anywhere on the Croatian coast.

My favorite detail: the locals apparently picked up a habit from the French: drinking Ricard (a pastis liqueur with an herbal, anise flavor, similar to a Bronhi candy) before lunch as an aperitif. It’s a tradition that has stuck.

You’re supposed to mix Ricard with water because it’s about 40% alcohol, which feels like important advice.

Today, the old Club Med has been reborn as Pine Beach Resort Pakoštane, which continues in the spirit of its founder with an eco-friendly philosophy, rustic bungalows made from natural materials like reed and wood, and some bungalows intentionally built without TVs or standard electrical fittings.

The whole concept is about slowing down, getting off the grid a little, and being in the pine forest with the sea just footsteps away. There are more than 20 activities available at the resort including sailing school, tennis, kayaks, windsurfing, and more. There are also all-inclusive options that offer great deals (4 meals a day!) which is especially nice for families!

It’s safe to say that the bones of what made Club Med special are still absolutely there.

Maškovića Han: The Unexpected Ottoman Monument

A short drive from Pakoštane, in the village of Vrana, sits one of the most fascinating and unexpected historical sites in all of Croatia: Maškovića Han.

It’s the westernmost surviving monument of secular Ottoman architecture in Europe, and if that sentence doesn’t already have you reaching for Google Maps, let me add this: it was built by a boy born into poverty in Vrana who grew up to become one of the most powerful men in the Ottoman Empire and an admiral of the Ottoman fleet.

His name was Jusuf Mašković. He rose to extraordinary heights, and at the peak of his power decided to build this monumental han in his home village: a place to rest, to live, to return to. Political intrigue cut his plans short before it was ever finished.

The whole story reads like something between a Netflix series and a Croatian fairytale.

Today, the restored han is a Heritage Hotel, and this is actually where we stayed, which I highly recommend.

The rooms have original stone walls, wooden details, and a very particular atmosphere that you simply cannot get anywhere else in Dalmatia.

Thick walls, a quiet internal courtyard, and only the sound of birds chirping. It feels like sleeping inside history, but with actual comfortable beds (they were so soft!) and elegant modern design, which is the best of both situations.

The restaurant, TIMAR, is set inside what was once the han’s mosque, and the menu brings together Dalmatian and Ottoman influences: fresh fish, lamb, seasonal vegetables from nearby farms, and a wine list that deserves your full attention.

After dinner, we visited the newly renovated cocktail bar, which used to be a hammam! The original stone walls of the Turkish baths are still there, and the cocktail bar has been elegantly integrated into them featuring comfy cushions, ambient lighting, and hundreds of candles everywhere.

Eat Your Way Through Pakoštane (Seriously, Come Hungry)

Pakoštane is quietly becoming a serious food destination, and I say “quietly” only because not enough people know about it yet.

Walking through the stone streets, you’ll catch whiffs of fritule, pašta, brudet, roštilj, and the deep savory smell of bob na pešt, a thick stew made with bob beans (a type of large field bean) that has been feeding Dalmatians for centuries.

We got a bowl of it at OPG Tonka Šarin, which was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. More on that below.

For a proper dinner: Parparot is Pakoštane’s modern hidden gem, known for outstanding steaks and the kind of atmosphere where you’re eating under the stars surrounded by centuries-old stone walls. Tables need to be booked in advance, which is always a good sign.

For seafood: Konoba Pakoštanac has been doing this for more than half a century. Generations of locals and visitors have been coming back for the local fish, shellfish, squid, and the kind of simple preparation that only works when the ingredients are exceptional. Which here, they are.

You can find both of these spots in my Croatia Google Map!

The People Are What Make It

The landscape is beautiful. The food is excellent. But the people in Pakoštane are something else entirely.

We visited OPG Šarin, a family farm run by the wonderfully energetic Tonka, whose family has been working this land for generations.

She brought us into their centuries-old home kitchen and spread out an array of homemade products: candied almonds, candied orange peels, jams, homemade liqueurs, fresh juices. And then, completely unprompted, she brought out a bowl of bob stew that they were literally making for their own family lunch that day.

I can’t think of a warmer gesture than being invited into someone’s actual meal!

Then there was the pasta workshop with Bebi, whose real name is Robert Vulin, but who everyone in the village knows him as Bebi, the man who has cooked every wedding, every birth, every death, every celebration in Pakoštane for as long as anyone can remember.

His konoba is supposedly around 350-400 years old, with some locals placing its origins around 1650. We made a type of finger-shaped pasta from scratch, and then ate them with a homemade tomato sauce, šalša, that was extraordinary.

After dinner, the locals invited us to play briškula and trešeta, classic Dalmatian card games. We were absolutely terrible, but they absolutely didn’t care.

A Walk with a Legend: Put Babe Dore

One more thing worth knowing about before you go: the coastal walking path called Put Babe Dore, which connects Pakoštane and the neighboring village of Drage.

It runs along the sea with views of dramatic cliffs shaped by centuries of wind and waves, and it is absolutely stunning.

The legend attached to the path is very Dalmatian. Beneath the cliffs there’s a small yellow cave known as “Kuća Babe Dore”, or Baba Dora’s House.

For generations, grandmothers would tell children that if they wandered too far from home, Baba Dora would come out and take them to her cave by the sea. The Croatian coastal version of a boogeyman, essentially.

The story is still told to kids today, which I find both slightly alarming and completely charming. 😂

Final Thoughts on Pakoštane

Pakoštane is the kind of place that rewards the traveler who doesn’t just follow the crowd to the same five Dalmatian destinations.

It has sea and a nature reserve lake side by side, the ruins of the world’s first Club Med resort, an Ottoman monument with a story better than most films, pasta made by a man who is basically the heartbeat of the village, and people who will adopt you for an evening over cards and local wine.

Mid-Dalmatia has been telling the most interesting stories for a while now. Most people are just now starting to listen.