Petrcane - We liked it!

Testing sea resorts

We are a Hungarian family with two teenage kids. For a long time we did not want to go to the sea on holiday, because we had heard too many bad stories about the crowds and noise, and this image was confirmed by the postcards we had seen showing north Italian beaches, with endless rows of hotels, parasols and millions of people. 'It is not our cup of tea' we thought. Instead - it was at the beginning of the 90s - we went to the mountains and spent memorable cultural holidays in some art capitals of Europe.

Then, about 10 years ago we decided to put the Greek sea to the test, and immediately we fell in love with the Mediterranean. The only problem was the journey. We prefer cars, simply because we would like to get to know the countryside as much as it is possible and we also like the freedom it provides. But Greece is far from Hungary by car, and what is even more problematic; you have to drive through Serbia and Macedonia. Just remember, first there was the Balkan war, later Macedonia introduced tourist visa, so Greece was out of question.

But we heard a lot of fine things about Italy, so the decision was easily made, 'Let's go there next time'. We still wanted to avoid the crowds and all these things so we went to south Italy, which is less overcrowded. First we visited Vieste in Gargano Peninsula, and the following year we spent two wonderful weeks in Sicily (first photo). But south Italy is extremely far from Hungary by car, Sicily is, for example, a 2200-kilometer journey, just to get there. Meanwhile once we checked a north Italian beach, it was Grado, but unfortunately it confirmed our previous fears. The water was dirty, the beach was noisy and incredibly crowded. On the top of that, it was more expensive than any other places.

Finding Petrcane

The above-mentioned story shows that during the years we fully neglected Croatia. At first, the reason was the Balkan war, later its relatively bad reputation for high prices, poor services and the Easter European atmosphere that is definitely something that a Hungarian family do not really want to meet when on the beach.

Then some years ago our friends, their picturesque postcards and holiday brossuores persuaded us that it was high time to try Croatia. The war was over and in the photos of our friends the sea and sky were as blue as elsewhere. And the most important: it is relatively near. First, we traveled to a small Dalmatian town, called Orebic, and we really liked it. We drove through Bosnia-Herzegovina, saw the ruins of war, but we found the people and country friendly and extremely likable. Orebic is a nice resort with full of sunshine; it has two great beaches (click here for photos of Orebic and its neighborhood), but not the place for which it is worth traveling two times 900 kilometers, especially if you can find nearly the same halfway. So the next destination was a tiny village on the Istria peninsula. Its name is Ravni, and it is so small that most of maps neglect it. If you want to find it, you must look for it near Labin and Rabac. The landscape was beautiful, the calmness was charming, but the weather - in July - was far from perfect. Moreover, telling the truth, we got bored a bit. Labin does not have shops, cafes, and restaurants, only a small and pricey corner shop. (See photos of Labin and its neighborhood here). In general we are in love with tranquility, but Labin was a bit too much if.

By that time we got engaged to Croatia, its dramatic seaside, clear water, the people, and we realized that we were much closer to this country in spirits than any others. So we started to find another location in the middle of the country and that was the point when we found Petrcane. On the pictures it looked nothing special, but it seemed to be a good compromise.

Petrcane

On arriving we happily realized that it was exactly what we had been looking for. A typical, but charming seaside village, which is out of the main stream of the tourist industry, but has all the facilities you need to have a good time by the sea.

Petrane is about 10 kilometers from Zadar, and although most of the property owners live there it is not a suburb of Zadar. The village seems to have three main spots: the neighboring holiday village, called Punta Scala, the Hotel Pinija and the village itself. We popped in Punta Scala once but we did not like it at all so we fully neglected it later. Hotel Pinea is in the focal point of the place dominating the village with its beaches, bars and other services, but two days after our arrival we realized that the village is much more attractive than the hotel.

Petrcane is actually a fishing village, with a small center and a larger ring of holiday homes. There is a small supermarket, where you can get your daily groceries, there are some pubs, bars and restaurants, none of them is too posh, and there are some stalls for toys, beach equipment and so. That is all. (Photos of Pertcane and its neighborhood.)

According to the holiday brochures, its beach is sandy but you should not forget 'sandy' is a flexible term on Croat beaches. And this is exactly the case in Petrcane. The main beach of the village is a relative small bay, partly under the trees. The shore is full of pebbles with sharp edges and you find these in the water too. The sand actually starts some meters from the shore. Children enjoy it, but it is far form the white-sand Caribbean paradises and definitely not something you should travel hundreds of miles.

The beaches around Hotel Pinija look nice too, but they all are pebbly or rocky, as we saw. The hotel is a closed area, but in fact nobody stops you at the reception if you want to enter. Its beaches are nice but we preferred other small beaches on the other side of the hotel towards Zadar. They are not easy to find, but any local person can tell you the way if you say, you are looking for Punta Radman, which is a tiny hill with a large number of holiday homes and small hotels. These little beaches are rocky too but quiet and clear, and you always can find some square meters to lay your beach stuff.

Petrcane is not an ideal place for a holiday if you prefer heavy beach parties or nightlife. The village starts to cloze down at around 11 pm, which does not mean that you cannot find a restaurant or bar where you can eat or drink after midnight but the place is not about it. That is why we like it.

Zadar

To be frank, the neighborhood of the village does not abound with sensational places but there are some of them which worth a visit.

First of all Zadar, which is a 10-minute trip from Petrcane. According to the guidebooks it is the only larger Croatian town that lies in a flatland so it does not have that dramatic beauty. Zadar is an industrial town with housing estates and high-rise blocks, but the center of the town is a remarkable place. Before arrival it is highly recommended for everyone to open a guidebook to get a general view of the place, and more importantly, to have some ideas what you want to see. On the scene, in the narrow, winding streets there are so many old churches, towers, roman runs that are impossible to decide where to walk and which to visit.

If you organize your visit well, you can see every significant signs during half a day, if you take it as it comes, perhaps you stroll in the streets for days and at the and of the visit you think you have seen only a small part of the it.

Zaton

According to the holiday brochures in the neighborhood there is the village Sabunike with sandy beach. Well, we checked it, and did not like it at all. The smaller problem was that place is in the middle of nowhere, with apparently poor infrastructure, the bigger problem was that it looked somehow unfriendly and barren. The shore is pebbled, inside the water there is sand but we did not feel like going into the water.

If someone prefers Italian-style beaches but by mistake arrived in Croatia then Zaton Holiday Village can be a kind if solution to this problem. We also went there once, as it is really children friendly. The village has a free beach but most of the people rent a room or apartment in the area of Holiday Village or buy a daily ticket to enter. You can check the actual prices here. The beach resembles the classical, long, parasol-filled and crowded sandy beaches with the standard bars, pools, animation sessions and topless women. As I said, we do not like this kind of holiday but enjoyed it for a day.

Near Petrocane you can find a small town called Nin, which once was the spiritual center of Croatia, the bishop lived here. Walking on the small historical streets the earlier importance is the town is not easy to see but Nin is still a pleasant place to collect some cultural experience. Its biggest tourist attraction is the allegedly "smallest cathedral in the word." This strange white building stands near the town center on a meadow, and looks like a model of the "real cathedrals". The interesting thing is that you still feel some kind of spiritual power around it. Unfortunately the building is locked for tourist.

Image galery of Petrcace