Holiday in Novalja

About Novalja

Novalja on the island of Pag is Croatia's answer to Ibiza – a holiday destination that delights during the day with crystal-clear bays and a barren lunar landscape and transforms at night into the wildest party mile of the Adriatic at the famous Zrće Beach. Zrće Beach, just three kilometers south of Novalja, hosts a number of legendary open-air clubs like Papaya, Kalypso, and Aquarius, attracting international top DJs to Croatia from June to September. Kalypso has established itself as the new top club on the beach. The Ultra Europe Festival, one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world, has repeatedly hosted afterparty events here. But Novalja is much more than just a party. The island of Pag itself is a fascinating natural landscape that resembles a lunar surface: karst rocks, sparse vegetation, bizarre rock formations, and an endless play of light and shadow. This inhospitable beauty has its own charm and makes Pag one of the most photogenically interesting islands in the Mediterranean. The famous Pag cheese (Paški sir), a spicy hard cheese made from sheep's milk that gains its unique flavor from the salty sea breeze and wild herbs of the island, is one of Croatia's most sought-after delicacies. The old town of Novalja, with its small harbor and stone houses, offers a pleasant contrast to the party hustle at the beach. The Roman aqueduct beneath the town, an underground tunnel from the 1st century, can be visited and bears witness to the long history of settlement. For families and vacationers seeking peace, the beaches Caska and Babe north of Novalja are significantly quieter than Zrće. Access is via the bridge from the mainland (about 1.5 hours from Zadar) or by ferry from Prizna to Žigljen.