s in Stara BaškaThe holidays I spent in Stara Baška on the Krk Island were an unforgettable experience! We went there to let you get to know with this place even better, and we prepared a guide based on our last trip to that place.
Regarding the fact that the Stara Baška guide is long, we made a menu that will help you navigate through the article:
1. Why Stara Baśka
2. Accommodation in Stara Baška
3. How much money do you need to take to Stara Baška in Croatia?
4. Getting from Poland to Stara Baška
5. How much does it cost to get from Poland to Stara Baška?
6. Tourist attractions in Stara Baška
7. Sightseeing in Stara Baška
8. ATM and shopping in Stara Baška
9. Beaches in Stara Baška
10. Camping in Stara Baška
11. Restaurants in Stara Baška
12. Prices in Stara Baška
13. The weather in Stara Baška
14. What do you need to pack to Stara Baška?
So let’s set off for an adventure!
Hi, I am going to tell you about my 6th trip to Croatia, the destination of which was Stara Baška on the Krk Island. Before that, I had travelled by car to the regions of Dubrovnik, Split, Trogir, Makarska (we practically travelled along the entire Makarska Rivieria) and Šibenik. I had seen the Plitvice Lakes and the Krka waterfalls. I had also been to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Medjugorje, Mostar and Sarajevo.
I had also visited some islands, such as Mljet, Hvar or Korcula.
In other words, I had been to all the typical must-see places for a tourist spending their holidays in Croatia!
Still, there is much to be discovered.
My Croatia adventure started pretty long ago (considering my age :P) as it was around 10 – 15 years ago. Back then, the highways in Croatia were only reaching Split (this is how I remember it ) 😉
For the first two trips, I travelled with my brothers, and for yet another two trips I went with my then fiancée. For the last – 5th time – I didn’t go with my fiancée because she was already my wife. We also took our one-year-old baby who made their first steps on one of the most beautiful sand beaches in Croatia (Saplunara, The Mljet Island). My mom went with us to help and give us some time to rest.
Here are some of our pictures from Saplunara on the Mljet Island
But we don’t want to talk about Saplunara or the Mljet Island, it is Baška… Stara Baška that we focus on 😉
So now.
After 4 years – it was definitely too long a break from Croatia… – we decided to go by our own car again. This time with the whole family (previously, with our baby, we flew from Poznań to Dubrovnik – sadly, there is no direct connection like that anymore :(((( ).
How do I look for a holiday destination in Croatia?
Just like the last time when I used Google Maps to look for interesting regions and I found the beautiful Mljet Island, this time it also took me quite a while to find a place that would be relatively close, remote and amazing.
The last feature was not a problem as virtually every piece of Croatia is amazing, BUT not every place is close and remote 😉 Because I don’t like crowded and noisy places.
It didn’t take me long to pick the KRK island. This was the place I had never been to before. Also, it was close which was vitally important regarding the fact that I was travelling from Poland to Croatia with a baby.
While choosing the destination went smooth, it didn’t go so well later…
As big cities like Punat, Kornić, Malińska, Baśka or KRK got eliminated right off the bat – as I mentioned before, we were looking for beautiful, but remote places! – it was quite a challenge to choose smaller towns.
By the way, take a look at the beauty of the Krk Island:
Initially we picked Vrbnik, BUT because of the baby and the fact that it was magnificently beautiful but also high and upward – we let it go. As it turned out later, it was a good call because we travelled to Vrbnik on the last day of our trip and we realised it was not a good family holidays destination at all! It is pretty, ideal for romantic strolls holding each other’s hands, but at the same time awful for families traveling with a little baby.
We let go on Baška because of its popularity and crowdedness in the season. Though it is so beautiful in there!
So, if not Baška, why don’t we go to… Stara Baška? YES!
Ok, so we have our destination, but where do we sleep?
What about the accommodation in Stara Baška?
Accommodation in Stara Baška – rooms and apartments
When it comes to accommodation, we handled it pretty fast and smooth…with one warning about which I will write in a second.
To book accommodation in Stara Baška, we used the booking.com website. We set the right criteria and clicked the search button.
Search for rooms and apartments in Stara Baška
At first, a lot of room and apartment offers popped out. As there were still 3 months to our trip – we started looking at the beginning of June – we didn’t rush to book anything…and that was a mistake!
I got back to the accommodation search in Stara Baška after a week….and it turned out that half of the places had been already booked for the dates that we were interested in. There were few apartments and rooms we could choose from.
We hadn’t been keen on hotels since the very beginning.
This is why we needed to make our minds fast to get accommodation in the dates we wanted.
REMEMBER: IN SUMMER, vacancies DISAPPEAR FAST, EVEN IN A SMALL TOWN LIKE STARA BAŚKA!
We managed to book an apartment for 6 nights from August 30th to September 5th for… 2 207 zloty!
I think it is a very good price considering the fact that, in the more commercial places in the location, the prices start from 5 000 zloty…
The first apartment in Stara Baška that we got to sleep in had an over 350-year-old history associated with a church that was 3 meters from the apartment. The apartment was well-equipped and had it’s own roofed parking lot! This is a valuable asset for hot days in Croatia.
This is the view we had from the apartment:
The day we checked out from our first apartment, we headed to the town’s agency of tourism to have them help us find new accommodation, about which I will write more later. We wanted to prolong our stay there for a couple of days.
They offered us accommodation in an apartment near the town beach, literally at the beach. There were a few steps from the gate to the water.
They proposed €100 for a night. It ended at €80.
This is what our terrace and the view from our apartment at the beach and sea looked like.
Fun fact. The owner of the second apartment said that we were the first Poles whom he had decided to accommodate since 5 years ago. Other Poles used to be aggressive and steal from him.
Holidays in Stara Baška
Stara Baška is located at the very end of the KRK Island, at the other side of the mountains from Baška, but both cities (hmm, it is hard to call Stara Baška a city…) are not connected directly. If you want to go from Baška to Stara Baška, you need to go back to Punat and travel along the coast from there in order to reach your destination.
Check out where Stara Baška is on the map:
What made us choose Stara Baška as our Croatia holidays destination?
First of all, the size…little size to be precise.
It is a little town.
Secondly, the beaches about which I will write later.
Let me start with concrete things connected to the trip preparation itself, and I will get back to Stara Baška in a moment.
How did we prepare for the trip?
What did we pack for the trip?
My wife is very far-sighted and prescient so we took all the medication we had. It was a bit far from the nearest hospital and we were to live in the middle of nowhere so we’d better take anything we might need (important medications) when it comes to health.
Additionally, we packed swimming equipment such as: water shoes to protect ourselves from sea urchins (we also used them for walking on stone beaches and the sea bottom), swimming equipment for our baby: a tiny swimming board, water wings and other inflatables.
Bearing in mind the weather it was going to be, apart from some warm clothes, we also took some really thicker clothes too…just in case 😉
We also took a full list of emergency numbers and contacts to different places that we might need, such as: The Polish Embassies in various countries we were going to pass: the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, and of course Croatia. Apart from that, we also had emergency phone numbers to the police, the emergency medical services in Croatia, and phone numbers to our insurance provided and assistance.
Surely, we also packed phone chargers, a sat nav (which we didn’t use even once) and a photo camera to catch all those stunning views in The Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia.
Till the last moment, our insurance provider PZU kept us uncertain about an additional fee for extending the assistance to Europe, when finally the consultant made the claim that as for car assistance and travelling abroad, we should just use the PZM offer (Polish Automobile and Motorcycle Association).
So I did
After just 20 minutes, I became a member of PZM and a content owner of an international assistance. Find more info here: https://assistance.pzm.pl/
It costs 85 zloty.
Before setting off, we did a car check-up for a long journey.
Insured and equipped with the assistance service, we packed some sandwiches for the trip and some more water which we would need when we arrived, and we hit the road!
What didn’t we take?
We were definitely lacking something to shoot films with and take photos underwater. I recommend it.
We could also use some better hiking shoes. We had thought mainly about swimming and sunbathing.
How much money should you take to Croatia?
We took 465 euros and 4030 Croatian kunas. Additionally, we took a convex credit card (it’s important because one time before we didn’t have it and we encountered some problems with paying for gas at one of the gas stations in Austria…in the middle of the night).
Financially prepared, we hit the road.
The route from Poznań (Poland) to Stara Baška (Croatia)
We travelled by our own car to get to Stara Baška. Using our own car to get to Croatia is common practice for us – except the one time we took a plane, which I mentioned at the beginning.
According to Google Maps, we drove 1 234 kilometres.
It seems a lot, but it’s really not. It takes 550 more kilometres to get to Dubrovnik, for instance.
Here you can see the route we did from Croatia, going through the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovenia.
It was the first time we had chosen a route through Poland. We had always gone from Poznań to Beriln, then Munich, Austria and Slovenia. This time, due to the recommendation of my friends who had tested this route, we also decided to give it a go. We had always been sceptical about using Polish roads. However, now there is an expressway starting in Leszno so it is not that bad.
Then, there are just highways all the way 😉
This is the exact route we did from Poland to Stara Baška:
Poznań -> Gostyń -> Rawicz (avoiding the road through Leszno at all cost!) -> Wrocław (A4 highway here) -> Katowice (A1 highway) -> Ostrawa (Czechy) -> Olomouc -> Brno -> Vienna (Austria) -> Graz -> Maribor (Slovenia) -> Ptuj -> Zagreb (Croatia) -> Karlovac -> Rijeka -> Krk -> Punat -> Stara Baška.
PS. At this moment, I need to add that 2 months after we returned to Poland, we received a letter from a letter with a €80 ticket for speeding, caught by a speed camera (I think I remember a flash going out after just a few kilometres we drove having entered Austria from the side of Mikulov). As it turned out later, after 2 weeks came another ticket from Austria. This time it was €100 from somewhere near Vienna. So we got caught one time going to Stara Baška and a second time heading back. It gives €180 in total for two tickets from an Austrian highway.
We departed from Poznań around 6:00 p.m on Wednesday. We drove the west beltway headed to Kurnik. From there, going through Śrem and Gostyń we reached Rawicz where we entered the S5 expressway and went to Katowice passing Opole and Gliwice. Near Katowice, we turned to the Czech Republic boarder – this is where we bought a vignette at a gas station (about the things you need to pay attention to when getting a vignette in the Czech Republic, I will write a little further on) – more specifically we went to Ostrava, then Olomuniec and Brno.
Going on highways all the time.
From Brno, we went to Austria, to the capital city of Austria which is Vienna to be specific.
This is when we need to stop for a moment because right at the end of the Czech Republic, right at the Austrian boarder, we decided to spend the night. It was past midnight.
We chose the city of Mikulov to spend the night. In particular, a charming Zamecek Hotel was our pick (here you can check room availability).
This is the exact location of the hotel on the map:
There wouldn’t have been anything charming about this place if it hadn’t been for two things….
One thing was important for us, the second important for our camera.
Namely: Mikulov was exactly midway between our home and our destination. Thus, it was perfect for spending the night. It was so important for us.
The second thing is…a beautiful castle that can be seen through the hotel’s windows. Check this out yourself:
We paid €71 for the accommodation.
We slept one night, ate breakfast and hit the road again. Right after crossing the boarder, we bought a vignette for Austrian road, of course.
From previously mentioned Vienna, we headed to Graz, from where we entered Slovenia through Maribor and Ptuj, having bought a Slovenian vignette at the boarder.
Going further on, we entered Croatia.
At the boarder, we waited a few seconds because the customs officers decided to count the documents we showed them.
What did that look like?
So: if you show three documents and there are 3 people in the vehicle, you can proceed… 😉 to cut the story short. The custom officer let virtually everyone go. Though a small line formed there.
I was much more surprised to see what was going on at the other side of the highway.
The line to exit Croatia went for shy of 5 kilometers. Probably everyone came up with the idea to come back from Croatia 2 days earlier, before the school semester started.
Going through Croatia, we passed Zagreb, Karlovac and headed to Rijeka. We passed Rijeka and went to the KRK Island, on which we got through a spectacular, toll bridge (you just pay to enter the island, there is no charge for leaving).
Then, going reaaaaly slowly, we arrived at Stara Baška, passing a huge Konzum store at the entrance of the island, then the city of KRK and Punat along the way.
Croatia with children
Our baby fell asleep in the evening and woke up…we woke the baby up at the hotel in Mikulov (check for vacancies).
I wasn’t bad at all 😉
We spent some time to discuss the countries and towns we had passed, history and geography etc.
Let’s now say a few words about money…so how much it costs go from Poland to Croatia by your own car.
So how much did it cost to go from Poland to Croatia by car?
We filled up at the beltway of Poznań having half a tank. So for starters, we paid 187 zloty, while the same amount of money had already been in our fuel tank. We also paid 16 zloty 20 groszy at the highway toll gates somewhere near Katowice.
That’s it for Poland.
In the Czech Republic, we bought a vignette for 310 koruna and refuelled for 999 koruna (it took 233 zloty from our credit card)
Here an important tip for you!
If you are planning on going through the Czech Republic and coming back in more than 10 days, it is better to buy a month vignette than two 10-day vignettes. The difference is about 8 euros.
In Mikulov, we bought a vignette to Austria for €11 and paid €71 for an accommodation for 2 adults and one child.
In Slovenia, we purchased a vignette for €15 and fuelled up 98 petrol for €76,5
In Croatia, we paid 67 and 39 kunas for highways (after crossing the bridge).
Ok, so we reached Stara Baška
What next?
A few words about Stara Baška
The town itself is not big. You can go around it in 3 minutes and it is extremely tight in there so for two cars to pass next to each other is practically undoable (I love that thing in the seaside villages in Croatia, everyone that has been there knows why ;)). It is only thanks to the drivers there doing unthinkable manoeuvres that it is possible to pass an upcoming car.
Tight as a….and parking lots are located in strange places, which makes for an additional attraction. All in all, Stara Baška is not much different a place from other seaside towns and cities.
This is not all yet.
Stara Baška has a nice smell!
In this place wafts a particular scent which comes from the plants growing there. The water there has the same smell, so does the air! I haven’t managed to learn what in particular is responsible for that smell…but it is magnificent.
Tourist attractions in Stara Baška
Stara Baška is a small town but there is all manner of tourist attractions. If there are monuments, sightseeing always comes into play. I will tell you about a few now, the rest will be covered in the latter part of the article.
Hikers will be beyond pleased!
This is why you should have better shoes with you, which will make walking on rocks safe.
Here and there you will find a sing informing about a possibility of mountain hiking and reaching a few summits or nearby towns. The highest mountains are 482 m (Veli Hlam), then 541 m (Veli vrh), and 568 m (Obzovo). The same hiking routes can be approached from the Punat’s side and you can reach Stara Baška through the mountains (it takes about 4-5 hours).
You can also hike in the nearby mountains, bays and the city itself, about which I will tell you in a minute.
Stara Baška also has its own cemetery which you can reach using one of the routes up the mountains.
There is also a tourist info point located near the church which is 3 meters from our first apartment 😉
In the tourist info point you can rent an apartment or a room in Stara Baška, lear more about the town, exchange money, and get information and advertisement folders. You can also buy souvenirs and postcards, which are not high quality to be honest.
As I mentioned before, there is a church in Stara Baška, in which masses…. take place every Sunday at at 9:00 a.m.
Right after a mass is finished, at the ledge in front of the church, a small grocery market opens up. Depending on what’s in stock, you can buy tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, grapes or watermelons.
There is a small harbor/port. Luckily, there are no ferries so only local boats and motorboats pass by. The water is usually peaceful and quiet, just what we wanted. Rarely do tourist boats sail in. They transport people from Punat and Krk.
In the port, there is also a parking lot, for which you pay 5 kunas per hour or 70 kunas per day.
I should add that when in the port in Stara Baška, we saw dolphins breaching the surface of the water! They are common visitors in that region.
I also recommend you have a stroll along the lanes in the old part of Stara Baška, they are enchanting:
You can stumble upon beautiful views along the way:
You can also rent a scooter by calling this number.
BUSES, RV’S AND CARAVANS ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED FROM ENTERING STARA BAŚKA.
The reason is simple. The streets are so narrow that it is problematic for two cars to pass each other, even for the small ones.
Another tourist attraction that comes from the location and situation of Stara Baška on the map is the possibility to rent a boat and have a cruise around the local bays and beaches.
How much does it cost to go for a cruise in Stara Baška?
In high season, the longest cruise our host wanted to take us for costs €150. Off season, it lowers to €120.
What does the cruise entail?
Sailing to Baška and seeing it at a distance; then getting to the Goli Island, coming ashore and sightseeing. The history of the island is, well, curious.
Arriving at the Grgur Island and enjoying the beautiful beach, going to a restaurant where ”wild” deer eat out from your hand and plate.
Returning to Stara Baška. The entire cruise takes about 5h.
There is also a shorter alternative which includes sailing to the city of Krk and Punat and seeing them from the boat.
Getting to one of the many bays and swimming in a bay of your choice.
We chose the latter option because of the baby who just wanted to go on a boat without spending 5 hours on the local islands.
Such an attraction costs €80 in season and €60 off season
Sure, after you make terms with the captain, you can go and swim wherever you want, and however long you want. But it requires a commission of some sort.
Here are some pictures of bays in between Stara Baška and the city of Punat. It is impossible to reach the bays from the land side.
AMT’s and stores in Stara Baška
There is no store, post office or a grocery store in Stara Baška. So you need to get all the shopping from the shops in Punat.
There aren’t any ATM’s in Stara Baška either. The only place that you can exchange your money is the aforementioned tourist info.
The nearest ATM is located at the camping site and in Punat close to the port. In Punat, there is practically an ATM on every street.
Getting back to the stores: you should do the shopping in the Trgovina Krk store in Punat, it located is just at the entrance to Punat in the Stara Baška’s direction, before the Pila camping site. Its quality can be compared to the Polish ’’Piotr I Paweł” store.
You will buy anything you need in there.
Meat, bread, cheese, beach stuff, souvenirs and basically anything you want.
There are also an ATM, and a travel agency, and a tourist information point here.
At the end of the same street called Ivana Gorana Kovačića 6 street, there is another store, not so well equipped though, but there is a hairdresser 😀 , a well-equipped bakery and, mark my words, a grocery store with an absolutely magnificent avocado
A MEGA fruit and vegetable booth. The owner is a great guy. They have got delicious grapes from…Sicily ; )
Just behind the wall of the store, there is a bakery, and local farmers put out their their fruit and vegetables nearby from time to time.
A few meters away is a well-equipped butcher’s shop. Behind it, on the left, there is a big parking lot where you can leave your car for up to 30 minutes without a fee and do the shopping….but I have never seen anybody pay there.
It is all located on one street at a distance of 100 meters. To get to the port and the boardwalk in Punat, you need to turn right behind the butcher’s shop at the intersection next to the booth and go up the street. There are also a lot of kiosks, AMT’s, and a post office open till 21:00 (there is no post office in Stara Baška as I’ve already told you) and you can buy a ticket for a cruise around the local islands.
Between Punat and Stara Baška
Along the way from Putant to Stara Baška, there are a lot of places where you should pull over and take some photos because the views are outstanding! You should just mind the rocks under the wheels and over your head.
Halfway between Putant and Stara Baška, there is this yellow booth where a local beekeeper and farmer sell their products. You’ll buy white wine, soup, lavender essential oils, honey and olive oil.
Here’s a fun fact. Halfway between Punat and Stara Baška runs the 45th parallel:
Sometimes, sheep appear on the road, they walk and enter literally everywhere!
Gas stations on the Krk Island
Going to Stara Baška, you should have your tank full because there is no gas station in Stara Baška. The nearest gas station from Stara Baška is at the entrance to the city of Krk. More gas stations appear when you go further into the island. The closer to the bridge, the more gas stations.
We’ve done the shopping, so now it’s high time we went for a swim!
Beaches in Stara Baška on the KRK island
The first beach you will see from the way to Stara Baška is Oprna Bat.
Beautifully located and hard to reach!
Yet another view at Oprna beach, the approach road from Punat to Stara Baška and the valley this amazing beach in located in.
As you can see in the skyline picture, down the valley, there are love bombs arranged with stones…it looks quite nice when you drive! In the place I took the picture, cars often pull over to grasp that view. It is truly incredible!
In order to get to Oprna beach, you need to park your car at the approach road from Punat to Stara Baška. A lot of tourist go for that option so the road is almost forever crowded. Going down the mountain is the only way to the beach. No other path would lead you there.
But we’ve never tried to get there…we preferred other beaches in that region : )
Yet another look at Oprna beach, this time from the sea during a cruise:
Literally 100 meters away, there is a second bay. The parking and access is exactly the same as in the case of Oprna Bay.
Camping in Stara Baška.
Next to come is Škrila Sunny Camping and the beach there. We don’t know if you can come there with no prior arrangement, we haven’t tried. It is highly unlikely though.
Here are some pictures with a view at the camping site from the approach road:
In the foreground, you see the Škrila Sunny Camping with the beach, bay and the space for RV’s, caravans and tents. In the middle distance, there are mountains and the bay in which Stara Baśka is located. In the background, you can see 1 500-meter-high mountains in the continent, the Goli Island, the Grgur Island, and the Rap Island.
Above is a view at the same camping site, and below you can see a picture of the approach road, the camping site, and the bay in which the Škrila Sunny camping site is located.
At the entrance to Stara Baška, there is the first town beach…one can say that there is as much as a square meter of sand on that beach ; ) The rest is sadly rocks and stones.
The view at both sides
The beach is not big, BUT a few people go there because most of them head to Oprna, Zala (about which I’ll tell you in a moment), or the main town beach about which I will also say more in a second).
AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE BEACH, YOU WILL FIND A MOUNTAIN SPRING WITH A SIGN THAT PROHIBITS DRINKING THAT WATER!!!
Literally a few hundred meters away, there is another beach called Barčica, and I don’t know why I don’t have any pictures of it….but you will be able to spot it in other pictures in the following part of the text.
All of the beaches in Stara Baška are practically stony. Reaaaaly stony….There are stairs leading to the last two beaches I mentioned.
A lot of stairs.
The last town beach is located near the port. All right, it’s a small port.
It is the most popular beach located in the centre of Stara Baška (more popular are Oprna and Zala…).
The water here is definitely the warmest in the entire region. A changing room and a shower, which costs 2 kunas, are also available at this beach. There is a ramp for people in wheelchairs, but there are no facilities for the disabled or mothers with little children on the beach for there are only rocks and no stiffen matt nor ramp to use. You are not allowed to bring dogs to the beach – but not everyone respected this.
Additional three shots at the beach.
Apart from Stara Baška, Zala beach is also a very popular one.
To drive or walk there, you need to turn in Stara Baška at the sign leading to the road upwards:
I will say a bit more about this beach because, in our opinion, it is worth visiting. Surely, the water is much cleaner than at the town beach, it’s crowded when the weather is nice (it’s a minus!), beautifully located among rocks from which you can jump in.
Zala beach
In front of the beach, there is a huge parking lot a huge portion of which is chargeable (we didn’t see anyone to charge for parking, BUT there is a booth and info about it, so maybe in high season they do charge for parking).
At the entrance to the beach is a bar where you can buy ice cream, beer and chips. You can also rent an umbrella which is perfect for sun protection, and canoes which are on the right side of the beach.
Unfortunately, Zala is not a sandy beach, it’s stony. The stones are tiny but it is hard to walk or enter the water without shoes because the descent into the water, though gradual, is also stony.
ZALA IS REALLY PERFECT FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN, EVEN THE YOUNGEST.
A huge advantage is the fact that there are no sea urchins.
Attention!
THE WATER IN THE SEA IS COLD THERE…!
We were also surprised by this fact. People who enter the water for the first time and don’t know what it is like are shocked. The water is really cold.
However, it is only cold for 10 meters from the shore. If you go beyond that point it gets warmer, as typical Croatian water should be. The reason for it is cold water descending from the mountains, going into the bay, and cooling the water.
So you should dive in, swim 10 – 15 meters and enjoy warm water. There are beautiful rocks around and small bays with colorful fish and sea urchins (just by the side rocks, there aren’t any on the beach).
The beach itself is quite a beauty, as I’ve already mentioned. See for yourself!
I mentioned that you can jump into water from the rocks there:
And a view at Zala from the mountains that rise behind it…I’ll write about them in a minute:
Right behind it, there is yet another and last beach in Stara Baška towards which leads the same road you go to Zala. By the parking lot at Zala, you need to proceed forward (not into the mountains on your left, not to the parking lot on your right, just go up the hill).
The beach is as charming as Zala, however smaller. It’s located in a bay among rocks. Some say it’s a beach for nudists that found their place there. Of course, nudists are in minority, and the beach is in general ”casual” ; )
I recommend walking from Zala to the beach that I’ve just described. Along the way you will see an old church and, from up high, admire the view of the KRK Island, the Croatian continent, the Goli Island, Grgur Cres and Rab, Stara Baška and nearby bays.
The approach road is demanding and not every car will cope….sometimes even the newest, powerful cars fail while the old, rusty cars succeed.
These are all the beaches in Stara Baška.
Sadly, there are no sandy beaches. There are more example of water entrances but I described only the most popular, spectacular and suitable for families with kids.
Along the way from Zala to the beach I mentioned a while ago, there are a few attractions you should see. Firstly, the view because the road spreads high above the bays and water.
The main view is the continent, the Goli Island, Grgur, Rab and Cres that goes all along the Krk Island
Further on, you will encounter the ruins of St. Jerome’s church
The things you should do being in the region of Zala and the ruins of St. Jerome’s church is listen and watch carefully, because there are sheep everywhere, bleating, wandering and jumping:
I’d also like to make a comment about the beaches themselves, but from a different perspective.
What should you bring to a beach in Croatia?
Definitely, you need to take shoes protecting from sea urchins and rocks. Without them, it’s is difficult to walk and enter the water (tough there were people using flip-flops and crocs – they would put flip-flops on their hands and use them as flippers). Stony beaches make it hard to go barefoot, and sea urchins are quite a hazard.
Here’s a small tip about sea urchins.
If a sea urchin gets into your foot, do not remove the spines when you are out of the water. Do it in water. It’d be much easier.
Another thing is a large umbrella or a beach bent which will give you some shade and relief from the sun, which can be really tiring.
Next, take two or three spare swimsuits. It’s no good being in a wet and cold swimsuit.
Of course, you must have all kinds of sunscreens and sunburn medication.
Ok, enough about the beaches and the village. What’s next?
So what and where should you eat in Stara Baška
Bars and restaurants in Stara Baška, so what and where you should eat
With Stara Baška being a small, coastal resort, there are a few restaurants. All of them all placed near the port.
Here is a list of them:
• Grill Felix – the best restaurant in Stara Baška by far
• Restaurant Mul (the prices given in this text are from that restaurant) – it’s mediocre
• Restoran „Marina” – we haven’t been there
• Nadia restuarant
• Buon Appetito – we haven’t been there either
In September, the end and tiredness of the season is in the air. You can tell by service crews who struggle to stay professional. I consider Croatians to be simple people (it’s a compliment) – far from vulgar or crude. So they can give a wrong impression at times. I love simple people….not complicated.
As for the Mul restaurant itself, if you do not get your hopes too high, you will enjoy it. Homey atmosphere there. The food is ok. Pizza is fine. This is a typical restaurant with a sea view in a Croatian village. We were not too amazed.
I definitely recommend the Grill Felix restaurant. It’s best to go to the lowest level and enjoy this view:
You should also know that there is free Wi-Fi in the Grill Felix restaurant.
For someone who seeks gluten-free food, eco (hmmmm…the question is whether you can actually call their tomatoes or grapes etc. eco, since they do not have any eco certificates – you need to answer that for yourself 😉 ) will probably not find it.
In general, we did the shopping in a store in Punat – every 2 days or so – and we cooked at home.
Meal prices in restaurants and bars in Stara Baška
Here are the prices of dinners, drinks and other food we bought in restaurants in Stara Baška. On the first day, we went to the Mul restaurant and we paid what follows:
1. Pizza with tuna 55 kunas
2. Vegetarian pizza 55 kunas
3. Vege burger 55 kunas
4. Grilled vegetables 50
So for a dinner for 2 adults and 1 child in a restaurant, no drinks, you need to spend around 215 kunas. With drinks, this meal would probably go higher to 250 – 280 kunas depending on what you like to drink ; )
The other day, we went to the Grill Felix restaurant and ate this:
1. Fish soup 32 kunas
2. Grilled steak 110 kunas
3. Bread for the soup 6 kunas
4. Bottled bear 23 kunas
5. Squeezed orange juice 0.5 L 28 kunas
6. Fish plate for two 340 kunas
7. Bread 6 kunas
8. Cappuccino 11 kunas
9. Crepes with chocolate 25 kunas
10. Crepes with fruit 32 kunas
And we drank one bottled bear 0.5l 23 kunas.
So in total we paid 203 kunas for the entire meal in this restaurant.
I also recommend ordering a plate of fish and sea food for 2.
Food prices in stores in Punat
1. Ciabata 4 kunas
2. Bread with chia seeds 8.5 kunas
3. Meat for grilling (4 servings + a balkan treat for grilling) 77 kunas
4. 100 grams of Edam cheese 8.5 kunas
5. Duracel AA batteries 34 kunas
6. A little jar with a dinner for our baby 8.5 kunas for a smaller one and 12 kunas for a larger one
7. Butter 18 kunas or a different one called Maslac butter 250g 17.99 kunas
8. A package of 10 eggs 16.40 kunas
9. A plastic bag 0.30 kunas
10. A package of water 1.5l Jana 47.94 kunas
11. A lined notebook 1.49 kunas
12. White bread 400 g 6 kunas
13. Sour bread 800 g 9 kunas
14. Bananas 2 kg 21.87 kunas
15. Ginger 0.125 kg 3.75 kunas
16. Goat cheese 53 kunas
17. A package of salted chips 150 g 17.99 kunas
18. Hair shampoo 250 ml 17.99 kunas
19. Trash bags 8.99 kunas
20. A doughnut 5 kunas
21. A plastic bag 0.30 kunas
22. Gouda cheese 100 g 7.99 kunas
23. A package of parsley 100 g 8.99 kunas
24. A package of salami 11.99 kunas
25. A package of 10 eggs, M size 16.40 kunas
26. A package of cookies from 7 to 16 kunas depending on a type
27. Single-use package of jam from 1.29 to 2.58 kunas
Alcohol prices in stores in Punat
1. Cabernet Sauvignon red wine 49.99 kunas
All the above shopping was not done in Kozuma, but in the Trgovina KRK d.d chain in the town of Punat. We mostly went to these located at the Ivana Gorana Kovačića 71 street – they are very well equipped. There’s all kinds of stuff, from fruit, vegetable to meat, bread, alcohol and flip-flops, umbrellas etc. Everything a tourist may need.
Prices and shopping at a grocery market in Punat look like this:
1. 3 large bunches of green grapes
2. 2 large bunches of red grapes
3. 6 apples
For all that, I paid 227 kunas….or 220 because the seller had no change.
• A handful of parsley 3 kunas
• A kilogram of watermelon 8 kunas
On the morning the day we were going back to Poland, we stopped by in Vrbnik for sightseeing. Before leaving, we tried some of the local cuisine in a restaurant and did some shopping in a store. There are wonderful restaurants at the top of the city – delicious food.
Here are the prices of shopping and dinners in restaurant in Vrbnik
1. A portion of ice cream 9 kunas
2. A package of Jana water 0.5l 40.20 kunas
3. Cream coffee (delicious!) 17 kunas
4. A large still water in a restaurant 28 kunas
5. Pasta with shrimps 95 kunas
6. Meet sandwich (a la burger) with fries 75 kunas
7. Tuna salad 95 kunas
We swam, we ate.
What about the weather?
The weather in Stara Baška
When it comes to the weather and water temperature in the area of Stara Baška and the KRK island, I should comment on it with this screenshot from July :
I rest my case. It’s sooooo hot! And the water temperature in the Adriatic sea…is a dream 😉 Importantly, we had proper sunbathing cosmetics for us and our baby. At this point, we direct you to a guide that will tell you what to take and pack for vacation (editing footnote ; ) ).
However, as we were supposed to arrive on Thursday, the weather was going to turn for worse. But, the optimistic thing is that when looking at other locations, there were only thunderstorms and heavy overcast starting Saturday. ; )
After we got there, there were only two thunderstorms. Both of them started around 10.00 p.m and in the morning it was all sunny. The weather was good!
Why should you go to Croatia off season?
The time we chose, i.e the beginning of September – partially because all the other dates had been already taken – seemed to be perfect. I had been in Croatia in July and August before….and I couldn’t stand it.
It’s seriously too hot.
Especially is this true when you are sitting on a rock and you have nothing to cover yourself from the scorching heat. So this time we chose a place with a sandy beach – ok, let’s say there were tiny stones ; ) – and a chance to put out an umbrella or a beach tent.\
For families travelling with a child, here is an important appeal – make sure your kids have shelter from the sun!
Especially so if go to Croatia in season. An airy beach tent with a UV filter or an umbrella are a good solution.
We have some experience travelling to this country in September and we know it’s good. Off season, it is a bit cheaper, the weather is more gentle (the days are shorter) and the water is still warm! Though as you could see above, the weather can be a bit moody even in Croatia!
I wanted to write that there were fewer people….but it’s not that obvious anymore. Especially in the first two weeks of September.
Going for vacation to Stara Baška you should visit the official webpage of the Krk Island where you will find all the practical tourist information.