Explore Island of Pag, Croatia
Discover the island of Pag from In Excelsis Hotel — turquoise beaches, UNESCO Pag lace, award-winning cheese, salt pans, olive gardens and five national parks nearby.
Pag — Croatia's Most Extraordinary Island
The island of Pag has a personality unlike any other in the Adriatic. Lunar landscape. Wild herbs. Famous and awarded Croatian sheep cheese. Lace on the UNESCO list. Salt produced here for over a thousand years. And beaches so clear they look digitally enhanced.
Pebble and sand beaches ring the island while the Velebit mountain range dominates the Eastern landscape of Pag. The southern part of the island is covered with thick and high reeds and driving around makes you feel like you are in some kind of jungle.
In the north of the island you reach the picturesque, historic town of Novalja.
In Excelsis is your base. Everything below is within reach.
Novalja
Situated in a picturesque cove amidst beautiful sandy beaches and pine trees, Novalja provides exciting holidays and authentic Croatian experiences. Rich in gastronomy, especially in cheese production and olive oil, this island and its vibrant town of Novalja offer memorable insta –worthy moments.
Novalja attracts young people from all over the world. Croatia’s most popular beach Zrće has over the last two decades become one of the hottest world destinations for clubbers with biggest DJ names in the world! Therefore, the city of Novalja, in domestic and foreign media, is called the ‘Croatian Ibiza’.
But Novalja and surrounding area are offering so much more – rich cultural heritage, mecca for recreation and sports, gastronomy paradise, beach heaven.
Paški sir is produced from the milk of Pag sheep that graze on salt-coated grass. Sea salt is carried by strong bura wind, aromatic herbs such as immortelle, sage and rockrose give specific taste of milk. It is the most internationally awarded Croatian cheese and a protected designation of origin product. Every year in July, Novalja hosts the traditional sheep and cheese fair.
Pag Cheese — Croatia's Most Awarded Sheep Cheese
Pag Lace — UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
First recorded in the 15th century. Exceptional beauty of patterns and the centuries old tradition of making. The patterns and technique have been passed from mother to daughter for six centuries. Today you can still see women making lace in the narrow streets of Pag Town. The Gallery of Pag Lace and the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Margherita are unmissable stops. Benedictine nuns of the Monastery were the main initiators of the lace craft in Pag. Inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.
80,000 olive trees, some over 1,500 years old, in a protected botanical reserve at the northern tip of the island. One of the most extraordinary natural sites in the entire Mediterranean. Declared a strict botanical reserve.
Olive Gardens of Lun
Turquoise Beaches of Novalja
Babe, Beritnica, Ručica, Metajna, Jadrija, Caska, Planjka — pebble and sand beaches with water so clear the bottom is visible at depth. The Life on Mars trail (opened 2019, 16 km, 4 marked routes) connects the most spectacular beaches via a trekking route through Metajna.
Pag salines are among the oldest and most productive on the Croatian coast. The Salt Museum in Pag Town tells a thousand-year story. Pag salt is sold across Croatia and is prized by chefs for its mineral richness.