Attractions

Besides hauntingly beautiful landscapes, clean waters, and deserted beaches in isolated coves, Pag has a nice collection of Roman ruins, medieval walls, churches, and cultural icons. Most of the attractions worth seeing are concentrated in Pag Town and Novalja, which are separated by about 19km (12 miles) and a big socioeconomic gap. Pag Town has a partial 15th-century wall and an Old Town complete with the last of four standing watch towers that once rose from the town fortifications. The town center is home to two original Juraj Dalmatinac (a prominent Renaissance stonemason) buildings: the Rector's Palace (Knezev dvor), which is now a cafe; and the Parish Church of St. Mary opposite Trg Kralja Kresimira IV, Pag Town's center of social activity. Pag Town is nearly a mile south of the original 14th-century settlement that preceded it, and a few crumbling remnants of the ancient town are still visible and can be visited. There is also a small lace museum near the square where you can see what genuine Pag lace looks like before you consider a purchase. Pag Town is where most of the island's locals live and where its salt fields are situated, but it is not as populous as Novalja. You can also see the town's "wall" of windmills on the hills above Pag, an energy-generating project that takes advantage of bura wind power.

If Pag Town is the island's historic center, then Novalja is its New World colony, because Novalja is oceans away from Pag Town in atmosphere. Novalja is about 19km (12 miles) north of Pag Town and far wealthier and trendier. Its charming square, Trg Bazilike, is on the same waterfront spot where the Romans used to hang out when Novalja was one of their ports. Now it seems as if everyone in town stops at Bazilike for morning coffee before picking up a few buhtle (rolls filled with cheese or jam) to take back to their plush multistory vacation homes. Novalja is also home to a huge auto campsite with its own fine beaches (Strasko), numerous konobas and cafes, and countless private rooms and rental condos. There is also Bos-ki-nac hotel/winery/restaurant  set in the middle of a vineyard outside Novalja, and more secluded coves (that double as Adriatic swimming holes) than there are tourists to splash around in them.

Zrce Beach is a nice pebble beach a little over a mile south of Novalja and the epicenter of Pag's swinging nightlife. Almost every bar in town (and some from Zagreb like Papaya and Aquarius) has set up shop on this stretch of real estate, which in summer vibrates with nonstop rock music and gyrating bodies during the day but doesn't really get going until 10pm. Zrce draws hordes of the 18- to 29-year-old demographic and has become Croatia's answer to "Where the Boys Are" in the Balkans. In a nod to Croatia's strict drinking/driving laws, minivans run partygoers from Zrce to Novalja's harbor through the night, but action on the beach usually continues until dawn.

Pag Patterns -- Pag is best known for its forbidding naked terrain, its salty sheep's-milk cheese (Paski sir), its herb-infused lamb, and its wild party beaches. But Pag also has a reputation as the source of the intricately patterned lace produced by local women who can spend days creating a single 6-inch round. Pag lace is quite expensive and used as trim on clothing and tablecloths, as home decorating accents, and sometimes as framed art. Older women dressed in black from head to toe hawk large and small pieces of lace in other cities besides Pag, but once you've seen genuine Pag lace, you won't have trouble recognizing inferior imitations. Each piece of Pag lace is as complex and unique as a snowflake and a wonderful souvenir from this diverse island.