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Day trip · The Krk Map
A wild, empty island 25 minutes away by ferry: vultures and a Roman bridge for families, a clifftop village and a hard beach walk for couples.
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Cres is wilder and emptier than Krk, and 25 minutes away by ferry. The north (Beli) is forest, vultures and a Roman bridge; the west (Lubenice) is a stone village on a 378 m cliff with a beach far below it. Valun gives you the Glagolitic tablet that completes the Baška story, and the lunch to plan the day around is Cres lamb. The only real enemy is the ferry queue, because a ticket doesn't reserve a sailing.
When to come: May–October; June and September are ideal. The vulture centre is open all year, with shorter hours in winter.
The 25-minute crossing to Cres. Tickets are valid all day and do not reserve a sailing, so cars board in order of arrival.
Tip: In peak season, daytime queues of 30 minutes to 3 hours are common. Two ferries shuttle about 45 minutes apart, and the queue is shortest before breakfast.
Rescue aviaries and a visitor centre for griffon vultures (wingspan up to 2.8 m) run by the county nature agency, in a hilltop village on the Roman site of Caput Insulae. The village's Roman bridge, 8 m long and 12 m high, was rebuilt with the road in 1878.
Tip: For families, the English guided tour turns the aviaries into a story. Car-free alternative: the glass-bottom catamaran from Malinska (12:30 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, about 3 h ashore), but the road up from the pier is steep.
A small pebble beach with a campsite in the bay under the village.
A Venetian-era harbour town of tall, leaning houses. The loggia on the main square still has the pillar of shame where offenders were chained. Three old gates led into the town.
Tip: Buy a bottle of local Cres olive oil here to take home.
Cres lamb raised by the family, roasted or stewed, at a village konoba the same family has run for over 30 years.
Tip: It sits on the way to Lubenice, so it is the natural lunch stop on the couples' version of the day.
The Valun Tablet, one of the oldest Glagolitic inscriptions, is built into the wall of the 1851 parish church. Next door, the old olive mill is now Konoba Toš Juna, and its terrace is a lapidarium of Glagolitic inscription copies.
Tip: If you have seen the Baška Tablet on Krk, this completes the story: two of the key Glagolitic stones, one day apart.
A near-empty stone village on a 378 m ridge above the open sea, with the 15th-century church of St Anthony the Hermit, a small sheep-farming museum, and summer concerts in St Mary's church.
Tip: Drive the last stretch slowly: the entrance road is narrow.
The pebble bay 378 m below Lubenice. Nothing there but sea.
Tip: Carry plenty of water for the climb back; there is no water or bar on the beach.
2026: June–August daily 10:00–18:00; April–May and 1 September-14 October 10:00–16:00; mid-October to March 10:00–14:00. Closed on Mondays outside June–August, and on 1 Jan, Easter, 1 Nov and 24–26 Dec. Adults EUR 7 (April–October).
Valun's olive-mill konoba closes for the winter (roughly November to February); plan off-season Cres days around Beli and Cres town.
The queue at Merag builds in the daytime too: come back on a ferry after 18:00.
Curated by Benjamin Haller and our guests · Facts checked 31 Oct 2026 · How this map is made
The Krk Map is made by Marim Luxury Villas, a family company that hosts guests in Stara Baška and Vrbnik. No place pays to be on it; partners and our curators’ own offers are marked. Our villas