Photo: Andrej Šalov / CC BY-SA 3.0
Nin is Croatia condensed to miniature: the first royal town of the medieval Croatian state sits on a tiny island in a lagoon, joined to land by two stone bridges, with the ninth-century Church of the Holy Cross, fondly called the world's smallest cathedral, alone on its lawn. Salt pans still harvest the lagoon the Roman way.
The lagoon is also the family argument: kilometres of real sand, shallow warm water, and the medicinal peloid mud that people have smeared on themselves here for generations.
10 places.
Start with Church of the Holy Cross, St Nicholas Chapel, and Queen's Beach. After that it depends on what you enjoy: the guide holds 10 places in Nin, sorted into sights, activities, food and shopping, so you can skip whole categories that bore you.
Church of the Holy CrossFollow the hidden gems: 6 places that rarely make the guidebooks, most of them a few streets off the main drag. Church of the Holy Cross, St Nicholas Chapel, and Queen's Beach are good ones to start with.
St Nicholas ChapelA focused day covers the essentials. Combine two or three nearby sights with a long lunch, and leave room for whatever you stumble into: all 10 places are grouped by area, so nothing forces you across town.
Day trips within reach of Nin, plus the routes and quiet corners our editors keep coming back to.
A pre-Romanesque chapel of the 9th century called the world's smallest cathedral.
Photo: Andrej Šalov / CC BY-SA 3.0
A Romanesque coronation chapel on the Prahulje mound, alone in the field before the town.
Photo: Ziegler175 / CC BY-SA 3.0
Open the category you need now, then take the full set with you in the app.
A pre-Romanesque chapel of the 9th century called the world's smallest cathedral.
Photo: Andrej Šalov / CC BY-SA 3.0
A Romanesque coronation chapel on the Prahulje mound, alone in the field before the town.
Photo: Ziegler175 / CC BY-SA 3.0
Places unlock as you reach them, with a passport that fills up as you explore.
