Planjka-Trincel Beach

Why it is worth your time

Planjka, which everyone calls Trincel, is Stara Novalja's home beach and proof that the Pag side of the Kvarner can do sand too: a roomy cove of mixed sand and fine shingle, with a sea deepening so slowly that children wade far from the towel while parents still see all of them. Stara Novalja is quieter and slower than Novalja, and the beach carries that rhythm: family camps and apartments in the hinterland, showers, cabins and a few taverns by the shore, without club music and without hurry. The bay faces north-west, sheltered from the southerly, so the sea is often calm as a lake; the bora can rough it up, but then the view of the Velebit bursts open across the channel and is worth the trip by itself.

In the afternoon the sun stays long, and the sunsets are among the island's finest. From Novalja the beach is five minutes by car or half an hour by the summer seaside path. For families with small children seeking sand without the crowds of Paradise Beach, Trincel is northern Pag's smartest choice.