Paradise Beach

Why it is worth your time

Paradise Beach at Lopar is the reason half of Europe knows of Rab: a mile of true sand in a shallow bay, with sea that for hundreds of metres does not pass the knees, so in summer the bay is warm as a tub and safe as a paddling pool. On the Adriatic, where sand is the exception and shingle the rule, such a beach is a geological gift: the Lopar peninsula is built of sandstone, so all its bays, some twenty of them, are dusted with sand. Paradise is the largest and best equipped: loungers, showers, cafés, waterslides, sports courts and a lifeguard service make it a machine for family days, with everything ten steps away.

The price of comfort is the crowd, the July and August beach can hold thousands; whoever seeks calm should take the sandy paths across the point to the neighbouring bays, where empty sand remains even at peak. The water warms faster than anywhere on the island and bathing lasts into October. From the Stinica-Misnjak ferry line one reaches Lopar in some twenty minutes' drive, from Rab town in fifteen.