Vodice: what to see, and what it is actually for

Vodice lies eleven kilometres north-west of Šibenik and lives along its waterfront: a working riva, a marina that keeps the town busy in winter, and beaches shallow enough that parents can sit back. That combination is why it fills up in July and empties in November, and why a day here looks different from a day in Šibenik or Trogir.

The riva, and the hour that matters

Everything in Vodice orients itself along one kilometre of waterfront, from the landing where the Prvić boats leave to the ACI marina. The riva has three distinct shifts. Mornings belong to work: the catch comes off the boats, the market runs, delivery vans are allowed in only until nine. Midday empties it completely because everyone is west of the centre on a beach. From about seven in the evening it fills again for the šetnja, the slow walk from one end to the other and back, which is less a stroll than a social institution.

Where to swim

The Blue Beach west of the centre is the main one: pebbles, concrete platforms, showers, bars and a gentle entry into the water, with a Blue Flag and the crowds that come with it. Between eleven and four in mid August there is effectively no free space. Twenty minutes further along the seafront path lies Plitka punta, where the sea stays knee-deep for a long way and the pines start right behind the shore. East of the centre, Srima breaks the coast into a string of small coves, each holding a handful of people and none of them signposted. The path along the water links all of it and carries no traffic at all.

The two trips worth making

Prvić is the first. Boats leave the riva several times a day, the crossing takes about twenty minutes and the whole island has no cars. In Prvić Luka lies the grave of Faust Vrančić, the 16th-century polymath whose book Machinae Novae shows a man descending from a tower on cloth stretched over a frame, one of the earliest drawings of a parachute. The second is Tribunj, three kilometres west, where the old core sits on an islet joined by a stone bridge and every street spirals up to the church of St Nicholas. Check the last boat back before you go: outside the season the gap can be several hours.

One hour that repays itself

Okit, the hill north of town, is 133 metres high and has a paved road to the top, so it can be driven. On foot it takes about half an hour and the view widens the whole way. From the church of Our Lady of Carmel at the summit the geography finally makes sense: the town and its bay below, Prvić opposite with its two villages, Zlarin and Kaprije behind it, and on a clear day the line of the Kornati on the horizon. Go before sunset. There is no shade on the climb, and in the middle of a summer day it is punishing.

Two memorials at the harbour

Beside the fish market stands a low stone ring around a bronze form, the names of Vodice men killed in the Homeland War cut into it, the years 1991 and 2026 on the wall above. Two hundred metres further along the marina stands a second stele, raised in 2015, for the victims of Communist Yugoslavia. Two memorials, two chapters of the same century, a few minutes apart on the same promenade. Neither is on a postcard, and both take longer to think about than to look at.

Getting there

Vodice has no airport, no railway station and no car ferry. Split airport lies about 60 km to the south-east and Zadar airport about 70 km to the north-west, each about 1 hour away by hire car or transfer. Leave the A1 at the Pirovac exit from the north or the Šibenik exit from the south. Without a car, go to Šibenik and change: local buses cover the 11 km in about 30 minutes and stop close to the harbour. Intercity buses on the coastal road between Zadar and Split also call here, and the Prvić passenger boat continues to Zlarin and Šibenik, a slow but pleasant way in from the city.

The old core in 30 minutes

The old core sits directly behind the riva and takes about 30 minutes. Its largest building is the parish church of the Finding of the Holy Cross, built in the mid 18th century on the site of an older church. The façade has a baroque portal and a rose window. It opens around mass times, so the morning mass is the surest chance of a quiet look. A few streets back stands the Čorić tower. It was not built as part of the town walls, and the Fondra family from Šibenik once lived in it. It is privately owned and seen from the street. On the waterfront a small house holds the aquarium and maritime heritage museum: octopuses, morays and scorpionfish from local waters in one half, the tools of the old fishing trade in the other.

Eating and the market

The fish market by the waterfront opens around 06:00 when the boats unload and closes when the catch is sold, usually by noon. Come before 09:00 for sardines, squid, picarels and scorpionfish. If your apartment has a kitchen, this is the best shopping in town. Restaurants line the riva and the lane behind it, and in August both are full by 21:00, so eat before the šetnja or well after it. Once each summer the town cooks šaša, a slow meat sauce, over polenta on the quay at Obala Vladimira Nazora, hands it out in bowls and has a klapa sing beside the pot. The date changes each year, so check the town calendar when you arrive.

When to go

May and June suit anyone who wants the beaches without the crowd: the sea is warm enough to swim by June, the boats to Prvić run and the pines behind the Blue Beach still have free shade at noon. July and August are the town at full stretch: a stage on the waterfront with concerts that need no ticket, a gallery of paintings in the lane behind the riva after dark, a ferris wheel at the harbour end turning until late. September is the quiet version of summer, with warm water and the evening walk still going, but the aquarium changes its hours and the gaps between boats widen. From October the town winds down and the marina keeps the harbour end alive through winter.

Where to stay, and with children

Vodice is a town of apartments, and the area you pick sets your days. The centre, within 5 minutes of the riva, puts the boats, the market and the evening walk on foot, and accepts noise until midnight in summer. West of the centre, along the coastal path towards Plitka punta and Zamalin, the shore is quieter, the pines reach the water and the shallowest sea in town is outside the door, which is where families with small children belong. Srima, east of the centre, is apartments and coves where the same families return every year. Sailors stay at the eastern end by the ACI marina, with 412 berths and staff all year. For children the western seafront path settles it: level, without a step or a car from the riva to Plitka punta, and about 20 minutes with a pushchair.

Common mistakes

Most of what goes wrong here comes from treating Vodice like a city of sights and filling the day with them. It is a beach town with a working harbour, its rhythm is set by the boats, the market and the sun, and once you follow that rhythm nearly everything runs itself. The mistakes below are the ones visitors make most often, and the fix for each is one line long. None of them costs money. All of them cost an afternoon.

• Driving into Tribunj: there is no parking inside the old core, so leave the car on the mainland before the bridge.
• Arriving on Prvić without cash: the island has no cash machine and the konobas fill the moment a boat docks.
• Planning September around fixed hours: the aquarium shifts its times outside the season and the church opens around mass, so check at the door.
• Reaching the Blue Beach at noon and expecting shade: the free shade under the pines goes first, the sunbeds in the sun stay available all day.
• Packing only sandals: every beach is pebbles or concrete with ladders into the sea, and water shoes save small feet.
• Bringing the car into the centre: street parking is scarce in season and the town is flat, so park once and walk.

The places, one by one

The riva

The riva is where you spend the most time without planning to. The stone houses behind it are lower and plainer than those in Šibenik, and that is the town's history in one look. Vodice was a fishing and farming village that serious tourism found only after 1950, so the old core has no palaces. What it has is rows of houses 2 storeys high with outside stairs and balconies, and the age of a street shows in its width: the narrower it is, the older. For a calmer walk head west towards Plitka punta. The eastern end by the marina is always the busier one, and the western end leads straight to the beaches.

Fish market and green market

The fish market is only half of it. Beside it works the fruit and vegetable market, with produce from the villages in the hinterland: tomatoes, figs, grapes, olive oil, honey, cheese and homemade brandy. The sellers will tell you what is best that day and how to cook it, and this is the easiest place in town to talk to locals outside a shop or a restaurant. Fish prices are well below those in the restaurants along the same waterfront, which matters if you have a kitchen for a week. What is left later in the morning is mostly what nobody wanted. On Sundays there is less on offer, so do the big shop on a weekday.

Aquarium and maritime heritage museum

The museum half deserves as much time as the tanks. It holds the tools of the Vodice fishermen and sponge divers: nets, tridents, lanterns for night fishing, a compass and diving equipment from the years when sponges were brought up on a held breath. Photographs show the town before tourism, which after a day on the riva takes a moment to recognise. In the aquarium half every tank has a caption saying where the species lives and how it is caught, so a child who spent the morning with a mask can match names to what they saw. The whole display takes about 30 minutes, the ticket is modest and it runs through the season. It is the obvious answer to a rainy hour.

Church of the Finding of the Holy Cross

The bell tower is the most useful landmark in Vodice. You can see it from the whole riva, and every narrow street in the old part leads back towards it, so you cannot stay lost for long. Inside are marble altars, a wooden choir and little that is surplus. The church still sets the town's calendar. On the Assumption in mid August a procession moves through the old core, and on the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross in early May the whole town gathers, including people who moved to Šibenik or Zagreb long ago. If you are here for either, the streets around the church fill early. Outside those 2 days it is a working parish church, and the interior sees more locals than visitors.

ACI marina Vodice

The marina has 412 berths in the water and 25 dry berths on land, with a crane, a service yard and a fuel station. Much of the charter fleet that sails for the Kornati in summer leaves from these piers. Without a boat you can still walk the pontoons up to a point. The restaurant and cafés by the marina work off-season too, often at better prices than on the waterfront. Excursion boats to the Kornati, the Krka, Prvić and Zlarin leave from here, with tickets sold on the pier or in the agencies along the riva. Walk to the end of the pontoon at sunset for the best view back at the town.

The western seafront path

The path is a concrete track at the water's edge, running west from the riva past the Blue Beach and Plitka punta and on towards Zamalin and Tribunj. Every 50 m or so there is an entry into the sea, and along the way you pass showers, benches and bars, with pines giving shade in places. Because there is no step anywhere on it, it works for bicycles as well as prams and for anyone who walks with difficulty. In the morning it is the locals' running and cycling route, by day the way to the beaches, in the evening a second promenade. To Tribunj it is about 1 hour on foot, and you can drop into the sea as often as you like on the way.

Plitka punta beach

The name means shallow point, and it is exact: the sea deepens so slowly that you wade tens of metres before you are out of your depth. That makes it the safest beach in Vodice for small children and the best choice for families with children up to 5 years old. Because the water is so shallow it warms faster than anywhere else in town, so swimming is pleasant from the end of May and lasts into October. Facilities are just enough: showers, loungers on part of the beach, a bar by the path, and everything else 5 minutes' walk back towards the riva. The cove stays in the sun longer in the afternoon than its neighbours, which suits anyone who starts the day late.

Zamalin beach

Zamalin is the calmest stretch of the Vodice shore: a long belt of shingle and stone on the way to Tribunj, with a pine wood coming almost down to the water. The sea is clean and deepens quickly, so families with small children usually stay at the shallower coves nearer town. The pines give shade all day: no concrete, no music, only needles, stone and sea. There is a seasonal bar and showers on part of the beach, so bring the rest. It is about 20 minutes on foot from the riva or 5 minutes by bicycle, and the car parks on the road above fill quickly in summer. When the sun drops towards Tribunj, the sunsets here are the best in the area.

Tribunj

Along the riva below the old core runs a row of konobas where fish is still grilled in front of you, and that is the best reason to come, together with the walk up to St Nicholas. The village is known for its donkey race, held every August since 1972 and lasting a single afternoon. Donkeys once carried loads up to the vineyards on the hills around, and when tractors replaced them they were out of work, so the race began as a joke. It is now the main event of the year and fills the place to the last corner. Tribunj has few beaches and almost nothing for tourists beyond the waterfront, so plan on 2 hours, then walk or cycle back along the path.

Srima

Srima has grown together with Vodice but keeps a different rhythm. The shore is a row of a dozen small coves and concrete bathing spots, with pines and low walls between them, and each cove has its regulars and its own place in the sun. If you come early you find a metre of your own. The sea is calm because the islets of Prvić and Zlarin shelter it, and the shallows in several places suit children. A promenade along the shore links Srima with Vodice in about 30 minutes, so the market and the riva need no car. Srima has its own shops, bakeries and a few taverns. Walk over in the morning, before the stone soaks up the sun.

Trstevica beach

Trstevica is a cove south of Srima used almost only by locals. It has no bar, no loungers and no showers, pines grow right down to the water and the sea is sheltered, so it stays calm nearly always. The lack of facilities keeps it empty even in August. The bottom is clean rock, the water deepens moderately and visibility is excellent, so free divers and anyone swimming with a mask come here. An unpaved road leads from Srima, about 10 minutes on foot or 5 minutes by car to the parking above. The path down is short but uneven, so wear something firmer than flip-flops. Natural shade exists only along the edge, so bring water, food and a parasol.

Prvić Luka and Faust Vrančić

The grave is in the church of Our Lady of Mercy. Vrančić's Machinae Novae of 1615 shows some 50 machines, and the drawing of the man under a frame of cloth is called Homo Volans. He was also a bishop and secretary to Emperor Rudolf II, and the dictionary he compiled is among the first for Croatian. A memorial centre in the village shows models of his machines and is the only real museum on the island. The village itself takes 30 minutes: the landing, the church, a handful of konobas and a narrow path that crosses the hill to Šepurine. There is no ferry and no booking, you buy a ticket at the landing in Vodice. The island has no accommodation at short notice.

Prvić Šepurine

Šepurine is the second village on Prvić and the one that has kept more everyday life: a row of stone houses along a long shore, the church of the Assumption on a rise, and about 100 residents who stay through winter. Everything is carried by hand or by cart, and the quiet is of a kind hard to find elsewhere on the Adriatic. The shore is long and easy to reach, with concrete platforms and shingle, and the sea is clean because there is no harbour and no traffic. Boats call from Šibenik as well as Vodice. The walk across the peninsula to Prvić Luka takes 30 minutes through olives and dry-stone walls. The village has 2 taverns and a shop, so bring the rest.