Murter Island & Kornati Boat Harbour

Murter Island is separated from the Dalmatian mainland by a channel just 20 metres wide, spanned by a small drawbridge that opens twice daily to let sailing yachts pass. Its main settlement — the eponymous Murter town — is the traditional home port of the Kornati fishing and boat-hire fleet, and the natural jumping-off point for any Kornati archipelago excursion. Beyond that important role, Murter is a delightful destination in its own right: four small villages spread across a green island of olive groves and vineyards, three excellent pebble beaches (Slanica, Cigrada and Podvrške), and some of the best small-boat sailing in the Adriatic. The town of Murter itself has a lovely late-Baroque parish church of St. Michael on the harbour front, a small excellent ethnographic museum devoted to the Kornati fishing tradition (opened 2012 in a restored fisherman's house), and a lively evening produce market on the main square from June to September. The northern village of Betina has been Croatia's most important wooden-boat-building centre since the 17th century — the fascinating Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding (opened 2015) is superb and includes a working boatyard where you can watch traditional Dalmatian 'gajeta' fishing boats being built by hand. Excellent food throughout the island; try the local 'kornati-style grilled fish'.