Things to Do in Punat

Punat pairs a calm enclosed bay and the monastery on Košljun with the wild coastline down at Stara Baška.

Punat sits on a near-enclosed bay in the middle of the island, and it covers two quite different places. The town itself is quiet and green. Stara Baška, at the far end of the municipality, is the wild southwest coast.

Around the town, the thing to do is Košljun. The monastery on the small wooded island in the bay is the reason most visitors come to Punat at all, and there are two ways onto it: an inexpensive boat trip from the harbour, or the visit itself if you have already arranged the crossing. Either way it is a half day rather than a full one. Nearby there is olive oil tasting with a tour of the grove, a walk through the olive groves themselves, a Mediterranean herb garden, and the free town beach.

Down at Stara Baška the character changes completely: hidden coves, snorkelling into sea caves, and the Moon Landscape trail across bare karst that gives it the name.

Five of the nine listings need a car, and they are mostly the Stara Baška ones. If you want a base that is calm in the evening but has genuinely wild coast half an hour away, Punat does that better than the busier towns.