Glamping In Croatia

Our hectic touring schedule was  not particularly conducive to making the most of any glamour available and, quite frankly, the budget for seven weeks touring didn’t allow too much room for spoiling ourselves. However that did not stop us from admiring some of the top end camping facilities we came across. Indeed, many of the new campsites, as well as some of the refurbished ones, are pretty glamourous in their own right and still very reasonable in price, especially outside the high season. We’ll be highlighting the special ones in future postings.

In the meantime, our friends at the Croatian Language School highlighted a glamping location very close to their summer school, on the beautiful island of Mali Lošinj, and asked us to have a look at it. That sparked off a collaboration on a series of three articles on Glamping which you can read on the following links:

Easy Croatian - Glamping In Croatia, Introduction

Easy Croatian - Glamping On The Coast of Croatia

Easy Croatian - Glamping In Inland Croatia

We are hoping to spend a little more time exploring Mali Lošinj next year – as you will see from the second article on coastal Croatia, there’s certainly plenty to discover.

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Today’s photo is of a very exclusive glamping structure in a very special location which I did get to enjoy but I’m afraid this Yurt is not for hire. It’s an imported hand-made original belonging to a very dear friend of mine and, in this photo, is erected in a secret and private location near Šibenik.

Kamp Kanić, Near Novalja, Pag Island

Kamp Kanić is one of those campsites where you’d be forgiven for thinking that, although the designer has read all the books about what makes for an ideal small modern campsite, he or she has not quite got to grips with the details and practicalities. It’s clearly very new, and the attractive but steep paved drive that I thought might be very slippery, actually provided quite a good grip. However, what looked like flat pitches, were surprisingly difficult to get level on, and the olive trees, that otherwise provide character and shade, tend to make parking tricky on a number of the pitches.

It was not that warm but this was the only time on the trip when my engine got anywhere near to over heating after numerous manoeuvres to try and park level and without scraping an olive branch. In fact I tried three different pitches as the olive branches on the first two were just too low.

Other idiosyncrasies include large shower cubicles with enormous shower heads but no separate private dressing area where you can keep your clothes dry, and a lovely covered washing up area but with quite shallow sinks. Blissfully, there’s no timer on the showers but I can imagine that, with shower heads that size, the water bills will be colossal.

I first met grandfather, who lived nearby and came out when he heard me, and he put me onto the phone with grandson who appeared to be running the place. We struck a deal over the phone but, to his credit, when he arrived the next morning, he told me he had assumed there were two adults and had therefore over quoted me. So the price reduced from 110 Kn to 80 Kn, all in, which was very reasonable, especially given the fact that there is normally a charge for pets.

The cafe bar and grill wasn’t open yet but it looked like a very cosy spot, and the stone terracing and flowers were very pretty too. The beach area was also very cosy with new, Hawaiian-type, straw parasols, and what looked like a few lorry loads of bought in shingle. There was also a tiny little harbour for small boats and the price list includes a rent-a-boat option which could be the best way to travel around in high summer.

Kamp Kanić is part of a settlement called Dabovi Stani, about 5km from town in the direction of Lun, and there’s not much else about, so you’d either need to make your own entertainment and come well stocked, or take a car or boat trip for provisions and amenities. However, with about 40 pitches in total and the promise of no noise from Novalja, if you’re looking to escape the crowds, you could do much worse.

There’s a full price list on the website - http://campkanic.com/en - and it’s good to see that WiFi is free. A “Camperstop Complete”, for 2 persons, incluing the use of all essential facilties plus electricity will cost between €19 and €34 per day depending on the season.