Edged by the Istrian peninsula to the north and the jutting bulge of Dalmatia to the south, the Kvarner Gulf was in many ways the place where Adriatic tourism first took off.

The resort town of Opatija still retains a measure of Belle-Epoque chic with its pre-World War I hotels dripping with Art-Nouveau ornamentation. The islands of Lošinj, Krk and Rab also became tourist destinations during the last decades of the Habsburg Empire, their quaint villas and pensions nestling beneath swaying palms.

Cres is slightly quieter, a wild green island featuring half-forgotten villages and semi-secret coves. Pag, with its almost barren eastern flanks and famously tangy sheep’s cheese, is starkly compelling. Best of the beaches are on Rab, home to the famously sandy bays of the Lopar peninsula.