Queens Beach, Nin

Queens Beach at Nin, Kraljicina plaza, is the beach that breaks every rule of the Croatian coast. Instead of a pebble cove pressed against rock, you get a long open sweep of sand and fine shingle that runs for kilometres along a shallow bay, widely called the longest sandy beach in the country. Across the water the grey wall of the Velebit mountains fills the horizon, and behind the beach lies the low plateau of mineral mud that has drawn people to Nin for its supposed healing powers for generations.

The water is the reason families love it. Because the bay is so shallow, the sea here is among the warmest on the whole coast, staying ankle to waist deep far from the sand, so children can wade out in confidence and the water feels almost bathlike by August. The openness means there is room for everyone even in summer, and the famous peloid mud is a genuine novelty: visitors walk to the plateau, coat themselves in the dark mineral mud, let it dry in the sun and rinse off in the sea.

The honest note is the exposure. This is a wide, open, low lying beach with little natural shade, so the sun is strong and you must bring your own umbrella. The same shallow bay that warms the water also catches the wind, and on a breezy day the surface ruffles and the fine sand can lift, so it pays to check the forecast. Come on a calm warm day with shade and water shoes for the shingle stretches, and Queens Beach delivers warm shallow water and a view that no pebble cove can match.