Kolocep, Croatia

Kolocep is one of those places where you can't stay long before starting to feel rather proprietorial. It's a small  island just a short boat trip from the bustling city of Dubrovnik, and as soon as you step off the ferry you can sense the peaceful atmosphere of a place with no roads and whose motorised traffic is limited to the hotel's electric buggies and the occasional puttering of the little cultivators that double up as family transport.

After a couple of days, whilst you don't  resent the tripper boats and their little groups being guided around,  you get a nice feeling when the last one sails away and you can sit overlooking the harbour on "your" island sipping a beer as you wait for the sun to go down over neighbouring Lopud.

No-one could accuse Kolocepof having been spoilt. The island has only one hotel, the Villas Kolocep which overlooks the bay and is on the best (and only )beach. Accommodation is in a group of separate buildings set up in the slopes and set in pleasant gardens.

There is one posh restaurant on the island, a pizzeria and two harbourside bars, one with food,one without. one mini-market, one gift shop, a post office and one lady selling crochet  bootees.

Rather than being a bad thing this lack of choice ensures that there are no distractions from the serious business of relaxing and there is no agonizing over where to eat.

 If you get tired of just doing nothing there are watersports, sailing or kayaking, the clear sea is great for snorkelling and you can explore the many walking tracks as I did coming across tiny chapels, ruins and the dramatic cliffs on the other side of the island.

If getting an all-over tan is your ambition the rocky naturist area is hidden well away from the main beach.

To see all of my stock photos of Kolocep, Lopud and the Elafiti Islands

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