2 Best Sights in Northern Dalmatia, Croatia

However you go to Murter, you'll pass through Biograd-Na-Moru, a relatively big, bustling—but thoroughly tourist-trampled—town, where the resorts have long come to dominate what was once a charming place; Biograd-Na-Moru also serves as another access point for ferries to the Kornati Islands.

Murter, a town of 2,000 on the island of the same name that lies just off the mainland, is accessible by road from the main coastal route that runs south from Zadar toward Split. As important as tourism is to its present-day economy, boatbuilding has, not surprisingly, long been vital to Murter as well. This is not to mention its olive oil, which was once so famous that it made its way to the imperial table in Vienna.

Once an out-of-the-way fishing village, Sali draws tourists thanks to its location in and near such natural splendors. It is home to several old churches, including the 12th-century St. Mary's Church, whose Baroque altar was carved in Venice. Adding to the village's appeal is its annual Saljske užance (Donkey Festival) during the first full weekend in August, which includes an evening ritual during which lantern-lit boats enter Sali Harbor and there are donkey races and tovareća muzika (donkey music) produced by locals blowing or braying raucously into horns. Spending at least a night or two here can provide a relatively peaceful nature-filled respite from the rigors of tourism on the mainland or, for that matter, on more tourist-trodden reaches of the Zadar Archipelago.