Rab is a Croatian island just off the Istrian coast in the Adriatic Sea, it is in the region of Primorje-Gorski. It was one of the Croatian islands that I had not visited until recently, so we decided to check it out for a few days last year.
The island was first mentioned by the Illyrians in 360BC, it was part of Liburnia and later the Roman empire, the Romans built a city around the town of Rab and also named it Municipium. The rest of the history is not a lot different from any Istrian or Northern Croatian places, it switched ownership between the Venetians, Byzantines, Hugarians, Croatians, French and spent a hundred years under the rule of Austria from 1815 to 1921. The founder of San Marino, Saint Marinus was a stonemason born on the island, he was forced to leave due to his religious beliefs but these days Rab and San Marino are twinned as a memorial to this. After WW1, the population of the island consisted of a lot of Italians and there was talk of it joining the Kingdom of Italy, it did however join Yugoslavia instead which saw a lot of the native Italians move to Italy.
During WW2 it was annexed by Italy and Fascist Italy built a concentration camp here, where 1200 died due to starvation and weather conditions. Following the war, it was returned to Yugoslavia and remained so until Croatian independence in 1991.
Getting There:
We arrived and left on the Jadrolinja ferry connection from Rijeka, we were travelling with a dog at the time and this is not ideal on this boat, they made us put him in a cage on the deck of the boat, without water and facing incredible heat. People were not allowed on deck as it was a catamaran. He was pretty distressed by this and couldn't wait to get off. Fortunately it was only 2 hours but I definitely wouldn't do it again.
There are connections from Rijeka, Krk and Pag to Rab, there are also buses from most mainland Croatian towns, depending on where you are coming from you may or may not need to change, most of these buses enter the island on the ferry between mainland Jablanac and Misnjak on the eastern side of the island, if you are travelling by car you could use this too.
Catamaran
Rijeka-Rab (1 hour 45 mins journey)
info and tickets - Jadrolinija: +385+51+211444
http://www.jadrolinija.hr/default.a spx?dpid=1641
Ferryboat: Jablanac - Misnjak (Rab) (15 minutes journey)
operated by Rapska Plovidba
http://www.rapska-plovidba.hr/home_hr.htm l
Tel. 385+51+724122, Fax 385+51+724018
e-mail: rapska-plovidba@ri.t-com.hr
Timetable: http://www.rapska-plovidba.hr/plovni_hr.html
Timet able: http://www.tzg-rab.hr/eng/rab/redpolovidbe.php
Fe rryboat: Valbiska (Krk) - Lopar (Rab)
operated by Split Tours
http://www.splittours.hr/?lang=EN
Where to stay?
There are any number of hotels and locals renting out rooms, as we were with a dog we decided to stay on the campsite. The campsite was called Campsite Padova III (I shall review this as soon as the suggestion is added!) and seemed to be related to Imperial D.D. Hotel. It wasn't that cheap but Croatia isn't these days.
What to do?
Rab is a 22km long island and has a mountain on it of around 460m, if you've not been to the Croatian islands then the novelty of being on one should keep you entertained with emerald sea and rocks (although you'll need to get out of the harbour and preferably past the nearby beaches). The old town of Rab is pretty nice with perfectly Mediterranean styled architecture that you can find throughout Croatia, Italy and Greece. Having seen it for the umpteen time, it doesn't really do a lot for me but should definitely keep the first time visitor or easily-pleased oldie who likes strolling around entertained.
Rab seemed pretty busy, mostly with German and Italian tourists. The restaurants were pleasant and I found the best time to eat at them when you could really relax was during the late afternoon when others were washing the sand off them!
There are a couple of decent places to swim which can be reached either by walking driving along the road towards Kampor and turning left to Suha Punta or by boat taxi from Rab. As most of the places along the Croatian coast or islands, you will not find much sand but one place you can find a sandy beach is Barbat. Rab is a bit of a nudey destination, apparently a pioneer in it in fact and this started due to the visit of King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson, I didn't know they liked to get their kit off but you learn something new every day! As in most of these nudey places (Naturism destination is the political correct word I believe), you don't get a lot of totty but generally old pensioners with it all hanging out. We were planning to avoid it due to that but it's just as well as many of the beaches were private with the following rules: paid entry, must be naked (quite hypocritical I think), no dogs. What fascists, I thought but we did find a couple of family and dog friendly rocks (couldn't class them as beaches) at Frkanj.
There are also all manner of water sports and day trips to the mainland available on the island. Nicer than Rhyll but not that brill. I prefer the Dalmatian islands myself.