The Lungomare
A 12-km waterside promenade to Lovran and Volosko.
Jimmy Harris — CC BY 2.0 · HrvatskiDrvniKlaster — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rijksmuseum — CC0 · Bernd Thaller from Graz, Austria — CC BY 2.0
The oldest tourist resort on the Adriatic, built entirely for one purpose: the recreation of the **Austro-Hungarian aristocracy**. The story starts in **1844**, when a merchant from Rijeka built **Villa Angiolina** here and planted a garden around it with species brought from across the world. Members of the imperial family visited, and word spread. Then came the decisive factor: **the railway** reached Rijeka in 1873, putting Opatija one night from Vienna. The Austrian government declared it an **official health resort** in 1889 — the first on the Adriatic — and the grand hotels and villas went up within two decades. The result is a town **unlike anywhere else in Croatia**: no Dalmatian stone and no medieval lanes, but white Austrian villas, formal gardens, palms and laurel trees — and the town''s own name comes from the laurel (**lovorika**). Along the water runs the **Lungomare**, a **12-kilometre** promenade linking Opatija with Lovran and Volosko, and its best-known feature. Note: **the beaches are concrete platforms**, not sand — this is a nineteenth-century resort, not a modern beach.
A 12-km waterside promenade to Lovran and Volosko.
White, with formal gardens, and unlike anything else in Croatia.
Species brought from around the world since 1844.
Opatija — about 11 km west of Rijeka
A concrete and stone promenade right at the water''s edge, officially the **Franz Joseph I Walkway**, running about **12 kilometres** from **Volosko** in the north through Opatija to **Lovran** in the south. It was built in stages from 1885 to serve the resort''s guests. The path is **entirely level** with no climbing, passing small coves, swimming platforms, villas and gardens. Walking it all takes about **three hours** one way. In practice most people walk the stretch between **Opatija and Lovran** (about an hour and a half, and the prettiest), and take the bus back. ⚠ It is lit at night and open all year, but it is **exposed to waves in storms** and sometimes closes. ⚠ Most of it is fine with a pushchair.
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