A day at the sea, a night in the mountains

Over the past few summers, one thing has changed quite noticeably.

It's not a problem that it's hot at the seaside during the day. We expect that. The problem is that even in the evenings, the temperature often refuses to drop as much as we'd like. You get dressed for an evening stroll along the coast, step outside, and realise it's almost as warm as it was at midday.

After a full day at the beach, the asphalt and concrete still radiate heat, apartments struggle to cool down, and the air conditioning runs almost through the entire night. You set it to 24°C and it feels too warm. Drop it to 22°C and you wake up before dawn because it's too cold. By morning, you feel like you spent more time adjusting the thermostat than actually sleeping.

Of course, it's not like this every single day, and not everyone minds. But it happens often enough to make you wonder if there's a different way to spend summer.

The sea and the mountains, thirty minutes apart

Most people assume you have to choose between the sea or the mountains. In this part of Croatia, you actually don't.

Fužine is just a thirty-minute drive from the Kvarner coast. That means you can have breakfast in the mountains, be on the beach in Crikvenica or Jadranovo half an hour later, spend the day by the sea, and return to cooler mountain air in the evening. This advantage is hiding in plain sight, yet rarely used to its full potential.

When you think about it, most of us don't swim from dawn until dark.

Swimming lasts an hour or two. After that, we look for shade, sit down for a drink, go for lunch, or take a stroll along the promenade.

So it makes little sense to spend the entire night in an overheated apartment when, in just half an hour, you can return to an entirely different climate.

Two climates in a single day

This is perhaps the greatest advantage of the Gorski Kotar region, especially this part closest to the Kvarner coast. You can start your day with breakfast on the terrace, be at the beach half an hour later, spend a few hours by the sea, have lunch along the waterfront, and head back to Fužine by late afternoon.

While the stones on the coast haven't yet had time to cool down, up here you're already opening the window and letting the fresh mountain air fill the room. Air conditioning is no longer needed, but a light throw naturally becomes part of the evening ritual. One guest last August put it simply: for the first time in two weeks, he slept with the window closed — because of the cold, not because of noise.

A combination like this is not easy to find — the sea close enough for a full day, and the mountains close enough to spend your evening in peace and sleep soundly through the night.