This island located in the center of the Kvarner archipelago has been a famous sea resort since 1889. The northern part of the island which is completely deprived of vegetation covers the green southern part from direct currents of the cold wind from the continent like a stone wall. That makes weather here warm almost always. The island is surrounded with beaches that are as clean as they can be (stone ones in the west; shingle ones in the east; sand ones in the north). The beaches are washed by water of Adriatic. This is the place where Prince Edward laid the basis of Croatian nudism.
The major town of the island is the town of Rab which has been known since 10 B.C., that is why there are a lot of historical and archeological sites here. Attention of tourists is attracted by the Cathedral of St. Antoine (1175), the Cathedral of St. Justina and the museum of religious art, town park Komrcar and the archeological park with ruins of the defense tower and the half-ruined old churches. Lopar village which is located in the north of the town behind the Kamenjak Mountains has existed here since the Stone Age, and in the 4th century B.C. a fortress was built here. The ruins of this fortress can be looked at the archeological excavations. Lopar is the motherland of the founder of the first Christian community of Lopar Mountain and San-Marino – the «saint man» Marino who is also hallowed.