There is not much by way of a beach at Rijeka, although if you stay at the Hotel Jadran (see above) you get easy access to the sea. Better beaches are a short hop from Opatija, a grand Habsburg town of fin-de-siècle spa hotels an easy bus ride away.

Some 40km (25 miles) north-east of Rijeka stretches the thick, steep forest of the Risnjak National Park, centred by the 1,528-metre-high (5,013-foot) mountain of the same name. Here reside bears, wolves, lynx and chamois. Without a car, the park is tricky to reach. There are several buses to Delnice (1hr 15mins), but the shuttle bus to the park's office and entry point of Crni Lug (Bijela Vodica 48, Crni Lug, 051 836 133, www.risnjak.hr, open 7am-10pm daily, 30kn) leaves late afternoon. Agencies in Rijeka offer excursions.

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