Lun Olive Groves

The Lun Olive Groves at the northern tip of Pag island constitute one of the most extraordinary botanical reserves in the Adriatic. The reserve covers 24 hectares around the village of Lun and protects a grove of wild oleaster olive trees (Olea oleaster) of extraordinary age — the oldest specimens are estimated at over 1,500 years old, predating the medieval settlement of the island. The reserve was declared a botanical park in 1963 and is considered one of only three such ancient wild olive groves in the world.

The drive or walk through the grove is straightforward but atmospheric: the trees grow on bare limestone karst, their roots gripping the rock, their trunks twisted by centuries of wind into forms that catch and hold the light differently from any regular orchard. The village of Lun itself is tiny and quiet, with a handful of agritourism operations that produce olive oil for sale. The northern coast near the village has good swimming in clear, calm water. Reaching Lun requires a car — public transport does not serve this end of the island — but the road north from Novalja through the bare karst landscape is itself worth the drive.

things to do nature landmark
A story
The olive trees of the Lun botanical reserve include specimens estimated at over 1,500 years old — they were growing here before the Roman Empire fell in the West. The trees are wild oleasters rather than the cultivated varieties found in most olive groves, and they have a form unlike domestic olives: ancient, gnarled, and contorted by centuries of bora wind into shapes that look more like sculpture than agriculture. About 1,500 of the 80,000 trees in the grove carry this ancient wild heritage; the rest are cultivated but still of considerable age.