Crikvenica is located on the Bay of Kvarner in the Adriatic Sea, about 33 km from Rijeka, a major road and rail junction and centre of the Primorje and Gorski kotar region. Crikvenica is renowned worldwide for its sandy beaches stretching several kilometres along the coastline.They were created over centuries by the small River Dubracina carrying fine sand from the Vinodol valley and depositing it along the rocky coast around the river estuary. The beautiful beaches of Crikvenica fill visitors with a sense of the primordial beauty of nature and a feeling of contentment that is hard to forget... At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Crikvenica became, along with Dubrovnik and Opatija, one of the most renowned climatic health resorts on the Adriatic and in the whole Mediterranean area.
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History
Old Crikvenica was originally an offshoot of the village of Kotor, which is located on a nearby hill and shares its name with that of the village.
The name of the town derives from the word for church (Croatian: crkva = church - in dialect crikva) of the monastery of the Pauline Fathers, which was built by Nikola Frankopan nearby in 1412. Besides the church and the monastery at the mouth of the Dubračina, the nearby port of Grižane grew up. In 1760 the local worthy moved from Bribir to Crikvenica and thus it became the centre of the whole Vinodol coast. In the 19th century Crikvenica began to attract many tourists, which brought about a turning point in its history. In 1877 a harbour was built in Crikvenica, in 1888 a bathing beach and as early as 1891 the first hotel had opened. In 1895 the Hotel Therapia was opened with 120 beds and a Hydrotherapy Institute. In 1902 the Hotel Crikvenica was built, in 1903 the Bellevue and in 1905 the Miramare. In 1906 Crikvenica became officially a health resort and due to its favourable climate, in the space of just 16 years Crikvenica became the most important resort on the riviera.[2] Today, together with Selce, it is one of the most attractive parts of the Kvarner coast, as well as of the North Adriatic coast of Croatia in general.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, Crikvenica was a district capital in the Modruš-Rijeka County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.