Krk among the best: Simply the Best 2026 awards confirm the strength of the island’s offer
The presentation of the national tourism awards Simply the Best 2026, held on Tuesday, April 14, in Cres as part of the opening of the 26th PUT Tourism Exchange, brought a new strong recognition to the town of Krk and its tourism offer. In the competition of projects, events, tasting rooms, associations, destinations, and souvenirs from all over Croatia, as many as three representatives from the area of the town of Krk were ranked among the five best in their categories: Krk Winter Trails, Magriž Tasting Room, and the Creative Krk Association. This once again confirmed that Krk does not build its recognizability only on the summer season and the classic seaside holiday, but on a diverse, rich, and authentic offer that lasts through most of the year.
The Simply the Best award, jointly presented by the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies and the PUT Tourism Exchange, has for years served as a kind of barometer of quality in Croatian tourism. Its special feature is that it values not only the general popularity or size of a project, but also creativity, innovation, involvement of the local community, sustainability, and the ability to provide the guest with an experience that is both authentic and contemporary. That is precisely why Krk’s success carries additional weight: it is a recognition of a development model that does not consume the island identity, but turns it into a long-term sustainable value.
A recognition that says more than the ranking itself
This year’s ceremony was held in Cres as part of the three-day program of the 26th PUT Tourism Exchange, one of the more important professional gatherings of the tourism sector in Croatia. The program included business workshops, a tour of the host destination, expert lectures, and the award ceremony itself. In such a context, the recognitions do not represent only a symbolic confirmation of work, but also an important message to the profession: projects that succeed in connecting local resources, tradition, experience, and contemporary market needs have the greatest value today.
For Krk, it is especially important that the awarded and highlighted projects do not belong to the same niche. One comes from the field of active and year-round tourism, the second from gastronomy and local production, and the third from the work of civil society and cultural-educational content. Such breadth shows that the island offer is not based on one attraction or one type of guest, but on a branched network of content that together forms a serious destination identity. For visitors planning a longer stay on the island, this also means more reasons to come outside the peak summer months, and therefore more interest in
accommodation in the town of Krk and the surrounding area during most of the year.
Krk Winter Trails as an example of smart season extension
Among the laureates from Krk, Krk Winter Trails stands out in particular, a project ranked among the five best in the category of new tourism projects implemented within the tourism board system. It is a program presented in December 2025 as a new segment of Advent and winter events in the area of the town of Krk. The concept combines an active stay in nature, interpretation of space and island heritage, and the experience of the destination outside the standard summer rhythm.
The Krk Winter Trails program included two cycling activities and two interpretive walks. This offered visitors a different view of the island: not only as a bathing and excursion destination, but as a place where, even in the colder part of the year, one can experience the landscape, dry stone walls, local stories, a calmer pace, and gastronomic details that otherwise often remain in the shadow of the main season. Such an approach fits perfectly into contemporary trends in tourism, in which interest in outdoor content, micro-experiences, and authentic acquaintance with a place is growing.
The importance of such a project is not only promotional. Krk Winter Trails shows how a destination can develop without aggressive expansion and without relying exclusively on mass traffic in a few summer weeks. Winter and pre-season content relieves the pressure on the season, provides additional work for local stakeholders, and attracts guests seeking an active and calmer holiday. For island communities, which have for years been seeking a balance between tourism success and the quality of life of the local population, this is one of the key directions of development. For visitors who want to come precisely because of such programs, the search for
accommodation close to the event location naturally arises, especially when the programs take place over several days or include different island points.
Magriž Tasting Room and the strength of gastronomy with a local signature
Equally important is the confirmation received by Magriž Tasting Room from Kornić, ranked among the five best in the category of tasting rooms of domestic food products and beverages. At a time when gastronomy is increasingly talked about as one of the strongest reasons for travel, such recognition carries special weight. It shows that Krk offers not only a restaurant as a place of consumption, but also a space for meeting the product, the producer, the local story, and the identity of the island.
In recent years, tasting rooms have become an important part of the contemporary tourism offer precisely because they offer the guest an experience that is both concrete and personal. The visitor does not receive only a plate or a glass, but an understanding of the place from which the product comes. On an island like Krk, where sheep farming, olive growing, viticulture, and local cuisine are deeply inscribed in everyday life and history, such places have additional value. They create a link between gastronomy and landscape, between tradition and the market, between the domestic product and the contemporary tourist experience.
The recognizability of Magriž Tasting Room also fits well into the broader Kvarner context. Namely, in 2026 Kvarner holds the title of European Region of Gastronomy, which additionally directs attention to local flavors, indigenous ingredients, and the sustainable development of the gastro offer. In such a framework, recognition for a Krk tasting room is not an isolated success, but part of a larger picture in which island products are increasingly clearly positioned as an important asset of the region. For guests planning their trip precisely according to eno-gastronomic motives, this means that Krk is no longer only a summer address, but a year-round recommendation, with growing interest in
accommodation offers in Krk and nearby places.
The Creative Krk Association as proof that tourism is not only business, but also community
The third major recognition arrived for the Creative Krk Association, which was ranked among the five best in the category of associations. At first glance, this segment may seem less commercial than events or gastronomic content, but in reality it says a great deal about the quality of the destination itself. Tourism that relies exclusively on selling a service can be successful in the short term, but in the long term the most valuable destinations become those that have a vibrant local scene, their own creative energy, and content that arises from the community, and not only for the market.
The Creative Krk Association is known for working with children and young people through music and art workshops and for creating a space in which creativity develops continuously, not occasionally and project-based. Such work directly enriches the life of the local community, but also indirectly builds the atmosphere of the place. A town that invests in the cultural and educational life of its own residents becomes more attractive to guests in the long term as well. Today, the visitor does not seek only a tidy waterfront or a good photo for social networks; they seek a place that has its own rhythm, recognizability, and authenticity.
That is precisely why the recognition for the Creative Krk Association is important even beyond the narrow framework of cultural programs. It confirms that tourism value is not created only by investments in infrastructure, but also by the work of people who for years build content, transfer knowledge, involve the community, and keep the town alive throughout the year. Such actors are often not the loudest, but without them a destination can hardly develop depth and durability. In that sense, Krk shows that it understands tourism not only as an industry of arrivals and overnight stays, but as part of broader social development.
KuSshh and the souvenir as a product with identity
In the souvenir category, additional attention was attracted by KuSshh, a black olive liqueur, which found itself on the list of evaluated products in the competition of consumable souvenirs. Although the souvenir often remains in the background of major tourism stories, it can be one of the most precise indicators of how well a destination knows how to translate its identity into a product. When a souvenir is not a generic item without a local connection, but a thoughtful combination of ingredient, design, story, and place of origin, it becomes an extension of the destination experience.
In that sense, black olive liqueur is an interesting step forward. The olive is strongly inscribed in the Mediterranean and island identity, but turning that motif into a recognizable product requires more than the idea itself. A contemporary approach to development, clear differentiation, and the ability to present tradition in a way understandable to today’s consumer are needed. That is precisely why the noticeability of KuSshh is important: it shows that Krk develops not only events and services, but also products that can become small ambassadors of the place.
This is especially important in an era when tourists increasingly seek authentic and high-quality local products, and increasingly rarely reach for the typical serial offer without a special identity. A well-designed souvenir does not end only in a guest’s suitcase; it carries the story further, brings back the memory of the destination, and often becomes a reason for recommendation or a repeat visit.
Krk is building recognizability beyond the summer peak
When all these recognitions are placed into the same picture, it becomes clear that in recent years Krk has been developing a model that increasingly relies on the diversification of the tourism offer. Instead of reducing the destination’s communication to sun, sea, and several seasonal peaks, the town and the island are building a stronger profile through active tourism, gastronomy, cultural and educational content, local products, and events distributed throughout the year.
This is also important because of market circumstances. Croatian tourism has for some time been seeking ways to increase spending per guest, extend the season, and attract visitor profiles that seek quality, experience, and content. This is precisely where Krk has serious potential. The historic town core, island gastronomy, outdoor opportunities, cultural heritage, and transport accessibility together form a package that can develop more steadily than destinations that depend almost exclusively on July and August. For such development, it is also crucial that Krk, as one of the oldest urban settlements in Croatia, already has a strong cultural-historical foundation on which the new offer can be upgraded without losing authenticity.
Strategically speaking, the Simply the Best 2026 recognitions come at the right moment. They are a confirmation of work in the field, but also a quality communication tool in a year in which Kvarner is additionally in focus because of the title of European Region of Gastronomy. When this is added to the interest in active stays, authentic food, local products, and less burdened travel periods, it becomes clear that Krk has an opportunity to further strengthen its position among the most interesting island destinations in the northern Adriatic. For guests who do not seek only a short visit but a complete experience of the place, the logical next step also becomes the exploration of
accommodation for visitors in Krk, especially in periods when the island offers a combination of peace, content, and an authentic atmosphere.
Message to the profession and the market
Krk’s success at Simply the Best 2026 is not merely local news about several recognitions. It is a signal that products and content are being developed on the island that correspond to what the contemporary guest is increasingly seeking: experience, credibility, local character, and a reason to come in several different periods of the year. At the same time, it is also a message to the tourism profession that quality is not built only through large investments, but through the thoughtful linking of people, space, story, and product.
At a time when Croatian tourism is turning ever more strongly toward sustainability, quality, and identity, with these recognitions Krk positions itself as a destination that does not observe that shift only declaratively, but implements it in practice. Krk Winter Trails shows how the season can be expanded in a meaningful and smart way, Magriž Tasting Room how gastronomy can be a strong motive for arrival, the Creative Krk Association how the local scene becomes part of tourism value, and KuSshh how even a small product can carry a big story. Together, these examples build the image of an island that is interesting not only because it is known, but because it is systematically changing and developing, while remaining faithful to its own character.
Sources:- PUT Business and Tourism Exchange – official page with the list of winners and finalists of the Simply the Best 2026 award (link)- PUT Business and Tourism Exchange – official program of the 26th PUT Exchange in Cres, including the date and place of the ceremony on April 14, 2026 (link)- PUT Business and Tourism Exchange – description of the Simply the Best award, categories, and evaluation criteria (link)- Town of Krk – official announcement about the Krk Winter Trails program and its concept of active Advent content on the island (link)- Town of Krk – official announcement about the work of the Creative Krk Association and its creative workshops for children and young people (link)- Krk Town Tourist Board – official overview of the identity of the town of Krk, its history, and tourism positioning (link)- European Region of Gastronomy / IGCAT – official page about the Kvarner 2026 title and the gastronomic distinctiveness of the region (link)- KuSshh – official product page with the description of black olive liqueur (link)
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