Thirty minutes’ walk along the seafront from Vodice, Tribunj is a relatively calm fishing village centred on a thumb-shaped island joined to the mainland by a bridge. There’s a tight cluster of old houses on the island itself, and a large yachting marina on the opposite side of the bay.
Overlooking the bridge on the mainland side is the Parish Church of Our Lady (Crkva velike Gospe), a 19th-century building containing a cluster of neo-Baroque altars and a shrine to Saint Nicholas (the patron of sea-farers) that features an intricate model ship. For those who need to stretch their legs, a path leads up behind Tribunj’s parish church towards the hilltop chapel of St Nicholas, passing shrines marking the Stations of the Cross on the way. There are splendid views of the coastline from the summit.
To the west of Tribunj, Sovlja is a small settlement resting on a shallow inlet, with a rock-and-pebble beach that’s a peaceful alternative to those in nearby Vodice.
Tribunj’s other main claim to fame is the festival of donkey races that takes place every year in the first week of August. The traditional local affection for the four-legged braying beast is nurtured by the Tribunj-based Hrvatski Tovar (“Croatian Donkey”) organization, formed in 1999. There is a donkey reserve on the island of Logorun just offshore to the southwest.