Tri brata Beach sits in a quiet bay in Zaton, 9km north of Dubrovnik, lined with 17th-century Ragusan summer villas. Wealthy Ragusan merchants built their summer houses here in the 1600s to escape the city's plague summers, and about 20 of these Renaissance villas still stand along the shore, some restored, some crumbling picturesquely, all tucked among pine and cypress. The bay itself is 2km deep, sheltered, with clear water and a mix of small pebble beaches and swim ledges. People come for swimming, seafood and no crowds: kids swimming off stone piers, grandmothers gutting fish on the pavement, no cocktail bars, dinner ends by 10pm. Zaton Mali, the smaller hamlet, holds the marina and the handful of konobas, while Zaton Veliki is almost entirely residential, with the summer villas fronting the water and the parish church of Sv. Nikola set back on the through road. The vibe is family-Croatian summer, the honest antidote to Dubrovnik's cruise-day chaos.