Velebit

What does Velebit offer to tourists? Anything you can wish for. The only question is - how much can you take from it? It satisfies the needs of hikers and mountaineers, of cyclists and motorcyclists, of families with children and adventurers, of extreme sport lovers and romantics, of explorers and even of those lazy ones. Moreover, it gets you closer to the sun, at the same time realizing how small you are under the stars.

If you really want to get to know it, you'll have to be doing that all your life, and if you want to see all of it, you'll need to spend your entire vacation on it, but if you just feel like saying hello to it quickly and go the other way, half an hour at the multimedia Velebit House at Krasno should be enough where, thanks to modern technology, you can see 3D footages of life on the mountain, hear the sounds, even feel the smells and go down its deepest underground cave, the Luka's cave - by an elevator (of course, it's just a simulation).

It is ungrateful to make the list of its top beauties as a sort of a guide book to must-sees on Velebit when the first place could be given to at least a few dozen sites, but we'll leave out Paklenica and North Velebit this time since these areas will be presented in other travel reports, so we'll give more attention to some microlocations not so much recognized by the public, being led by some more subjective impressions.

Majestic Waterfalls and a Fairy-Tale Cove

Zavratnica cove is a place each man must see at least once in his/her life since, unless you're a world traveller, you'll hardly ever see another cove as beautiful as this one. Here, the sea has taken from the mountain more than it was willing to give it, or the mountain has taken hold this endless blue itself - that's how it looks like, depending on whether you're reaching it by a path following the coastline from Jablanac or you're going down a hiking path from Zavratnica village. The shadows are playing with the navy blue shades of the sea, with the shiny greyness of rocks and the greenness of vegetation. The experts will describe it as a valley flooded from the canyon cliffs about 100 metres high, 900 metres long and 150 metres wide, made within the layers from the Cretaceous period forming, due to enormous fragmentation, numerous rock creeps stopped by abutments.

Cerovačke caves are in the south part of the continental area of the park and are considered one of the most famous and most significant speleological objects in Croatia. They consist of three caves with more than seven kilometres of explored channels, and the visitors can see one tenth of this fascinating space. It abounds in many archaeological remains, and it is one of the largest archaeological sites of the cave bear in Croatia. You will witness a thousand-year old formation of stalactites and stalagmites, but make sure you dress warmly since temperature down here is between 5 and 8 degrees Celsius. However, bear in mind that at the moment, and this goes for the rest of the year, Cerovačke caves are closed due to reconstruction of tracks and lights. A true paradise for hikers and climbers, an educational trail called Kudin most (a bridge), is recognized only by true nature lovers, partially due to the amazing Zrmanja canyon which has been taking all the glory for its natural beauties in Obrovac area for years now. It is on the Krupa, one of the tributaries of the Zrmanja, where you can experience majestic waterfalls and tufa cascades.

Hiking from Golubić village to Kudin most, you'll be following a blue-green tiny river with Deveterac, a tufa barrier with nine cascades, ending with a high waterfall which is bridged over by Kudin bridge, a drystone bridge with 12 arches built at the end of the 18th and at the beginning of the 19th century. It takes two hours to hike over 1600 metres.

Besides Zavratnica, there are two more educational paths on Velebit - Terezijana, a part of the old Austrian-Hungarian road from 1786 which used to connect Gospić and Karlobag, and Starigrad Senjski and Donja Klada built in 1847 to connect two villages on the coast, Starigrad and Lukova.

There are also 14 hiking paths which are more intensive and demanding than the educational ones, but some may be mastered by even those with the lack of hiking abilities. One of the most famous ones is Premužićeva path, starting in a wood below Badanj summit in the area of Baške Oštarije, and ending on Zavižan, in the area of North Velebit national park, the area also including a path starting at Veliki

Alan which can be the starting point of this path. This path is 16 kilometres long and there is a mountain refuge called Rossijeva koliba. The purpose of Premužićeva path is to easily reach the most inaccessible parts of Velebit, including Hajdučki and Rožanski kukovi. From this path, which is 57 kilometres long, you can take a turn towards some of the most beautiful summits of North and Middle Velebit - Gromovača, Crikvena and Šatorina.

Don't even try to conquer Visibaba, also known as Agin kuk, Čelina kuk or Rujičin kuk, leave those to more experienced mountain climbers. Adrenalin batteries can be charged by going rafting or canoeing down the Zrmanja from Kaštel Žegarski to the bridge at Muškovci or by cycling on one of the fifteen well-beaten cycling tracks. If you are a more comfortable type and want to enjoy the beauties through the windshield of your own car, you can do that, too. Moreover, take Velebit historical roads, we recommend Majstorska road. It connected Sveti Rok to Obrovac via Mali Alan 200 years ago, connecting Zadar to Vienna at the same time.

It took seven years to build a 41-kilometre route and it was a remarkable building venture with lots of serpentines over cliffs and ridges. Besides enjoying the view of the Adriatic Sea and literally cross the motorway tunnel tube leading from Sveti Rok to the sea coast, this is the simplest way to Tulove grede, a group of limestone towers which marked the scenery for the popular Winnetou chief, who is resting below them, naturally, in the world of film fiction.

Paklenica being the symbol of south Velebit, and North Velebit itself being a park with significant national attributes, then Middle Velebit is marked by Dabarski kukovi - a range of sharp rocky summits coming out of beaver woods and karst sinkholes, parallelly stretched alongside the coast. You can easily approach it from Baške Oštarije, there are forest paths from the north-east side, Crni and Ravni dabar. There are ten summits in the neighbouring area with the best and most long-distanced views of the entire mountain.

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and the Krupa

Majestic Waterfalls and a Fairy-Tale Cove

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