Sjeverni Velebit National Park is the youngest national park in Croatia and one of the country’s most picturesque areas. Its name translates to “Northern Velebit” since it covers the northern slopes of the Velebit Mountain. The national park is situated in Lika-Senj County, covering 109 km².
About
Sjeverni Velebit National Park is the youngest national park in Croatia and one of the country’s most picturesque areas. Its name translates to “Northern Velebit” since it covers the northern slopes of the Velebit Mountain. The national park is situated in Lika-Senj County, covering 109 km².
It encompasses several protected areas: Hajdučki i Rožanski Kukovi, a strict reserve, the Visibaba botanical reserve – home to the endemic species Croatian sibirea, and the Zavižan-Balinovac-Velika kosa botanical reserve, which houses the well-known Velebit Botanical Garden which has been listed as a monument of landscape architecture.
White cliffs of the this national park covered by coniferous forest offer some of the most stunning views of the Adriatic Sea. The mountain is criss-crossed with multiple hiking trails and dotted with many “summer lodges”, small houses with cone-like roofs made of stones without mortar. They served shepherds and hunters as temporary shelters in the mountains.
Traffic
The most frequently used path is the one from the town of Otočac. You can reach Otočac via the Zagreb-Split highway, or the old road Josipdol-Senj, over the Kapela mountain pass. When you take off the highway, take the road to Krasno, where you will find the park’s administration building.
The other way is the asphalt road to Štirovača, which is in the south-eastern part of the park. The park can be also accessed from the coast, using the very narrow road from Jablanac.
Apart from these access roads, the park can be reached by macadam roads from the directions of Mrkvište, Ledena draga, Begovača and Štirovača. You can also enter the park by using mountain trails from the coast – the direction of Brisnice and Gornja Klada.
Visit
Hajdučki and Rožanski kukovi
This strict reserve is wild and inaccessible with plenty of areas that have remained out of human reach, thus giving it an aura of the unexplored and unknown. A speleological object of imposing dimensions – Lukina Jama, has been discovered there in 1993. It is 1,392 metres deep – the deepest pit in southeast Europe and the eighth deepest in the world.
Premužić’s trail
This hiking path leads through the most beautiful and the most interesting parts of the park.
Zavižan-Balinovac-Velika kosa
A botanical reserve comprising the widely known Velebit Botany Garden.
Borov Vrh
Veliki Lubenovac
Visibaba botanical reserve