Paklenica National Park

Although the Velebit mountains have numerous beautiful viewpoints and varied walking routes to offer, it is above all the great and the small gorge - Velika Paklenica and Mala Paklenica - that are famous among locals and visitors for their wonderful landscape. Accordingly the area was declared a nature park by UNESCO in 1978 and placed under special protection. This 36.5 sq km area near Zadar and Starigrad extends over 1,758 metres of altitude and is particularly popular among climbers, since the steep gorges do justice to every level while still presenting a challenge. The almost vertical karst walls, lying in places only 50 m apart from one another, rise to up to 500 m, and from every point one has a good view of the Adriatic, which is separated from the mountain massif only by a narrow coastal strip. But for walkers and other friends of nature too the Paklenica National Park is a rewarding travel destination: more leisurely walking paths reward with a fantastic view, and in the protected territory of the park one has the rare opportunity to observe some of the last freely living vultures of Europe.

Over Croatia's well-developed motorway network one drives to the coastal town of Starigrad and follows the signs from here to Paklenica. In the Hotel Alan, where one can also stay comfortably on visits of several days, one finds the park's administrative seat and competent contacts for questions on opening hours, flora, fauna and everything else you might want to know about the gorges. From here a well-signposted road leads to the main entrance and the start of the great gorge Velika Paklenica. In the park itself numerous signposted roads and walking routes are available for you to choose from.

The mountain range to which the Paklenica park also belongs comprises altogether 145 kilometres in length between Knin and Senj, is 10-30 km wide and reaches 1,758 metres of altitude at its highest summit. The biosphere found worthy of protection by UNESCO is, however, of significance not only from natural-scientific aspects: in the culture, tradition and symbolism of Croatia too the karst mountains play an important role: in folk songs and legends they appear again and again as a legendary place of freedom - perhaps because the inhabitant who knew the country could quickly reach, on practical walking paths, places that would have been accessible to inexperienced conquerors only over impassable stretches and steep slopes. And in the numerous caves in the upper altitudes one could hide well and set up generous supply stores. This rock formation goes back to underground springs and seepage which wash the stone out until the outer walls give way and form precisely these caves. Through these erosion processes only a few rivers reached the surface: only in the coastal area do watercourses emerge from the steep walls as torrents and waterfalls; otherwise the Velebit mountains are largely free of water, which also has an effect on the vegetation.