National Park Northern Velebit    
It is forbidden to thread through the reserve (except passing the Premuzic's trail), and only scientific researches and educational visits are allowed, according to the decission of the eligible ministry or some other institution in charge. As parts of the park, there are the Visibaba botanical reserve, with a rich founding of the endemic Croatian Sibirrhaea (Sibiraea altaiensis ssp. croatica), and the Zavizan-Balinovac-Velika kosa botanical reserve, famous for its outstanding collection of species of the mountain flora. Inside the reserve there is a widely known Velebit Botany Garden, founded by the pharmacology professor Fran Kusan in 1967.
The Northern Velebit Park is criss-crossed with numerous mountaineering trails. The most famous and widely known is the Premuzic's trail, named after its constructor, the BSc forestry Ante Premuzic who built it in the late 1933. The path runs through the most beautiful and the most interesting parts of the park. From the numerous peaks in the surroundings you can have a magnificent view on the Adriatic Sea and its islands Pag, Rab, Goli, Prvic and Krk, and on the continental side as well. The Park's cultural value is present in a form of numerous ruins of the so-called "summer lodges", which witness of the ages passed and long forgotten, when Velebit was inhabited by the numerous population of shepherds and cattlers. On its coastal banks you can find many ruined houses, lodges and stonewalls which once marked the specific lifestyle of the local population who scattered all around the globe in the days to come, leaving nothing but traces of their presence on this remarkably beautiful and exquisite land. 
The accomodation inside the Northern Velebit National Park is quite scarce. Inside the park there are three mountaineers' objects - the most important and most frequently visited is, no doubt, the Zavizan mountain lodge. There you can sleep, and lesser catering services are also available (i.e. tea, coffee, beer and simple food). Its capacity is 20 beds. During the tourist season, horse riding is also a part of the tourist offer.
There are couple of ways to enter the Northern Velebit National Park.The most frequently used path is the one from the town of Otocac. You can reach Otocac by using 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 Svica and Krasno, where the park's HQ is. From the village of Krasno you can either go towards Senj, and then go left in the village Oltari (Babic-Sica entrance), or you can take a shorter road to Štirovaca (from the centre of the village) and then immediately right (there is a board with road marks). 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 road from Jablanac, but that path is not recommended because of the road's narrowness. If you use it anyway, you'll enter the park from the south-west, at the Alan mountain lodge.The road Otocac-Krasno was recently repaired, and is the best way to enter the park.Except of these access roads, park can be reached by macadam roads from the directions of Mrkviste, Ledena draga, Begovaca and Stirovaca. You can also enter the Northern Velebit National Park by using mountain trails from the coastal side - direction of Brisnice and Gornja Klada. There is also a mountain trail from Krasno all the way to the Zavizan mountain lodge. return from Velebit to Croatia National Parks return from Velebit to Exploring Croatia travel & tourism guide New! CommentsHave your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
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