Excursions from Zadar

Plitvice

Visit one of the most beautiful natural sights in Europe, the oldest Croatian National Park Plitvice Lakes. Every year thousands of visitors enjoy a stroll along the 16 lakes and numerous waterfalls in the beautiful surroundings of the rich flora and fauna. Here is the Great Waterfall, with its 78 meters, the highest waterfall in Croatia and even 58 species of orchids, including the lady’s slipper – the most beautiful orchid in Europe. In addition to a number of legally protected and endemic plant and animal species in the park you can find the buildings of traditional crafts and even 114 speleological objects – pits and caves. The area of the national park is rich in hospitality and accommodation facilities and with many posiblites for recreational activities. In the park you can hike, paddle, ride a bike, drive with electric boat or a panoramic train and during the winter tourist offer is enriched with ski slope Mukinje.

Near plitvice lakes, a place definitely worth visiting is watermill village Rastoke, also known as “Plitvice lakes in miniature”. Rastoke is a village 30 kilometers away from the Plitvice Lakes National Park, where the river Slunjcica flows into the river Korana, known for its beautiful nature and historical tradition.

 

Krka

In an escape from Dinara mountian, the river Krka bored away at her limestone bed, chiseled away at her staircarse on a fifty-mile run to the sea, and patiently built up its status as a national park. The aquatic stairway interspersed with lakes was a readymade choice for the hermitical life of the monks who have refreshed their spirit and theor body on this natural wonder of Krka river – an island in a lake. Diverse yet unchanged, both wooded and rocky, Krka river is Europe’s most valuable bird sanctuary and the home of many endemic species. It is also a common picnic destination for visitors to Croatia.

Open to visitors all year long, Krka national park will welcome you to its seven travertine barriers. This wealth of brackish water ends at the majestic last fall, Skradinski buk, which is commonly described by using superlatives, such as the most beautiful, the tallest, the most visited… discover the truth of these reports for yourself.

An information path leads around Skradinski buk. Every step of the way reveals new extraordinary facts about the Krka national park: endemic fish, otters, old watermills imbued with folklore wealth, the 211 bird species in an endless mosaic of floral life… Stop for a while on one of the small bridges which leaad around the seventeen stairs of Skradinski buk and enjoy the deafening duet the river and its travertine barriers.

The cavernous underground of Krka national park are unfortunately unavailable for visit. They house an endangered community of bats and the tiny endemic underground vertebrate known as the elm. The remains of Roman and even neolithic cultures can be found here and there.

 

Kornati

Fullday excursion – A splendid day on the sea! Archipelago with its 150 uninhabited islands, islets and reefs is the most indented island group in the Mediterranean. We will sail by boat from one island to another all the way to a bay of extraordinary beauty. It is a paradise for those who know how to enjoy the pure form of fascinating cristal sea. In the central part of the Croatian  Adriatic, on the meeting point of Šibenik and Zadar islands, a separate and by many a specific group of islands, called Kornati, is situated.

 

Paklenica

Due to its unique natural features, magnificent forests and extraordinary geomorphologic structures, the area of Velika and Mala Paklenica was proclaimed a national park in 1949. The main reason for proclaiming this area a national park was the protection of the largest and best preserved forest complex in the territory of Dalmatia, which was threatened by overexploitation.

 

The Paklenica National Park stretches on the area of 95 km2 , on the littoral slope of South Velebit under the zone of highest mountain peaks Vaganski vrh (1752) and Sveto brdo (1753).
It covers the area of torrent flows of Velika Paklenica and Mala Paklenica, and their distinctive canyons carved vertically into the south slopes of Velebit and the broader surrounding area. The relatively small area has an abundance of geomorphological phenomena and forms, diverse flora and fauna, attractive landscapes and intact nature. Diverse habitats in the area of Paklenica, along with elevation stratification, provide a home for diverse fauna.

Distinctive features of Paklenica National Park are autochthonous forests of black pine, several types of beech forests and deep canyons with torrent flows of Velika and Mala Paklenica. Wider area of Paklenica National Park prides itself with rich and diverse cultural heritage.