Paklenica is a mountainous park established in 1929, but for historical reasons it was disestablished and reestablished in 1949, only few months after Plitvice Lakes. This part of Velebit mountain is crowned with rich forests hiding Croatia's greatest treasures - original nature with flora and fauna. This park will take you into deep underground; the caves with its specific animal life offer the dark side of this park. Don't worry, this dark sheds a whole new light on this park as it is well preserved from within. The karst landscape is characteristic of this whole region which can survive only unpolluted.

Hiking through forests and meadows, into the cave and then back to the light seems like an imaginary Disney cartoon, but this fantasy is real. This beautiful park overlooks and spreads down to the Adriatic, which we visit at Starigrad. There we will have time to walk, shop and take a few photos before getting back to Zadar.

One of the oldest Croatian NP

Paklenica National Park was established in 1949 and is Croatia’s second oldest national park behind Plitvice Lakes National Park

Sound travel

Canyons called Velika (big) Paklenica and Mala (small) Paklenica in the Velebit mountain, which is Croatia's largest mountain range. The Velebit mountain range is a part of the Dinaric Alps which also runs through, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and reaches its highest point in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Man-made cave

Not very far from the entrance to Velika Paklenica there is man-made cave & tunnel system, which took several years to build. It was commissioned by the Yugoslavian leader during the Cold War as a fallout shelter; he believed that Croatia would be attacked.