Location: Zadar County Map
Area: 95 km2 (36.7 sq mi)
Open: May- Sep: 6:30am- 8pm
Mar, Apr, Oct: 7am- 7pm
Nov- Feb: 8am- 3pm Mon- Thu, 7am- 5pm Fri- Sun
Info: Starigrad Paklenica, (023) 369 202, 369 155
Paklenica National Park is located in the Zadar County. It's
fairly modest size of just 95 km2 (36.7 sq mi) encompasses
beautiful cliffs, famous for its climbing, magnificent valleys
and great views of the Adriatic Sea. Paklenica National Park is
one of the most popular natural reserves in Croatia. It draws
thousands of tourists annually for various outdoor activities.
Highest peaks in Paklenica National Park are Vaganski vrh (peak)
that reaches an elevation of 1757 meters above sea level and
Sveto Brdo at 1753 meters. Hikers also enjoy breathtaking
picturesque canyons of Mala Paklenica and Velika Paklenica
(small and great Paklenica). And of course you shouldn't pass
Paklenica karst caves. These underground tunnels are naturally
formed, but Yugoslavian government increased its size in the
50's in order to prepare country for a possible attack either
from the Capitalist West or Stalin's Soviet Union. However
neither scenarios did pan out. Either way it is an interesting
opportunity to see some of the old abandoned military compounds.
Paklenica National Park is one of the most remote bio
reserves in all of Europe and it allowed large diversity of
various animals. These include roe, red deer, foxes as well as
more scary carnivores including bears, wolves and lynx. It might
be wise to take something that rattles or makes any sound to
ward of any animals. Animals tend to run away from the sound of
humans and startling one of those might be very dangerous.
Humans settled area of Paklenica National Park over 8000 years
ago and remains of the first fortifications date back to 2000
BC. Some of the archaeological sights within boundaries of
Paklenica National Park were robbed, some were destroyed. There
is still enough to see if you like history and want to explore
ancient ruins while hiking here.
Paklenica National Park is famous for its climbing and base jumping. One of the best places for this is mountain of Anica kuk (712 m, 2350 ft tall). Keep in mind that it is located at some distance from possible help so do it at your own risk.