Paklenica National Park

Paklenica National Park

 

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

www.paklenica.hr

 

Description of Paklenica National Park

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.

 

Climbing in Paklenica National Park

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.