Plitvice Lakes National Park and Defensive System of Zadar

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Plitvice Lakes National Park

   Plitvice is sixteen lakes arranged in a staircase, linked by waterfalls and bordered by beech and fir forest, all coloured an unreal turquoise by the minerals in the water. The lakes form because the water is rich in calcium carbonate, which settles out as travertine, or tufa, on moss and plants, building natural dams that grow slowly over the centuries. It is a living process, which is why the park is protected, and why visitors have to keep to the wooden walkways that wind across the water. UNESCO listed it in 1979, and it is today Croatia's most visited natural site.

   Read the complete Plitvice Lakes National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Plitvice Lakes National Park is where the day begins. Next is Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi.

2. 2. Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi

   The Hajdučki and Rožanski Kukovi are a field of limestone towers in the northern Velebit, a landscape of pale spires, pinnacles and karst pavements that look like a city abandoned by giants. They sit in the Northern Velebit National Park, a long mountain range that parallels the Adriatic coast and shelters the Croatian interior from the sea. The sea is close, and the contrast is part of the appeal: bare white stone and wind above, blue water far below.

   Read the complete Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Paklenica National Park.

3. 3. Paklenica National Park

   Paklenica is a place where the Velebit mountains drop in a wall to the Adriatic. The national park, created in 1949, protects two gorges, Mala and Velika Paklenica, which cut into the limestone like a pair of knife wounds, with vertical walls up to four hundred metres high. The big wall of Anića Kuk is a famous climbing area, and on a clear day you can watch climbers as small as ants. Between the walls, the path winds through black pine and beech forest, with the sound of a stream and the smell of resin. Griffon vultures nest on the cliffs and often circle overhead, and the caves in the hills hold bats and old stories.

   Read the complete Paklenica National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 274 km into the recorded legs you reach Paklenica National Park. Next is Defensive System of Zadar.

4. 4. Defensive System of Zadar

   Zadar spent much of its life on the front line, and its walls prove it. Once the chief city of Venetian Dalmatia, it stood on the border between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Venetians turned it into one of the strongest fortress towns in the Adriatic. The ramparts, bastions and gates that survive are part of the Venetian Works of Defence between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a group of sites across Italy, Croatia and Montenegro that UNESCO inscribed in 2017.

   Read the complete Defensive System of Zadar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Defensive System of Zadar, about halfway. Next is back through Paklenica National Park.

5. 5. back through Paklenica National Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Paklenica National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Paklenica National Park sits at 260 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi.

6. 6. back through Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Hajdučki i Rožanski kukovi comes up about 506 km into the recorded legs. Next is Plitvice Lakes National Park.

7. 7. Plitvice Lakes National Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Plitvice Lakes National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Plitvice Lakes National Park closes the day.