Northern Velebit National Park — Attraction in Grad Senj

A very beautiful national park with amazing views, I wish I could give it 5 stars HOWEVER it was a VERY arduous experience... There should be warnings & caution on the maps and trails as well as by guides about the difficulty and length of some routes. We underestimated the longer loop route starting from Zavizan heading west on the educational trail towards gorna klada and then south towards Alan, then going east toward rosijeva koliba (after the turning to velike brisnice) and finally north along the premuziceva staza. If taking this route, be prepared for 8 hours & 27km of extreme hiking (looks much less on the map!) along some fairly perilous and not well maintained areas. Particularly on the trail toward Rosijeva Koliba, which should definitely be marked as a difficult trail, the route markings became much harder to follow, the difficulty increased (very steep sections including having to scramble up rocky areas), and the route was not well maintained (e.g. trees blocking the path, or no path at all having to go through tall weeds which was very confusing). Luckily we are quite physically fit and active so moved very fast but it was a pretty scary experience overall as the paths are very windy and steep, it was beginning to get dark (there are lynx, bears and other animals in the forest) and we were still in the forest after 6 hours walking, having seen limited views and come across no other people for the whole day. There is no service or internet once in the forest so you cannot use a map or call for help if needed say if you become injured. All things considered, once we made it onto the mountain path (Premuziceva Staza) the views were stunning but for me this particular route was not worth it, I suggest sticking to that main path unless you are an extremely experienced hiker/mountain climber (god forbid what may have happened if our map & direction skills or physical fitness were poorer, I...

Definitely among my favorite places on our roadtrip through Croatia! Zavizan Hut is highly recommended for staying the night (the loveliest host, great company and beautiful night skies), for starting your (day) hike and for a refreshing cold beer afterwards. From Zavizan you can climb only a few meters up to the peak directly in front of the hut, from where you already have an amazing view over the coastline. From there you can follow the red and white marks to two other summits and return to Zavizan via a loop trail. We highly recommend this not too extensive or tiring but utterly rewarding route, as not only the panorama is breathtaking, but also the path (especially up the second peak) is so much fun, involving a little bit of climbing and slightly adventurous bits (felt perfectly safe though throughout the hike and is absolutely doable in trainers). The walk from Zavizan to Alan Hut is another gem, which leads through beautiful landscapes and offers a couple of peaks to climb via short one-way-trails next to the path. However note that this is a slightly longer trail (around 16k) that ends at a different hut. If you had to return to Zavizan again but didn't want to do 30k, from Alan hut, you can book a shuttle service back to Zavizan (500kn for 1-4 persons and 600kn for...

Most beautiful mountain I am returning whenever I can. National Park is so beautiful that I cannot describe it properly and I will provide pictures to prove it. There are many marked trails but the best one is amazing Premuzic Trail I have described already. And it is breathtaking when looking on the islands after climbing some peak and I will present them in further reviews as I am returning to this place often. +++ But I do not like one way poorly maintained macadam road coming from main entrance. If they do not like to put asphfalt they should at least widen it and do better maintenance. It is not acceptable to see there information that road is damaged for next 9 km with 30 km as speed limit. That is really not impressive for national park. Also I was really surprised with condition of marked mountain trails as it was really hard to follow them often with many fallen trees that should be cleared...