Northern Dalmatia, from Zadar to the Plitvice Lakes

Between the sea and the Velebit

Northern Dalmatia lies between the Adriatic and the Velebit, a long limestone range that drops steeply down to the sea. From Zadar, you head to Starigrad, at the foot of the Paklenica gorges, to walk there in the morning below the Anića kuk cliff, well known to climbers.

Further north, the coast road faces the island of Pag and its hills of bare stone. At Karlobag, hairpin bends climb to the Oštarijska vrata pass, at 928 metres: in twenty minutes, you go from olive trees to beeches. On the other side lies Lika, a land of plateaus and almost empty meadows that leads to the Plitvice Lakes.

On the way back, the Kamenjak viewpoint looks down on Lake Vrana, the largest natural lake in Croatia. Further south, less than an hour away, Šibenik and the waterfalls of the Krka are worth a detour. You finish on the Riva in Zadar at sunset, where the Sea Organ, installed in 2005, plays with the waves under stone steps. According to local tradition, Alfred Hitchcock saw the most beautiful sunset in the world in Zadar.

Seventeen kilometres from Zadar, Nin is built on an islet in a lagoon. The Church of the Holy Cross dates from the 9th century. The tiny church is nicknamed “the smallest cathedral in the world”, because it is said to have been the church of the bishops of Nin, whose diocese disappeared in 1828. Its plan is also said to have served as a sundial, according to the art historian Mladen Pejaković.

Further south, Biograd na Moru was a town of the Croatian kings. Coloman of Hungary was crowned King of Croatia here in 1102, and the two crowns then stayed united for centuries. Its museum displays the cargo of a Venetian ship that sank in 1583 near the islet of Gnalić.

Plitvice and the travertine rivers

The Plitvice Lakes have been a national park since 1949, and on the World Heritage List since 1979. Sixteen lakes follow one another like a staircase, separated by natural dams of travertine. The water, rich in limestone, leaves it on the mosses, which turn to stone and form steps. At Plitvice, the water itself builds the dams. Wooden walkways lead to Veliki slap, 78 metres high, and an electric boat crosses Lake Kozjak.

You find travertine again at Rastoke, near Slunj, where old watermills sit on the small falls of the Slunjčica. Near Obrovac, the Krupa runs down in cascades below Kudin most, a twelve-arched stone bridge you reach on foot from Golubić. The Orthodox monastery of Krupa has 17th-century frescoes.

What not to miss

1. 1The Paklenica gorgesA path climbs the canyon from Starigrad, between limestone walls.
2. 2The Nikola Tesla Memorial CentreIn Smiljan, the inventor’s birthplace; he was born here on 10 July 1856.
3. 3Drežnik CastleA ruined fortress above the Korana canyon, which guarded the frontier with the Ottomans.
4. 4The Cerovac CavesNear Gračac, passages rich in cave bear remains, visited with a guide.
5. 5Maškovića hanIn Vrana, an Ottoman caravanserai begun in 1644 and never finished.
6. 6The Nin salt pansPans worked the traditional way and a salt museum, near a beach whose mud is said to heal.

Northern Dalmatia in pictures

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The steps of the Sea Organ, on the Riva in Zadar.

Food in Northern Dalmatia

On the coast, you eat grilled fish, mussels and black risotto made with cuttlefish ink. The island of Pag produces paški sir, a salty-tasting sheep’s cheese. Zadar is the home of maraschino, a liqueur made from marasca cherries.

In Lika, the food turns to mountain fare: the Lika potato, protected by a geographical indication, cheeses and spit-roast lamb. Around Benkovac, the Ravni kotari produce olive oil and wine.