RISNJAK NATIONAL PARK
INTRO
Adjacent to the Slovenia border, Risnjak is one of Croatia’s more off-the-beaten-path national parks. The park receives a fraction of the visitors of many of Croatia’s more popular destinations, making it a crowd-free, peaceful place to explore. The park is adjacent to Crni Lug, a tiny town of ~200 that gives you a look into life in a small Croatian village. We’d highly recommend a trip if you love nature and want to see a less trodden area of the country!
The park is known for its rolling mountains (some of Croatia’s highest peaks are in its borders), amazing forests, and wildlife. In fact, Croatia’s 3 largest predators — lynxes, bears, and wolves — call Risnjak home, though it’s quite rare for visitors to spot these elusive animals. Sinkholes, caves, swallow holes, and natural springs also abound throughout the park given the region’s abundance of karst. The most famous of these is the source of the Kupa River — a site where a river essentially springs up from the ground in full force (can confirm, it’s as cool as it sounds). See below for everything you need to know to plan a trip to this unique corner of the country!
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Duration: 2-4 days. This should give you enough time to explore the park’s major features!
When to go: For optimal weather, May-September — Croatian late spring through summer — is your best bet. Fall can be very rainy, making the Kupa River source inaccessible and hiking more challenging. Snow covers the mountains in the winter and into late spring.
Accommodations + facilities: We stayed at Hostel Crni Lug, one of the national park accommodations in town. Depending on which room you choose, the cost is about 13-23€ per person. The hostel has a community kitchen, which is really helpful given the limited dining options in Crni Lug. There is also the Risnjak National Park guesthouse, located at Bijela Vodica, the main entrance to the national park just outside of Crni Lug. It is closer to the park but a bit more expensive. Lastly, we saw a couple small guesthouses and campsites on the road to the main entrance to the park.
Food + water: When exploring the park, bring food from the very basic market in Crni Lug, or groceries from Delnice or Rijeka. There’s also a restaurant at the main park entrance (Bijela Vodica) if you want to eat a meal or snacks there before or after your hike. The karstic terrain means that most water flows underground (except for the Kupa River), so don’t count on filling up with a water filter while hiking in Risnjak — pack enough water with you for the day!
Guide or no guide: No guide needed. All the trails are well-signed, and there are great park staff around who can answer questions!
Difficulty: There’s a good range of trail choices depending on your ability level. The educational trail is largely flat and short, as is the trail to see the source of the Kupa River. If you’re looking for something intense, the hikes to Veliki Risnjak or Snježnik are longer, more challenging trails for experienced hikers.
Make sure you have: Polarized sunglasses for the Kupa River source. This may sound niche, but they were essential to cut the glare, take in the crazy depth of the source, and watch the fish swim in the mysterious spring. Also, bring binoculars for hiking — you’ll want them for spotting wildlife and for scanning the gorgeous vistas of sinkholes and karstic ridges from the top of the mountain peaks!
Primary costs: Our major costs for Risnjak were as follows:
Park entry ticket: 10€ for an adult 2-day ticket (you can only buy tickets that are valid for 2 days)
Hostel accommodation: 20€ per person per night for a spot in a 3-person room
THINGS TO DO
From mountain peaks to riversides, Risnjak is full of amazing hiking. See below for our recommendations of best places to explore in the park. If you’re having trouble locating any of these places or planning your route through the park, this interactive park map is a great resource.
See the source of the Kupa River: this is one of the coolest hikes in all of Croatia, in our humble opinions. A short, 2.4-mile (3.95 km) out-and-back trail takes you from Razloge to an emerald pool where the River Kupa springs out of the ground in full force. The mysterious spring is at least 490 ft (150 m) deep — but the bottom has yet to be discovered. It’s also home to hundreds of large grayling and trout that can be seen swimming in the depths. If you want to stop at the excellent little Birthplace of the Kupa River Visitor Center and spot an amazing variety of butterflies, this hike can be extended into a 4.4-mile (6.4 km) loop through part of the Butterfly Valley (see below), which we really recommend!
Explore Butterfly Valley: this route follows the Kupa River and is a great add-on if you are going to see the river’s source. If you continue on past the Birthplace of the Kupa River Visitor Center and the first bridge, you can hike through the Butterfly Valley all the way to the border with Slovenia before turning back toward Razloge, for a total of 8 miles (12.9 km). The beautiful valley lives up to its name, as you’re likely to see hundreds of butterflies roosting on wildflowers along the river. See this AllTrails page for the route.
Climb Veliki Risnjak mountain peak: Veliki Risnjak is the highest point in the park (5,014 ft or 1,528 m), and this hike was one of the highlights of our time in Risnjak. Once you reach the top, you are rewarded with a panoramic view of seemingly endless mountains and forests. There are a few ways to climb the peak — we started at the main entrance to the park, Bijela Vodica, and did an out-and-back hike to the mountain. It was about 10.4 miles roundtrip, with 2,700 ft of elevation gain. See this AllTrails page for the route — however, note that we did not go out to Medvjeđa Vrata after Veliki Risnjak, so the AllTrails route is a bit longer than if you turn around at Veliki Risnjak.
Walk the Leska Educational path: this 2.6 mile (4.2 km) loop hike is a great intro to the park — it has informational panels every so often throughout the hike and features a lot of the park’s trademark ecology (forests, sinkholes, etc.).
Climb Snježnik peak: if you want something easier than Veliki Risnjak with equally rewarding views, Snježnik is a great choice. The trailhead starts from the Platak ski area and takes you to the summit of one of the tallest mountains in the national park on a short, yet steep, 4.3-mile (6.9 km) out-and-back hike with an optional loop. See this AllTrails page for the route.
GETTING THERE
Given it’s a little off-the-beaten-path, Risnjak isn’t quite as accessible as many other places in Croatia. Our impression was that most visitors are Croatian, so they drive their own cars to get to the park.
If you want to go by public transit, you’ll first need to take a bus to Delnice or Rijeka, the nearest bigger towns to the park. Once you are in Delnice or Rijeka, you’ll catch a different bus to Crni Lug, the tiny town adjacent to the park. You can book tickets online through Arriva. This Arriva page is also helpful for further info on traveling to Risnjak by public transit, including linked timetables. Note that we could not actually book a full itinerary all the way to or from Crni Lug, so had to book two separate itineraries. Our experience was that itineraries weren’t available every day, so be sure to plan ahead!
Given how tiny Crni Lug is, once you’re in town, it’s easy to walk to the park and explore on foot if you don’t have a car, or you can take an affordable taxi to the trailheads that are a bit further outside town.
Last updated: 15 August 2022
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