The Velika Paklenica gorge
Vertical walls along a relatively easy path.
Dreamy Pixel — CC BY 4.0 · Dreamy Pixel — CC BY 4.0 · Kubajdaa22cz — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kubajdaa22cz — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes, if you keep to the first section: from the car park to the end of the narrow gorge is about an hour on a wide, near-level path, and that is the park's finest stretch visually. Beyond it the route genuinely climbs and needs fitness. With small children or older visitors, plan the first section and back, and do not attempt the mountain huts.
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Paklenica is two deep canyons cutting straight into the Velebit mountain directly above the sea: the larger Velika Paklenica and the smaller Mala Paklenica, both rock gorges with vertical walls rising hundreds of metres on either side of a narrow watercourse. What makes it exceptional is the compression: you stand on the Adriatic shore and see peaks above 1,700 metres immediately behind it, with no plain in between. The walk from the park entrance into the gorge is relatively easy on a clear path, so an ordinary family can see its finest stretch in two hours, while longer routes climb to the summit of Vaganski vrh and need a full day. The park is also Croatia's most important rock-climbing site: the Anića kuk wall, some three hundred metres high, draws climbers from across Europe, and they can be watched from the path without any equipment. The area itself appeared in the German Winnetou films of the 1960s, which made it familiar to a whole German generation before it was known as a Croatian destination.
Vertical walls along a relatively easy path.
Climbers watchable from the path with no gear.
Dr. Franje Tudmana 14a, 23244 Starigrad-Paklenica