Parking at botanical garden - Veliki Zavižan (direct way)

Access to the starting point:
From the Zagreb - Split motorway, take the Otočac exit. Follow the road towards the village of Krasno and Sjeverni Velebit. A rather winding road leads through the village of Švica to Krasno, where the road from Senj joins (access is also possible from this direction). In Krasno, continue towards the signs for the Sjeverni Velebit National Park and the Zavižan lodge. The road, which then becomes macadam, leads to the entrance to the park, where the entrance fee is collected. Continue along the road, which leads to a crossroads by a chapel. Continue straight on for another 100m to the parking lot in front of the road closure near the botanical garden (botanički vrt).

Path description:
From the parking lot, head towards the Botanical Garden, which is reached after a short descent across a meadow. At the botanical garden house, continue along the path on the left, which skirts the sinkhole below. After a few minutes' walk, a signpost for Veliki Zavižan points upwards to the left. The way forward climbs steeply through the forest and then the steepness eases and the path leads us to a flat grassy clearing. At the end of the clearing the path turns right and starts climbing again. Just below the top, the path leads us out of the forest onto slopes covered with dwarf pines. It is a five-minute climb to the top, up an increasingly scenic slope.

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