Krka National Park
Located in southern Croatia and situated along the Krka river in Šibenik-Knin County, Krka national park is a must-visit during your trip to Dalmatia. It has a series of 7 waterfalls including the famous skradinski buk and roški slap, and is home to the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy (on Visovac island). Rich in diversity, the national park covers a total of 109 square kilometers; there are over 1,000 species of plants as well as hundreds of animal species that call Krka their home. The hikes are gorgeous, the fresh air is plentiful, and the sounds of the rushing water throughout the park is so calming - I would highly recommend visiting! The national park is just over an hour from Zadar, 1.5 hours away from Split, 3-3.5 hours away from Zagreb, and 3.5-4 hours from Dubrovnik.
When visiting the park, there are five different tours you have the option of taking;
Skradin tour - Either a hike, bike ride, or boat ride, down a trail featuring waterfalls
Lozovac tour - A hike featuring waterfalls
Laskovica tour - Boat rides and Roški slap waterfall
Burnum/Puljane - Ancient ruins
Krka monestary - Boat ride to monastery
Lozovac vs Skradin Tours
Lozovac and Skradin are towns that surround the park that each have their own trail entrance. They are very similar as they both go through skradinski buk and other waterfalls, however the Skradin tour has a longer trail to get there - that is why you can either walk, bike or take a boat. I'm sure the long Skradin trail is beautiful, but we wanted a short hike with waterfalls, so we chose to take the Lozovac tour.
Lozovac is the main road entrance to Krka National Park - get off the highway at the Šibenik exit, where you will see plenty of signs for the park. At the entrance, there is free parking in a large lot (Skradin does not have a free parking lot) as well as an electric vehicle charging station and a restroom. Once you park and show/pay for your ticket, there is a small hiking trail (around 200m) that takes you from the Lozovac entrance to the beginning of the circular path with the waterfalls. For on-season visits from April to October there are free Krka national park busses that transport visitors from the Lozovac entrance to skradinski buk.
You will walk down the mountain on a small rocky trail to get to the bottom, and follow the signs that say 'walk this way' until you get to the start of the circular route. After reaching the start, you will enter onto 1900 meters of wooden boardwalks alongside the Krka river, passing multiple smaller and medium sized waterfalls before ultimately reaching the final and largest waterfall skradinski buk. It takes about 2 hours total to walk through from the beginning to end of Lozovac, however if it's summer and you're spending time at skradinski buk, it'll probably take longer when accounting for swim time!
Like the Lozovac tour, the Skradin entrance will ultimately take you to the skradinski buk waterfall. This entrance has a trail of 3400m that you can either hike down or ride a bicycle, going from the Skradin bridge to the skradinski buk waterfall. Most of this hike is along the river without any waterfalls (though the river itself is beautiful), however it does ultimately meet the same circular path as Lozovac. From April to October there are Krka national park boats that transport visitors from the Skradin entrance to the skradinski buk waterfall.
Skradinski Buk Waterfall
The main attraction of the circular trail is skradinski buk which is available for swimming during on-season months. We went during off-season so we couldn't swim; attractions are sometimes closed when traveling in the off-season, but it is nice not having to deal with large crowds and ticket entry prices are cheaper! As mentioned, from April to October there are free Krka national park transportation services that take visitors to and from skradinski buk waterfall, originating from Lozovac or Skradin. This is perfect for those who only want to visit and swim at this famous waterfall and skip the hikes. During off-season busses don't run so you'll have to walk along one of the trails (which I recommend doing anyway!).
Skradinski buk is the seventh (and the last) waterfall along the circular trail, and is the longest tufa barrier in Europe. A tufa barrier is essentially the rock formation that makes the water flow from lake to lake as a series of waterfalls. In the case of skradinski buk, tufa has formed to make seventeen 'steps' stretching around 800 meters in length.
There are two restaurants at skradinski buk along with a large open area for sitting, eating and relaxing. You can pick up some food, snacks, and most importantly water! The restaurants were open when we arrived during off-season, however I was unable to find out how far into winter it stays open - I'm not sure if it is wether-dependent or closes during a certain month.
Prices
There are different packages you can purchase tickets for based on which entrance you choose and which waterfalls or sites you want to see. There are three different entry ticket options on the Krka national park official website ticket page; these are "ticket for entire park", "Roški slap", and "Kistanje/Burnum/Puljane". For Lozovac or Skradin tours choose "ticket for entire park", then choose the date of arrival and select your desired entry area (Lozovac or Skradin).
Lozovac & Skradin tour (includes "all accessible land sites"):
-Jan, Feb, Mar & Nov, Dec: 52.74 HRK (7.5 USD)
-April, May, Oct: 150.69 HRK (21.4 USD)
-June, July, Aug, Sept: 301.38 HRK (42.7 USD)
Laskovica tour (includes "roski slap" and "Kistanje/Burnum/Puljane"):
-Jan, Feb, Mar & Nov, Dec: 52.74 HRK (7.5 USD)
-April, May, Oct: 90.41 HRK (12.8 USD)
-June, July, Aug, Sept: 150.69 HRK (21.4 USD)
Burnum/Puljane and Krka monestary (includes "Kistanje/Burnum/Puljane"):
-Jan, Feb, Mar & Nov, Dec: 52.74 kn
-April, May, Oct: 75.35 HRK (10.7 USD)
-June, July, Aug, Sept: 113.02 HRK (16 USD)
*all prices listed are for individual adults. For all price lists, visit the official website ticket price page.
There are also a lot of extra boat excursions you can go on from April-October. There are multiple pick-up points, including both skradinski buk and roški slap. These excursions are to Visovac Island to see the Franciscan Monastery of Our Lady of Mercy, Krka monastery, to roški slap or to čikola canyon. This is an additional cost to your entry ticket, and prices vary from 50-130 HRK for individual adults. These prices and more information can be found here.
Water Mills/Ethno Village
Between skradinski buk and the ethno village, you will pass by what remains of the 1895 Krka hydroelectric plant, which provided enough energy to light up the city. It is so much bigger than you'd think, and there is an educational panel next to it for more information. After this stop, at the end of the trail, you will see the Krka ethno village that contains preserved and restored old water mills that you can explore. There is also a little museum, as well as demonstrations of how the mills used to work. The history of water mills at skradinski buk dates as far back as the year 1251! This area is definitely interesting to walk around in, and it is a fun extra activity before ending the hike to learn a bit more about the history of the national park. There is also a free restroom in the ethno village!
Exploring Skradin
As previously mentioned, we chose the Lozovac tour. Despite our choice of entrance we still wanted to explore the town of Skradin, so we drove over there after our hike to grab some well-deserved food and walk around. It was very much worth going out of our way to visit! The town is so unique, as it is one of the oldest Croatian towns - Skradin has a very rich history with roots of activity dating back over 5,000 years. We ate at 'Patriot konoba & pizzeria', which is located by the marina and had some delicious dinner options, before setting off to explore the town.
While we were wandering through the streets, we came upon the stairway to a fort called fortress of Turina which is located on the highest point in the center of the town, overlooking the Krka river and giving a panoramic view of Skradin. It was constructed from 1273 - 1312 on the site of an ancient city from the Liburnian tribe period. We watched the sun set from the top of the fort before heading home. It was overall a really great day, and I would highly recommend taking a trip to Krka national park when visiting Croatia!
