Premuzic Trail

Ante Premuzic, a forestry engineer, laid out and built this trail between 1930 and 1933 across the most broken terrain of Velebit, and the engineering is the point: it is a dry stone path, walled and paved where it needs to be, cut through karst that is otherwise almost impassable, and graded so evenly that it crosses the range without any severe climb. It runs about 57 kilometres from Zavizan in the north to Baske Ostarije, passing through the Northern Velebit national park and the Rozanski Kukovi rock formations, with the sea on one side and the Lika plateau on the other. Huts along it are basic and must be booked.

What you actually see

• A dry stone path across karst - built between 1930 and 1933.
• Graded to avoid hard climbing - the engineering that defines it.
• The Rozanski Kukovi - rock towers in the strict reserve it passes.
• Sea on one side, plateau on the other - the ridge line it follows.

When to go

June to September; snow closes it outside that. Three to four days for the full route.

Honest expectations

There is no water on most of the route - it must be carried or collected at huts. Huts are basic and need booking. The strict reserve sections have rules against leaving the path. Weather on the ridge changes fast and there is no shelter between huts.

Nearby

Zavizan and the botanical garden are at the northern end; Zavratnica is on the coast below.