Vrana Lake Nature Park

Vrana Lake is the largest natural lake in the country and one of the least visited protected areas on this coast, mostly because it sits just inland of a shoreline everyone else is heading for. It is shallow, only a few metres deep, brackish because seawater seeps in through the karst, and separated from the Adriatic by a ridge barely a kilometre wide in places. The northwestern end is a reed marsh set aside as an ornithological reserve, with hides and a boardwalk. A flat cycling track runs most of the way round the lake, and from the Kamenjak ridge above it you can see the lake and the Kornati islands in the same view.

What you actually see

• The ornithological reserve - reed beds and hides at the northwestern end, with herons, egrets and passage migrants.
• The Kamenjak viewpoint - a ridge above the lake looking over both the water and the Kornati archipelago.
• The lakeside cycling route - a flat gravel track running most of the way around the shore.
• The eel and carp fishery - a long standing local fishing tradition on the lake, with permits sold in season.

When to go

Spring and autumn are far better than summer here, because migration puts real numbers of birds on the water and the temperature is bearable on the exposed shore. Early morning is the only sensible time for the hides. In July and August the reeds are dense, the birds fewer and the mosquitoes considerable.

Honest expectations

The lake is not a swimming destination: the shore is reedy and muddy, and access to open water is limited. There is almost no shade on the cycling track. Summer brings mosquitoes in force. Birdwatching outside migration seasons can be thin, and the visitor infrastructure is modest compared with the national parks nearby.

Nearby

Biograd na Moru is on the coast just over the ridge, and Krka National Park is half an hour east.