Croatian motorcycle tour?
When someone asks about Croatia, it is hard to explain its true beauty in just few sentences. Questions like ‘Why would I want to do a Croatian motorcycle tour?’ or ‘What can I see there?’ are pretty often. Of course, Adriatic sea is the first thing to mention. Second, definitely the National parks, all eight of them. Yes, 8! Even though Croatia is by size one if the smallest European countries, it literally boasts when it comes down to nature and landscapes. Islands, waterfalls, mountains and lakes, found their place in all parts of Croatia- creating a great motorcycle adventure just by connecting a few. So, where to start?
What is the difference between national park and nature park in Croatia?
Main difference between a national park (‘nacionalni park‘) and nature park (‘park prirode’) is in the cultivation of the area. National parks include extensive and mostly unaltered areas od land (or sea) with at least one preserved ecosystem. In national parks, economic use od natural resources is strongly prohibited. On the other hand, nature park and its area can be partly cultivated and, business which do not pose a threat to its essential characteristics are allowed.
Croatian National parks
As mentioned, there are eight national parks in Croatia. Sorted by average number of visits (we may also say by popularity), here they are:
- Plitvice Lakes (described HERE)
- Krka (described HERE)
- Brijuni archipelago (official website)
- Paklenica (official website)
- Island of Mljet (official website)
- Kornati archipelago (official website)
- Northern Velebit (official website)
- Risnjak (official website)
You can find detailed posts about Plitvice Lakes and Krka on our blog already, and we will give our best to publish new posts about other destinations soon. Every single one is really worth visiting and they truly deserve separate posts.
Croatian Nature parks
Talking about numbers, 11 is the answer. The majority (6 out of 11) are mountain parks, two are island parks, two represent biological wealth of lowland flooding areas and the last one is the largest natural lake in Croatia. So, let’s name them in the exact order:
- Velebit
- Biokovo
- Medvednica
- Papuk
- Učka
- Žumberak – Samoborsko gorje
- Telašćica
- Lastovo archipelago
- Kopački rit
- Lonjsko polje
- Lake Vransko
At the end, this is how it looks like on a map. You may change the layers of the map- choosing between only national parks, only nature parks, or both. National parks are shown as blue motorcycles, while nature parks as yellow flags.
Hope this will help with your planning of Croatian motorcycle tour; depending on your preferences (walking-hiking-boat excursions etc.), choose at least one or two destinations as we’re sure you’ll have a great time. Afterwards, let us know what you think and where you were! Enjoy and ride safe!
