Croatia – Samograd Cave (En)

Gravobaca Park is a unique area that consists of 9 speleological sites that will take you back thousands of years into the past. Among these, only the Samograd Cave is adapted for tourist visits. The Park is dominated by hills reaching a height of around 770 metres, which form part of the continental area of central Velebit. The Park offers a unique experience during each season.

We stayed in the parking of the cave (44.642667, 15.363739 lat, long) where is the Park’s souvenir shop and information desk and where Marko the cave guide told us that we could sleep free and see the cave the next day at 1 pm as at 11 am 40 children were visiting the cave! Meanwhile, he told us to go up to the Lookout to see the views.

We slept really well with another motorhome and the next day we went hiking on a beautiful trail of 1.5 kilometres before going to see the cave.

At 1 pm we went to see Samograd Cave, the entry is 10 euros per person and it is situated on the Grabovača hill, at the end of an 800-metre-long, moderately challenging trail, whose slope is made easier in part by steps made of wood and stones. We were with a Check couple, two French guys really nice and a Croatian family, so Marko has to explain all twice, in English and Croatian.

The temperature inside the cave reaches 8°C on average, Marko looked at the temperature and it was 6°C. Inside the cave, the stone steps are hand-carved and over 100 years old, and the railings are made of wood. The cave has a total of 940 steps and it is more than 2 million years old. You have to hold tight to the handrails because the steps are very slippery and the handrails are freezing!

That night we slept there again, this time with a campervan, and the next day we went to the Krka National Park which is stunning and which you can see in the next post.