Golubinjak Forest-hidden gem of Croatia 🇭🇷
WHERE IS GOLUBINJAK FOREST?
Park šuma Golubinjak is located near the town of Lokve in Gorski Kotar, Croatia. It is a popular forest park known for its beautiful natural surroundings, including dense forests, caves, rock formations, and hiking trails. The park is easily accessible from the A6 highway that connects Zagreb and Rijeka, making it a convenient stop for travelers exploring the region.
Upon entering Park-šuma Golubinjak, you'll pass a large green meadow with wooden tables, benches, a restaurant, rentable grills, and a children’s playground. The park offers much more than outdoor barbecues and Golubinja Cave. It features several trails that can be combined, allowing you to spend up to two hours exploring this part of Gorski Kotar. Afterward, you can enjoy a picnic, have lunch at the restaurant, or organize a barbecue.
Golubinjak covers 51 hectares of protected land at an altitude between 730 and 800 meters. This beech, fir, and spruce forest was declared a park in 1955 (some sources mention 1961). The area beneath the cliffs is full of cracks and fallen rocks, where cold air circulates year-round, creating natural cold spots even during the hottest summer days.
Nearest cities (by car):
📍 40 mins from Rijeka
📍 50 mins from Karlovac
📍 1h and 20 mins from Zagreb
📍1h and 50 mins from Ljubljana
🔺MAIN INFO:🔺
🔸during high season (May-August) entrance fee is 4 euros
🔸during high season there is a restaurant "Restoran Golubinjak"; we went 29.9.2024. and everything was closed
🔸take water and sandwiches with you
🔸hiking shoes-the trail is easy but still rocky
🔸FOR WHO? Families, children, pets..trail is easy and very well marked
🕑DURATION and LENGTH: The trail is 3 km long so for people in good condition it takes cca 1 hour and 30 mins.
Keep in mind, we went with our cat for a walk and she is VERY SLOW. The data on the link are from our slow walk in the nature.
⏩ Official website for Golubinjak forest and Gorski kotar region:
🍂Let's go:
The trail is circular, so you can choose which direction to start. We began by heading toward Golubinja Cave, continued to Ledena Cave, and then followed the circular path to the Queen of the Forest.
Golubinja Cave is just a short walk from the start, taking about 10 minutes to reach.
To continue the trail, you’ll need to pass through the semi cave via a small opening on the other side. A semi-cave was named after the pigeons that once inhabited it.
From there, the trail markings are easy to follow. The path features a few breathtaking ups and downs before you reach Vrata Pakla (Hell's Gate).
Here, we pass through Hell's Gate, a passage that is 4 meters wide, with stone walls reaching heights of up to 8 meters and thicknesses of 5 meters.
After Vrata Pakla, there's about a 15-minute walk to Ledena Cave.
Before reaching the cave, you'll come to an intersection: one path leads to Ledena Cave, and the other continues along the circular trail. It's only a 5-minute detour to Ledena Cave, so you can easily visit and then return to the main trail. It's a very cool cave and definitely worth the stop!
Ledena špilja (Ice cave):
Ledena Cave, one of the top attractions in Park-šuma Golubinjak, is my personal favorite due to its light-filled opening that creates a mystical atmosphere, enhanced by the cool mist you can feel on your skin. Snow and ice can remain inside until summer, and legend says local pastry chefs once stored snow there to make ice cream in warmer months.
Once you return to the circular trail, you'll encounter Risove Stijene (Lynx's Rocks), stunning white karst cliffs covered in moss and adorned with trees. Although the trail involves some ups and downs, every step is breathtaking.
When you see this sign, it means the trail is almost finished. The last thing to see is the Queen of the Forest. This magnificent tree is over 250 years old and truly impressive.
This marks the end of the trail, bringing you back to the meadow where you started. If you have time and are up for it, there's a nearby restaurant we loved called Buffet Iskra in Lokve, just a 2-minute drive away.
If you have more time, here are few nearby things to see:
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