Parking at botanical garden - Veliki Zavižan (direct way)

Access to starting point:
From the Zagreb - Split motorway, take the Otočac exit. Continue following the road towards the village of Krasno and Northern Velebit. The winding road takes us through the village of Švica to Krasno, where the road from Senj joins (access possible also from this direction). In Krasno, continue towards the signs for Northern Velebit National Park and Zavižan hut. The road then becomes gravel and takes us to the park entrance, where the entrance fee is collected. Continue on the road to the intersection at the chapel. Continue straight for another good 100m to the parking lot before the road barrier near the botanical garden (botanički vrt).

Path description:
From the parking lot head towards the botanical garden, whose start we reach after a short descent across the meadow. At the hut by the botanical garden continue on the left path, which bypasses the small garden below us on the left side. After a few minutes of walking the sign for Veliki Zavižan directs us left uphill. The path ahead climbs quite steeply through the forest then the gradient eases and the path brings us to a flat grassy clearing. At the end of the clearing the path turns right and begins to climb again. Just below the summit the path takes us out of the forest onto slopes covered with brushwood. To the top follows another five minutes of ascent on an increasingly panoramic slope.