Northern Velebit National Park is the part of the mountain that most people mean when they picture Velebit as wild and untouched. Declared a national park in 1999 and a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve the year before, it covers the northern massif with old beech and fir forest, open karst plateaus and a sky that darkens to almost no light at night. From Stars Peak it is roughly a ninety-minute drive through Gospić and toward Krasno — a long day trip or a reason to plan two nights in the area.
The landscape is built around two famous groups of stone towers: Hajdučki Kukovi in the west and Rožanski Kukovi in the east. They are not easy summits — the routes demand experience, good conditions and early starts — but even seen from a distance they give the plateau an edge that is unlike anything on the gentler mountain roads. Between the rock groups, marked paths cross subalpine meadows and high peat bogs that hold water and rare plant communities.
Below the surface, Lukina Jama is the park's hidden depth. Once measured as the deepest pit in Croatia and for a time among the deepest in the world, it drops more than 1,400 metres under Hajdučki Kukovi. Visits require caving experience and equipment — this is not a show cave — but simply knowing it is there adds to the sense of the mountain above you when you walk.
For guests who want something more accessible, the Velebit Botanical Garden on the Zavižan plateau is a half-day destination in itself. Founded in 1967, it holds hundreds of species native to the Velebit massif and the wider Dinaric range, displayed in open beds among the karst. The Zavižan meteorological station nearby is one of the oldest staffed stations in Croatia. From the plateau the view toward the sea and the islands of Kvarner is one of the cleaner panoramas on the whole mountain.
We suggest Northern Velebit when guests have already walked the routes near Bačić Duliba and want to feel a different scale of the same mountain — or when they come from a botanical or caving interest and the south alone is not enough. Plan the drive carefully: roads into the park can be rough in sections, and the gate times and entry rules follow the national park regulations, which change between seasons. The park's own website keeps the most current information on access and guided visits.