page_title: Northern Velebit National Park
section_title: The park
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Velebit National Park / The park
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo by Nick Juhasz.
context_page_description: The Northern Velebit National Park is a national park in Croatia that covers 109 km² of the northern section of the Velebit mountains, the largest mountain range in Croatia. Because of the abundant variety of this part of the Velebit range, the area was upgraded from a nature reserve in 1999, and opened as a national park in September the same year.
  The whole of the Velebit range is a "nature park", a lesser conservation category. Another national park on Velebit is the Paklenica on its southern side.
context_section_description: The park reserve is protected and visitors are restricted to designated trails. Inside the reserve is the Visibaba (Galanthus) botanical reserve, with an abundance of the endemic Croatian subspecies of Sibiraea altaiensis, and the Zavižan–Balinovac–Velika kosa botanical reserve, famous for its outstanding collection of mountain flora species. Inside the reserve is the well-known Velebit Botany Garden, founded by pharmacology professor and botanist Fran Kušan in 1967.
  The Park is criss-crossed with mountaineering trails. The best-known is Premužić's Trail, named after its constructor, the forester Ante Premužić who built it in late 1933. The path runs through the most beautiful and most interesting parts of the park. From the numerous peaks in the surroundings there are magnificent views of the Adriatic Sea and its islands (Pag, Rab, Goli Otok, Prvić and Krk) as well as of the continental side. 
  Adding to the Park's cultural value are the numerous ruins of so-called "summer lodges".  These remain from when Velebit was populated by shepherds and cattle farmers. On its coastal slopes are many ruined houses, lodges and stone walls, all the remaining evidence of a lost local population.
  The Zavižan (1676 m) peak is within the park, the highest meteorological station in Croatia.
caption: Park map
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