Croatia’s Cerovac Caves set to become major European tourist attraction
- by croatiaweek
- in News
9 April 2019 – One of the most attractive and important speleological attractions in Croatia will be closed for visitors in 2019 and 2020 as it undergoes a major makeover.
Cerovac Caves, located in the south part of the Velebit Nature Park, is set to become a European tourist attraction with an investment project titled “Centre of Excellence – Cerovac Caves – Sustainable Management of Natural Heritage and Karst Underground”.
The project, worth over 68 million kuna aims to increase the attractiveness, educational capacity and sustainable management of this destination of natural heritage to the great joy of speleologists, as well as tourists.
According to daily Slobodna Dalmacija, a visitor management system and interpretation centre, including a hall, exhibition space, cafe bar and speleological centre will be constructed at Cerovac Caves.
There are also plans for a small speleological school, outdoor walking path, adrenalin park and activities for adventure tourism like climbing rocks.
You can see architectural designs of what is planned at Cerovac Caves here.
The project is set to take two years to complete. The Cerovac complex is comprised of three caves (Lower, Middle and Upper Cave) containing a total of 7 kilometres of explored passages.
As well as being an important archaeological site, the caves are also one of the largest cave bear sites in Croatia where you can see animal markings on rocks which were created by bears rubbing against cave walls.
The constant dripping of water continues the thousand-year old process of creating flowstones. It is therefore vital to treat the cave with respect and not to touch its ornaments because just a single careless move can put an end to a process that has been going on for decades, the website says.
How to reach the caves:
Cerovac caves are located 4 km from Gračac along the road towards Knin. If you intend to take the motorway, take the exit to Sveti Rok. The distance between Sveti Rok and Gračac is 25 km.
