Roski slap area in Krka National Park is surely one of the most beautiful destinations in Croatia.
The holiday on the 5th of August – celebrating the liberation of Croatia in 1995 – was the prefect opportunity to go somewhere and relax. So, since I haven’t done there before, we decided to take the boat ride up the river Krka canyon at Roski slap. I have seen the monastery and parts of the canyon before, but not this way and was really looking forward to it. Got together with some friends, packed wife and Roko and we left home at 9:30.

Although not popular as Skradinski buk waterfalls, Roski is, at least for me, prettier and well worth getting off the main tourist routes. Don’t get me wrong, there are tourists here and it gets fairly busy in peak season. We arrived at almost 11 AM and there were only few tourists around. We bought the tickets for us at the entrance from Đevrske (Zadar side) and it is 95 Kn (cc 13 E) per Adult and additional 100 Kn for the boat ride. Our 6 year old paid nothing to enter but we had to pay 75 Kn for the boat. As you can see, not a cheap trip for regular family.

We crossed the series of very narrow bridges till we got to “Drniš” side of the river and we parked in the shade, bellow the trees. Picked up a free map and walked to see the mills and ethnographic exhibition. The boat ride was scheduled for 12:30 so we had plenty of time. The exhibition reminds of those on Skradinski buk but seemed better presented and it looked like there was more to see: mill, old house, stables, “washing machine”… There is also swimming area and a pontoon pier offering the best possible view of Roski waterfall.

We packed sandwiches as we were not sure if there will be some food available at the waterfall and later we found out that there is a lovely cafe and a sandwich stand but also a tavern serving traditional cheese and smoked ham. The tavern “Kristijan” opens around noon time.

Later we crossed the bridge and went up to see the famous “necklaces” that are a real beauty of this part of the river. There is a lovely path (marked and with some signs) that goes over two bridges connecting two banks of Krka river. Quite lovely!

The small waterfalls are so beautiful and there are a lot of fish and ducks in this part of the river.

And, by the time we saw everything, it was already 12:30 and time to board the boat. We were told that the number of guests declined from last year and that the boats sail irregularly as the minimum for them is 6 passengers but this was a good day as there were quite a few of us at the pier. The boats are not electric like on Plitvice but a fairly good and the crew is great. They let me sit on the tp deck so I was able to take some great photos of the area.

I was at Roski several times before and always wandered what was it like up that steep canyon. And I surely got my answers!
The first part of the canyon is quite steep and impressive as the cliffs and coming straight from the river. The later part is not as steep but very impressive formations can be seen for the entire ride.

And there is plenty of wild life (birds) to see along the shores even on this loudish boat ride that scares everything.

We passed the Monastery Krka and that was strange since I expected us to stop there but the captain explained us that we stop at the monastery on our return. So we relaxed and enjoy the ride till we got to the first cascades below Nečven and Trošenj fortresses

And then we turned back. Another 15 minutes and we docked at Carigradska draga where famous Orthodox monastery Krka is standing since the 14th century. It was erected by the wife of Croatian nobleman Šubić as she was the daughter of mighty Serbian emperor Dušan and wanted her priests to be around. Supposedly, she had her own guards there as well.

The monastery was built on the Roman graves from as early as 1st century AD and the legend has it that it was St Paul who got here at one point and that inspired the monks to build the monastery on this very place. Looking at marshes nearby, it was definitely not the nice air and the lack of mosquitoes that brought them here…

And then we had a tour of the monastery with one of the monks who explained everything in fluent English. And then the part I was looking forward to the most: the roman graves bellow the monastery!
They actually let us go there without supervision which was not the smartest idea since there were about 20 of us on a small space. The grave holes are still there as well as the bones. The entire grave site is just very much as one pictures an ancient catacomb!

Visit to the monastery is way to short. It would take at least an hour to see it all and actually enjoy it. There are also donkeys, sheep and horses to entertain the young ones.

And then, it was to time to go back.

Overall, the trip is beautiful! It is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long which is a bit too short but it was a good way for me to scout some locations I will hike to this winter 🙂

Thinking about adding Roski slap visit to my www.tours-in-croatia.com collection of tours but it will be possible only in the peak season when we know for sure that the boat ride will be available. So how can one offer new destinations with this type of unreliable service? And the NP Krka is supposedly working on getting more people on different locations in park…
Click here to learn more on visiting NP Krka – Skradinski buk area

Follow us on Facebook!