7 Days Leisure Cycling Holiday in Dalmatia, Croatia – Private Villa Biograd 5* – 8 persons

Description

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival (Saturday)

Cycling Adriatic is able to pick you up in one of the three national airports (optional) or you will individually arrive in Biograd na Moru. With a welcome drink on the villa’s terrace by the pool, Cycling Adriatic will introduce you to the activities in upcoming days. Then, you will have free time for lunch and swimming. If you’re with the kids, you can also visit Fun Park Biograd. On short evening ride, you will pass across Biograd na Moru and finish it with a dinner in a local restaurant.

 

Day 2: Biograd to Zadar and Paklenica (Sunday)

This cycling tour in Dalmatia will start with a ride from Biograd to the city of Zadar, where you will visit the old city center. The city of Zadar is a place of extraordinary history that spans over three millennia and with its rich cultural heritage, a city that always has something new and original to offer. Located at the heart of the Adriatic, you will find the Roman ruins and other magnificent palaces from different historical periods.

Zadar is a real treasury of archaeological and historical riches from antique, medieval, and renaissance period as well as of modern wonders such as the first sea organs in the world. Some forty years ago, Alfred Hitchcock declared that the sunset in Zadar is the most beautiful in the world. Many tourists share his opinion and enjoy the view of the sea, setting sun, and the sounds of the sea organ together with the magical lights of the new city’s installation of Greeting to the Sun.

After visiting Zadar, you will transfer to Paklenica on a walking tour. Due to its unique natural features, magnificent forests, and extraordinary geomorphologic structures, the area of Velika and Mala Paklenica was proclaimed as a national park in 1949. It covers the area of torrent flows of Velika Paklenica and Mala Paklenica and their distinctive canyons carved vertically into the south slopes of Velebit and the broader surrounding area.

Distinctive features of Paklenica National Park are autochthonous forests of black pine, several types of beech forests, and deep canyons with the torrent flow of Velika and Mala Paklenica. The wider area of Paklenica National Park prides itself with a rich and diverse cultural heritage. On the way back, you will stop to relax in the winery where one of the Europeans royal family is their regular guests. You will also try the unique taste of their virgin olive oil and handmade cheese.

• Distance: 30 kilometers / 18 miles

Day 3: Plitvice Lake and Zipline (Monday)

The day starts with a transfer to Plitvice Lakes National Park where you will enjoy a few hours’ walking tour along this beautiful national park. Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest and largest national park in the Republic of Croatia. With its exceptional natural beauty, this area has always attracted nature lovers and, on 8 April 1949, it was proclaimed Croatia’s first national park.

The process of tufa formation, which resulted in the building of the tufa, travertine, or barriers as well as in the creation of the lakes, is the outstanding universal value, for which the Plitvice Lakes National Park was internationally recognized on 26 October 1979 with their inscription onto the UNESCO World Heritage List.

After the Plitvice visit, you will enjoy a bicycle ride to Vrhovine where the longest zip line in Europe is located (total length of the cable is 1,700 meters). It’s possible to reach speeds over 120 kilometers per hour but for that, you would have to have a strong back wind (from the north).

Even with a front wind (from the south), your top speed will be around 100 kilometers per hours. If you didn’t get enough adrenalin, optionally, you can try artificial rock climbing wall on zip line finish. On the way back, you will go over old mountain passage and shortstop on Zrmanja River.

• Distance: 35 kilometers / 22 miles

Day 4: Kornati, Telascica, and Dugi Otok (Tuesday)

This day, you will start on a boat, heading to the Kornati National Park, often mentioned as “nautical paradise” in tourist publications. You will be sailing through the 89 unforgettable islands, islets, and reefs in the park. After that, you will see the area of Nature Park Telašćica, a distinctly contrasted area with quiet and peaceful beaches and a laid down coastline on one side and wild and steep cliffs on the other.

This park is an area of Aleppo pine and holm oak forests on one side and barren karst on the other and an area of cultivated fields covered in vineyards and olive groves but also an area of degraded forms of vegetation covering dry habitats.

From here, you will start your cycling tour over Dugi Otok (Long Island) to visit one of the top sand beaches in the Adriatic, Sakarun. Near the beach are Veli Rat, Veruni, Soline, and Božava. The beach gained its reputation with the whiteness of the sand and clean sea, surrounded by pine trees that provide welcome shade in the summer. It is about 800 meters long, 250 meters from the shore, and three and a half meters deep, which means that the bathing area is extremely large, shallow, and suitable even for young children.

On the beach, there are two catering facilities that offer refreshment from the summer heat and light snacks. As you’re on the Dugi Otok (Long Island), you may refresh yourself with Long Island’s cocktail and swim on Sakarun. Then, you will enjoy lunch on the boat and go back to Biograd. On your way back, it is possible to see dolphins swimming around you.

• Distance: 45 kilometers / 28 miles

Day 5: Krka, Skradin, and Sibenik (Wednesday)

This day, you will start the tour in the city of Skradin. The surroundings of Skradin have been inhabited since the Neolithic period, the oldest settlement dates from the year 3500 B.C. The first data about the town of Skradin dates from the year 33 B.C. Skradin had the first hydroelectric power plant in Europe, opened in 1895, at the same time as Tesla’s famous power plant at Niagara Falls.

During the summer, you are able to see Bill Gates in the streets, where he arrives almost every year with his boat. The cycling tour will start in Krka National Park. The national park is a vast and primarily unaltered area of exceptional natural value, including one or more preserved or insignificantly altered ecosystems.

The purpose of the park is primarily to serve science, culture, education, and recreation while tourism activities have also been introduced for its visitors. You will visit Roški slap. It’s situated about 36 kilometers downstream of the Zrmanja river spring. The start of the barrier is made up of a series of small cascades (called the ‘necklace’ by the locals), followed by numerous backwaters and islets. Over the waterfall, there is a road that dates back to Roman times.

Throughout most of Roški slap, the natural environment is pristine and of great interest to nature lovers. On the left bank, you can find a series of attractive water mills, several of which have been restored and returned to their original function. The complex of water mills at Roški slap is among the most interesting and prized ethnographic monuments in Dalmatia and Croatia.

On the way back, you will take lunch in a local tavern and enjoy a city tour in Šibenik. It is situated in the protected natural harbor, at the mouth of beautiful Krka River and at the historical origins of Croatia, probably on a location where some of the first Croats that migrated here saw the Adriatic Sea, temperamental and beautiful, that protected, guarded and nourished them for centuries.

It was founded as an old Croatian castrum, a fort or camp, below Saint Michael’s fortress which has been towering over the city since then. At the canal entrance, you will find the most significant Renaissance fortress on the east side of the Adriatic, Saint Nicholas fortress.

• Distance: 48 kilometers / 30 miles

Day 6: Dubrovnik and Makarska (Thursday)

You will transfer to one of the famous Adriatic town, Dubrovnik. You will stop a few kilometers before the old city to check the oldest plane tree in Croatia, about 500 years old, nominated for European tree of the year. On bicycles, you will start to the Dubrovnik old city to visit ancient walls. Do you know that Dubrovnik was protected by both defensive fortifications and the diplomatic skills of its leaders? This historic walk will focus on the defensive and political challenges faced by Dubrovnik in its struggle to survive as a tiny (yet prosperous) independent republic facing serious threats from powerful and dangerous enemies.

Over the centuries, the leaders and the walls of Dubrovnik both held firm. Cycling Adriatic will lead you on top of and around the city walls for breathtaking views of the port and the old town. You’ll discover Revelin Fortress, Minceta Tower, Lovrijenac Fortress, and more as well as why the city walls served as essential structures protecting the people and wealth of the old town for centuries. You might take part in an optional “Game Of Thrones” tours to discover characters and the real King’s Landing. Dubrovnik was selected as the location set for this very famous TV series. On your way back, you will drive one part on the Adriatic coast road and visit Makarska town with his beautiful Riviera.

• Distance: 16 – 30 kilometers / 10 – 19 miles

Day 7: Pasman and Ugljan (Friday)

From Biograd, you cross the bay with a ferry. You will get on Pašman. Zadar Archipelago is kept by a large number of islands, and Pašman is one of them. It is situated only a few kilometers from the mainland and yet so close to the treasures of Kornati.

The island has seven villages. The town of Ugljan is the biggest and it is placed in the NW part, the part that has the most hours of insulation in the entire area; thanks to its position. You will have a nice view of the island from the church and Benedictine monastery Čokovac.

This monastery complex has special importance for the cultural and historical heritage of the island of Pašman because it is directly linked to the medieval Croatian state and the ruler Petar Kresimir IV. It is situated in the south of the island. Driving over Pašman, you will reach Ždrelac and pass the bride to Ugljan Island. In many angles and numerous coves, there are nine idyllic parts that make the town of Ugljan.

About 1,000 inhabitants live here and they are mainly occupied with agriculture, fishery, and tourism. You will end your journey back to Biograd. Once again, you will see Zadar and say hello to the sun on ‘Greeting to the Sun’ installation. You will return to your villa to check the picture of your last seven days and enjoy the barbecue and cocktail party by the pool, long in the night.

• Distance: 60 kilometers / 38 miles

Day 8: Departure (Saturday)

Time for departures, you will transfer to the airport and this is the end of your journey.

 

 

Airport transfer available:

• Split Airport (€ 50 per person)
• Zagreb Airport (€ 70 per person)
• Zadar Airport (€ 20 per person)

Ask us anything!