Roski Slap (Krka Waterfalls)

Roski Slap (or more accurately Roški Slap; pronounced "ROSH-skee SLAP") is the other main waterfall attraction of Krka National Park. But unlike our impressions for

The reason why we're being a little harsh on this waterfall is that normally parks with the National Park title imply protection from human intervention. We noticed private farms in the middle of the waterfall as we drove across the top of the falls plus a fair bit of development around the falls itself. On top of all that, the falls wasn't anywhere near as scenic as the Skradinski Buk, which even had a little bit of human intervention on that, but its scenic allure was good enough that we looked past some of its shortcomings.

So with all that said, we'll describe our experience with this falls. We'll let you be the judge as to whether it's worth your while. Who knows? Maybe you may wonder what we're being picky about after your visit here...

After parking the car, our visit consisted of two phases. We first walked towards a boat dock on the fringes of Visovac Lake signposted for Mlinovi Falls. En route to the boat dock, there were water mills, a cafe, and even some examples of a natural laundry machine (at least that's what Julie told me).

There are signs indicating swimming is allowed at this part of the lake, but to be honest, the water didn't exactly look very sanitary for a dip. However, the geese didn't seem to mind.

But as for views of the falls, the boat dock provides partial views of the main waterfall plus another side cascade near the water mills. And that's about all of this tier of the waterfall you're going to see unless you were on some boat cruise that went from Skradinski Buk up to Roski Slap with a stop at the Visovac Island and its monastery. Needless to say, we didn't have time to exercise that boat option.

The other part of our visit here involved walking a pretty easy and flat loop around the so-called Necklace Cascades. These cascades are really nothing more than a successive series of rapids arranged and banded in such a way that they might resemble necklaces (I take it you have to be into jewelry to see this association).

At the end of the loop walk, you can walk back across the road (so you're sharing it with cars) traversing the Krka River above the Roski Slap waterfalls. It's during this part of the walk that we noticed some private farms as well as a building with a Croatian flag right in the middle of the falls. These were among the reasons why we didn't think this deserved to be called a National Park (as indicated earlier).

Finally, you may see misleading posters showing this set of waterfalls from somewhere across the lake looking right into the full extent of the falls. From this angle, you might think it's totally worth your while to come here. But the truth (at least according to the park employees we spoke to) is that those poster shots and post cards were taken from the air. I had originally thought they came from some cliffs somewhere on the west side of the lake, but the employees seemed quite sure they were from the air. One guy did try to sell us the poster itself.

And that's why there are none of those kind of shots (after all, that's what got me wanting to come up here in the first place) on this page; they're not publicly accessible in the strict sense of the word.

From the town of Skradin, it's roughly 26km to the main car park at Roski Slap. We headed west from the main part of Skradin (where the Hotel Skradinski Buk was) until it joined with a signposted road indicating that Roski Slap was further north. Then, we followed this road and the signs past a few villages until we reached a road (again signposted) that descended down the cliffs and towards the bridge traversing the top of the main Roski Slap Waterfall. And it's on the south side of the traverse where you'll find the typically manned car park (ensuring you've got a valid ticket to be there).

It's also possible to drive up to Roski Slap heading south from Skradin first, and then following the signs going north to the falls. In that instance, you wouldn't have to drive across the top of the waterfall since the car park would be on your side.

But the thing I should mention is that if you're going this way (or leaving the falls and heading back this way), I recommend following the Visovac sign until you see a large car park with a developed overlook opposite the road. The road ultimately descends to Lake Visovac, but you need not go that far unless you plan on taking one of the boats to the monastery. That's because the overlook provides a lovely top down view of the reflective Visovac Lake as well as the monastery in the Visovac Island. All this is part of Krka National Park, and it's that monastery that's also included in the long boat tour between Skradinski Buk and Roski Slap.

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Approaching the waterfall from the west

Mlinovi Falls

Geese swimming before one of the side cascades of Mlinovi Falls

Some buildings containing water mills next to Mlinovi Falls

Looking downstream at the Necklace Cascades

Looking directly upstream at the Necklace Cascades from the west side of the bridge traversing the top of Roski Slap

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Fixated on the main Mlinovi Falls

Fixated on a side waterfall as part of the Mlinovi Falls section

A naturally-powered washing machine

The so-called Necklace Cascades

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TRIP REPORTS

• June 3, 2010

GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Skradinski Buk

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