Skradinski Buk (Krka Waterfalls)

Skradinski Buk is one of two main waterfalls (or waterfall networks) featured in Krka National Park. Similar to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, the waterfalls found in Krka are also karstic with numerous segments and tiers of cascades and waterfalls weaving their way between ponds, vegetation, and even a tiny (albeit made-for-tourists) village in this particular instance.

Unlike what we've done for the Plitvice Waterfalls (where we treated the whole region as one giant network that you could easily tackle in one integrated excursion), we're splitting up the Krka Waterfalls into Skradinski Buk and Roški Slap. That's because unless you've planned ahead or are willing to spend an extra day or two here, you'll have to catch one of the infrequent boats bridging the gap between the two waterfalls. Plus, they're not included in the ticket price, which by the way is only good for the day (we found this out the hard way; see Roški Slap page).

Anyhow, you'll find that it's quite easy to spend a few hours just strolling amongst the maze of boardwalks, spurs, and overlooks comprising the overall experience at this waterfall. It's almost like a pocket of the Upper Lakes of Plitvice Lakes were transplanted into the Šibenik-Knin part of Northern Dalmatia.

Now with that said, there are a few key differences between your experience here and that of Plitvice. First and foremost is that this part seems to be a bit more commercialized and developed. We sensed this firsthand because of the sheer quantity of kiddie groups running amok within the park along with that made-for-tourist village within the top of the falls. While the village can be charming and even relaxing (except for the cigarette smoke), I'm sure some liberties were taken to divert part of the falls while also allowing for waste to get dumped right in.

Second, I've seen photographs and post cards of some people swimming in the large plunge between the footbridge and the main waterfall itself. While we did see a handful of people swim near the edges of this plunge pool closer to smaller waterfalls, we only saw one person swim in the main part of the plunge pool. I think cool weather and threatening rain had something to do with that. Contrast this with Plitvice, where the waters are off limits to swimming.

Finally, there's some hydroelectric activity going on downstream of the Skradinski Buk network of waterfalls. So, again, there's some human intervention affecting parts of this waterfall whereas Plitvice has been protected in the true sense of the word.

As for experiencing the falls, the way we did it was that we bought an entrance ticket for Krka National Park from the town of Skradin (where we were also staying for the night). This ticket is only good for the day you bought it in so if you did what we did and bought the ticket at around 2pm or 3pm, it's only good until the park closes. You can't carry it over to the next day (and we found this out the hard way).

But the ticket at least includes the boat ride right up to the Skradinski Buk. That boat ride is quite slow moving (leaves roughly once every half-hour) and consumes roughly a half-hour.

Once you're at the boat dock close to the falls, you'll pass through a little quad area where there are food stalls as well as children playing on the lawn and even people (kids and adults alike) feeding the geese in the ponds. There's also a restroom here requiring payment (but further within the park, there are more restrooms not requiring payment; keep that in mind if you don't feel like paying to use the toilet).

Once you're past the "Disneyland" part of the park, you can then choose to walk a pretty straightforward loop that takes in the whole waterfall network this side of Krka National Park either clockwise or counterclockwise. We chose to walk in a counterclockwise manner that starts with a very long footbridge affording you wide open views of the main waterfall.

Beyond the bridge, the path ascends past a few trinket vendors and over to more views of the waterfall's upper cascades. There's even an informal lookout through a fence along a wall, but I don't think the views here are any good.

Climbing up more stairs, you then enter a very wide open area with a lot of space for peering into the next series of cascades. The most crowded part is typically closer to the bottom of the open area where you can get a fairly contextual view of the overall cascades making up this section as well as looking further downstream towards the main falls. So you might want to check out the other parts of the overlooks up here and waiting out the large tour groups before trying your luck at the sought-after overlook.

Beyond this giant open area (I think there's also a short descent to a free restroom area here [at least it was free when we were there]), the path continues to ascend higher up and into a charming little developed area complete with museums, cafes, lookouts, mills, and even a captive mule. I think it's here that they might have taken liberties in altering parts of the watercourse while also allowing for dumping as well.

Personally, we would've chilled up here a little longer, but we're non-smokers and there was a bit too much second-hand cigarette smoke for our liking.

Just further upstream from this developed area, there's a car park (that's where the mega-tours were coming from, but it might also be the place to leave your car if you self-drove and opted not to take the boat). Nearby the car park, there's the start of a boardwalk that goes right into a lush area and over the watercourse.

It's here that you can see some of the smaller cascades at the uppermost reaches of Skradinski Buk while also taking spur paths towards overlooks of the same waterfalls you had seen up to this point but on the other side of the river.

The boardwalks continue in much the same manner as the Upper Lakes of Plitvice where you're walking above and under some of these smaller waterfalls. Towards the end of the boardwalks, we noticed some little pillars that look like they're supposed to hold up a boardwalk. Apparently, the track wasn't finished at the time we were there, but I'm sure they will be by the time you get there.

Finally, the track descends back towards the main quad area (aka the "Disneyland" part of the park) but not before reaching another overlook of the main waterfall juxtaposed with the footbridge and even the hydro facility in the background. This overlook is probably what I'd consider the money shot of the Skradinski Buk part of the park.

Directions: The nearest town to Skradinski Buk (besides Skradin, which is a charming little town in its own right and where we spent the night) is Šibenik. It's about 15- to 30 minutes drive. But again, since we stayed in Skradin, we didn't need to drive and were content with taking the boat up the river/lake towards the waterfalls.

Krka National Park is well signposted as you're driving along Hwy 2. Plus, it's pretty well signposted as you're driving the rural streets towards Skradin and further up Krka National Park towards even Visovac (the monastery island) as well as Roški Slap - the other main waterfall in the park.

If you're going the other way, realize that we took a little over an hour to drive along the Hwy 2 from the Skradin vicinity to Split when we left the park. So I'm guessing you'll take a similar amount of time if you were to come to Krka from Split.

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Leaving Skradin Harbor towards Skradinski Buk

The geese being fed within the park

View of the main waterfall from somewhere in the middle of the footbridge

The falls from the far end of the footbridge

Some cascades upstream of the main falls

Upper cascades joining together

Small cascades as seen from the developed area of Skradinski Buk

A building besides one of the channels I think either modifying or diverting part of the flow of the falls

Looking across a channel and man-modified cascade towards the cafe

Boardwalk going through the uppermost tiers of the waterfall network

View of the cascades from the other side of the river

Looking at a fair-sized cascade from the other side of the river

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Left to right sweep of the main waterfall

Right to left sweep of the main waterfall ending at smaller waterfalls with people swimming beneath them

Fixated on a multi-tiered series of waterfalls somewhere in the upper cascades of Skradinski Buk

Broad left to right sweep of a long series of cascades within the upper tiers of Skradinski Buk

Right to left sweep following a joining set of cascades towards lower karst cascades further downstream

Left to right sweep of small cascades near the upper reaches of Skradinski Buk

Left to right sweep of series of cascades from opposite side of the main stream showing cascades joining that stream from both banks

On the boardwalk looking down over a cascade before sweeping up towards other cascades

Left to right sweep of the main Skradinski Buk Waterfall from a top-down contextual perspective showing both the footbridge and hydro facility in the background

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TRIP REPORTS

• June 2, 2010

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Roški Slap

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