Lokve are situated about thirty minutes drive from Rijeka and about an hour and a half from Zagreb, right in the heart of Gorski kotar - Croatia’s highlands.

The area around Lokve offers numerous natural attractions – Lake Lokve (Lokvarsko Jezero), the Golubinjak Woods park, the Lokvarka cave, located right next to it is the Risnjak National Park, while Lokve itself offers attractions adapted to an active vacation in the open.

There is something else, however, that makes Lokve special – their trademark is a frog, and it is no wonder that much of the Lokve tourist and gastronomic offer is based on this green amphibian.

A frog jumping competition is organised there in April, unique in the entire world. A frog museum has been opened in which visitors can get to know more about the entire life of these amphibians, try frog-shaped candies and the local Lokve liqueur called Frog’s Blood (Žablja krv) made of the blueberry, blackberry and raspberry that flourish in the area.

Blueberries are a summertime product of Lokve and are the base of a wealth of local cuisine – gnocchi with blueberries, wild boar steak in blueberry sauce and a ladyfinger jelly featuring these tasty berries. During other parts of the year the menu also includes dishes based on other seasonal foodstuffs – mushrooms, fresh trout, wild game etc.

Besides the natural beauties Lokve offers variety of accommodation for walkers and hikers in local houses and cottages all year around.

More info at Lokve Tourist Board web: www.tz-lokve.hr

A new tourism project was launched in Istra : The Parenzana - a route of Health and Friendship. 

Parenzana is an old railway track from the early 20th century that linked Trieste, Kopar and Porec, passing through much of the Istrian interior.

The railway has now been completely overgrown, but the route passing through wilderness, right next to many Istrian towns and old fortifications will take tourists on an adventurous trip to unusual places that offer experience of places and people, incomparable to the traditional form of tourist sightseeing of the usual destinations.

The Parenzana Code Kit is an exploratory and enigmatic guide book through which, step by step, parts of the fascinating mosaic of the past and present of Istra and the highlights of the Parenzana are revealed. It is a volume of maps with directions on how to orient along the Parenzana and information necessary to break the code. The maps are numbered and the basic assignment is to discover the proper order they are to be read in order to solve the Parenzana Code.

The code covers the area from Buje to Vižinada, and tourists can head out on foot or by bicycle to solve the enigmatic code, all with the help of the maps, and depending on the mode of transport one can solve the riddle in a day or more.

Along the 123 kilometre route they can get to know some of the most attractive places in Istra: Buje, Motovun, Grožnjan, Oprtalj, Završje and Kostanjice. The project will be further developed and the opening of a small Parenzana Museum in Livade is in the works, as are ethnological workshops and cycling races.

A DVD is being produced with 3D effects of the train passing, cycling maps as is other promotional material and the installation of information and road signs.

More info at the Parenzana Project web : www.parenzana.net  and at Istria Tourist Board:  www.istra.hr

The trail is over 6 kilometres long, and walking along it tourists can learn all about the way the local miners used to live.

Tršce is a settlement in Gorski Kotar located some 15 km from the small town of Cabar. It is situated on a plateau, surrounded by dense forests and many fields, and with so peaceful and gentle a surroundings, it is a destination attracting many lovers of the great outdoors.

There are particularly many in winter when the entire area slumbers under a white winter blanket and the skiing season kicks off in the nearby hills. Stretching above Tršce is Mount Rudnik with two ski trails and ski tow.

Tršce has many athletic fields, a large sports hall and a large natural stadium for all kinds of running and recreation, which is of interest for the athletes who come here to train. With the many hunting grounds in the vicinity there is also well developed hunting tourism available here, and the destination is also interesting on account of the proximity of other attractive outdoor attractions such as the source of the Kupa River and Risnjak National Park.

More info at Cabar Tourist Board www.gorskikotar.hr/www.tz-cabar.hr/grad.htm

Across all of Istra there are several types of rural facilities – classic agro-tourism, rural vacation homes, a Bed & Breakfast offer, rural family hotels, vacation areas with accommodation on wine roads and the like. These categories of facilities will now be standardised with the aim of emphasising their distinct nature and in order to ease tourist comparison and selection.

The standardisation of the facilities is being implemented through the system of additional scoring, given that each of them must have general and compulsory standards, points are added for some extra standards such as attractive location, traditionally arranged interiors and grounds and traditional occupations.

The Ruralis Consortium for rural tourism in Istra has been founded with this in mind, and its top management are setting strict rules in order to standardise and adequately profile these facilities.

Instead of the classic designations on the type and kind of facility is offered, the tourist offer of rural homesteads in Istra will from now on be displayed in a different way – as a symbol of individual types of facilities a sign has been selected that is traditionally linked to Istra, and that is the asparagus. And so one asparagus will denote an agrotourism facility, three asparagus will be a sign of a rural vacation home and five will denote a rural Bed & Breakfast offer.

Ruralis web site: www.ruralis.hr

The Tereziana Trail is a part of the old Austro-Hungarian road called Tereziana that linked Gospic and Karlobag via Velebit and went from Gospic via Zabicka street through Zabica, Licki Novi, Brusane and then via Takalice and Ostarije to Konjsko and Vidovac to Karlobag. (more…)

“Putovanje Na Vrh” aka “Travel To The Top” is a brand new website made by Croatian travel enthusiast Božidar Dragišić - Bodo , who walked and hiked loads of places around Croatia as well as World.

His new website contains thousands of good photos from his travels, including interesting photos from his walks and hikes around Croatia’s popular walking destinations, including its National Parks and Parks of Nature.

Great site to bookmark and revisit -  Putovanje Na Vrh to enjoy views of Croatia

Beside Velebit and the Plitvice Lakes, Papuk will be the third geopark located in Croatia… read more about Papuk becoming GeoPark

More about Papuk :Park Prirode Papuk &  Papuk Nature Park