Camino By the Rivers is the harmonious blend of natural beauty and cultural heritage born of five centuries of rich history, the green river landscapes surrounding the “city on four rivers,” and numerous parks, promenades, and trails.
The route is well marked with recognizable Camino signage for safe and easy navigation, and you can also use a smartphone with a GPS file.
Setup GPS route on your smartphone:
- First install Maps.Me application (for iPhone and Android)
- Then, on your smartphone open this web page and click on Camino By the Rivers GPS file download. After you download it, open it in the Maps.Me application.
These daily stages are merely guidelines. The Camino is your own unique journey: Feel free to choose your own daily starting points and walk whatever daily distance suits your pace and feels best for you.
Length: 11.6km
Duration: 3:08h
Uphill: 200m
Downhill: 230m
The route begins in front of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Krašić (first stamp). Next to the church stands the former parish rectory—now the Memorial House of Blessed Alojzije Stepinac—where Stepinac spent the final years of his earthly life. Leaving Krašić, the route enters a hilly landscape and continues toward the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, situated above the town and the village of Hrženik, Through Hrzenik village the route leads to Vrhovac, offering beautiful landscape scenery toward Žumberak mountain and nature reserve. The area around Vrhovac is known for local family farms and excellent wines. In the center there is Sts.Cosmas & Damian church (second stamp)
From Vrhovac, the route descends toward the Chapel of St. Roch in Vrhovački Sopot. From the chapel, it continues toward the bridge over the Kupa River in Ozalj. The bridge offers a magnificent view of the Ozalj Old Town; nearby, one can see the Ozalj Small Hydroelectric Power Plant—the oldest inland hydroelectric plant in Croatia—as well as the Ozalj river beaches on the Kupa. From the bridge, the route continues through the center of Ozalj to the Old Town (third stamp), marking the official end of the first stage.
Length: 19.8km
Duration: 5:36h
Uphill: 290m
Downhill: 310m
The second day the route begins along the Ozalj castle, in which a rich cultural & historic heritage can be seen, and also the museum often sets interesting exhibitions. The route then passes along the Parish Church of St. Vitus – where the painter Slava Raškaj is buried—and soon after leaving Ozalj, enters the forest. Following a forest path (partly gravel), the route leads all the way to the Pauline Monastery in Svetice (fourth stamp). Along the trail, the Stations of the Cross are marked in memory of the murdered priest Janez Strašek. The first prior of the Svetice monastery was the renowned lexicographer and writer Ivan Belostenec, author of *Gazophylacium*, a Latin-Croatian and Croatian-Latin dictionary.
From Svetice, the route descents toward the villages of Mali Erjavec and Jaškovo- Strudel village, where the world’s longest strudel was made according to Guiness (fifth stamp). From Jaškovo, the route continues along the Dobra River valley to the village of Zadobarje, home to the Chapel of St. Anthony the Hermit (sixth stamp), which is famous for its medieval frescoes. From Zadobarje, the route traverses a hilly area (Seljani Street)—separating the Dobra River valley from the Kupa River valley—leading to Mala Jelsa and the Church of St. Martin in Hrnetić (seventh stamp), where the second day concludes
Length: 15km
Duration: 4:30h
Uphill: 80m
Downhill: 80m
On the third day, the route begins at the Parish Church of St. Martin—one of three medieval parishes (first mentioned in 1334) that existed in the area of the present-day City of Karlovac. The route follows a gravel road along the banks of the Kupa River all the way to the City of Alessandria Bridge in the center of Karlovac. After crossing the bridge, the route continues along a landscaped riverside promenade to the Karlovac Brewery, where the ascent toward the Old Town of Dubovac—once an estate of the noble Frankopan and Zrinski families—begins. Next to the Old Town (eighth stamp) lie the foundation remains of the Church of St. Michael, the center of the medieval Dubovac parish, also mentioned in 1334. The route then descends past the modern-day Parish Church of Our Lady of the Snows to the National Shrine of St. Joseph (ninth stamp), which also holds the status of a minor basilica.
The route then proceeds along Marmont Avenue—part of the historic Lujzijana Road—and Maček Street to the start of the Korzo and the “Karlovac Milestone.” Afterward, it continues along the Dr. Franjo Tuđman Promenade (known locally as the “Promenada”), passing the Music Pavilion, the Edison Cinema, and the historic “moats,” to the beginning of Radić Street and the Katzler Pavilion (tenth stamp). The route enters Zvijezda—the historic center of Karlovac and the world’s first realized ideal Renaissance city—through the Rijeka Gate. It continues to the Church of the Holy Trinity (the main altar features a statue of St. James, commemorating the medieval church and parish that partially overlapped with the territory of the current Holy Trinity parish) and Ban Josip Jelačić Square. The route then proceeds via Ruski Put and Vrbanić Park to the banks of the Korana River. There, pilgrims can choose to cross the Korana via either the “Wooden Bridge” or the “Pontoon Bridge” before following a landscaped promenade to Aquatika – the Karlovac Freshwater Aquarium (eleventh stamp).
After Aquatika, the route crosses the Korana again and turns past the Foginovo bathing area toward the Karlovac Gymnasium (where Nikola Tesla attended school) and the Nikola Tesla Experience Center (twelfth stamp). It then continues through the Rakovac district along the Korana riverbank to the Alley of Croatian Defenders, where it enters Mostanjsko Polje. The route continues along the embankment beside the Korana and Mrežnica rivers, passing the confluence of the Mrežnica and Korana, all the way to the bridges crossing these rivers. After crossing the Korana, the route enters the settlement of Turanj; the Karlovac–Turanj Homeland War Museum (thirteenth stamp) is located at its entrance, marking the end of Day 3.
Length: 19.3km
Duration: 5:31h
Uphill: 350m
Downhill: 330m
On the fourth day, the route continues from the Homeland War Museum through the Karlovac neighborhood of Mala Švarča, largely following a gravel road along the Mrežnica River embankment as far as Donje Mrzlo Polje Mrežničko. There, the route enters the forest and follows a hiking trail to the summit of Vinica Hill and the “Mladen Polović” Mountain Lodge (fourteenth stamp). The route then descends towards Duga Resa and the Parish Church of St. Anthony of Padua (fifteenth stamp). Following the banks of the Mrežnica River, the route proceeds through the Tušmer neighborhood, then through Dr. Franjo Tuđman Park and past the Amphitheatre to Frankopanska Street; from there, it ascends via a local forest road towards the village of Zagradci and the Chapel of Sts. Fabian and Sebastian (sixteenth stamp). After the chapel, the route descends towards the Old Town of Novigrad, following the path of the historic Karolina Road. The Old Town (seventeenth stamp) was also a Frankopan family estate. The route then continues to an 18th-century stone bridge over the Dobra River. The fourth day concludes at the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Novigrad (eighteenth stamp).
Length: 16.2km
Duration: 4:48h
Uphill: 240m
Downhill: 160m
On the fifth day, the route follows the historic Carolina Road from the parish church in Novigrad along the Dobra River valley to Jarče Polje; there, it follows a local road toward Vodena Draga, entering a hilly, wooded landscape. The Chapel of St. Helena (Sv. Jelena Križarica) is located in Vodena Draga, and the nineteenth stamp is found next to it. From Vodena Draga, the route continues through the village of Beč to Bosiljevo and the Parish Church of St. Maurus (Sv. Mavro) (twentieth stamp), where the fifth day also ends.
Length: 18km
Duration: 5:14h
Uphill: 420m
Downhill: 300m
On the final day, the route starts at the parish church in Bosiljevo and passes by the Old Town of Bosiljevo, another former Frankopan estate. From there, the route mostly follows forest gravel roads to the village of Veliki Jadrč and the 17th-century All Saints’ cemetery chapel (twenty-first stamp). From Veliki Jadrč, the route continues along local roads through hilly terrain to Severin na Kupi and the Frankopan Castle (twenty-second stamp), situated on a cliff overlooking the Kupa River. The route concludes with a forest hiking trail, approximately 5 km long, leading to Lukovdol (twenty-third stamp), the birthplace of the poet Ivan Goran Kovačić. The official end of the route is at the Parish Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.