"Hiking up & around Medvednica " a Medvednica Travel Page by diocletianvs

Zagreb is situated just under Medvednica – or Zagrebacka gora (Zagreb Mountain) and its 1,000,000 inhabitants are lucky to have a natural area in their immediate vicinity. Only eleven tram stops from Ban Jelacic Square – the center of Zagreb – there’s an entrance to Medvednica Nature Park.

Medvednica is a huge forest area with its highest peak – Sljeme – reaching 1,035 metres above the sea level. A large part of it belongs to Medvednica Nature park, with natural forest areas and several special reservates of forest vegetation.

In the year 1870 a group of citizens from Zagreb built a wooden pyramid on Medvednica – a first mountaineering object marking the start of now more than a century old tradition of weekend hiking pilgrimages to Medvednica. On its paths you’ll find older people, younger people, couples with small kids and students who are taking Medvednica walking as part of their sports activities at the university.

Skiing and sledging during the winter and hiking during the summer are the favourite activities on Medvednica. In the winter climbing to Sljeme is sometimes your only chance to catch some sun while Zagreb is under fog for months, while in the summer the forest offers the best escape from the heat of the asphalt.

The mountain can easily be reached by public transport from Zagreb – it is served by tram and bus lines, and there’s also a a cable car and a road for those that don’t like walking but enjoy a good meal on fresh air in one of the mountain huts on Sljeme.