Your first encounter with Slunj will make you sigh. While driving along the D1 road, you won’t be able to look away from the enchanting Rastoke waterfalls, and if you do manage to look elsewhere, in the very next moment you’ll get lost in the depths of the Korana canyon. And the moment you think you’ll be able to avoid stopping, you’ll see the Slovin fort walls and find yourself in the merry crowd in the Slunj center. Just relax. It means you should stop and stay for a while.
The Slovin fort rises on a stony elevation above the Slunjčica canyon and has been guarding Slunj for centuries. It deserves respect, having won many battles, but also losing some of them. The Napoleonic arsenal and the ancient bridge over the Korana still remember General Marmont. The old Rastoke watermills have been grinding tirelessly for the past three centuries, remembering the days when bread was more valuable than gold. There you can discover the traditional clothes washing methods, the ‘natural washing machine’, and feel your skin being hydrated thanks to the mist over the waterfalls. This is the truest form of the symbiosis between man and water.
Take a walk along the paths in this wooded area and get lost, find the source of Slunjčica, feel the breathtaking beauty of the turquoise eye of the pond whose depths have yet to be explored. Bravely go for an adventure and go through the Matešić cave, where you’ll see the Korana river on the opposite side. Take a kayak through the canyons of the Korana or Mrežnica and please let us know if you manage to decide which of the rivers is more beautiful. Use the 110 km of cycling routes in the area. Have a swim in the Korana, get refreshed in the Slunjčica. Enjoy the Nordic walking, paintball or some of the festivals.
Let the water be your guide, get dispersed in thousands of drops and form a vivid rainbow above your own head. And when you get tired, go to the riverbank and treat yourself to some trout and cheese. Enjoy the hospitality, talk to your hosts, as they are experienced people used to life in all its good and bad forms. Their survival wisdom is a value added to the natural beauty and glorious past of the Slunj region.
