Vrhovine

Vrhovine is a small Lika settlement and municipal centre on the road linking Otočac with Korenica; the D52 is also the western approach to Plitvice Lakes. Its railway station is unusual in this part of inland Croatia, although travellers should note that there is no organised onward connection from the station to the national park entrances. The municipality’s signature experience lies in nearby Rudopolje, where the Pazi medo zipline runs along a 1,700-metre cable and ends at a platform overlooking three valleys. The surrounding Bijeli Vrh recreation centre adds bicycle hire, disc golf and a climbing wall, making Vrhovine particularly useful for combining Plitvice with an active day in Lika. Forests, karst fields and scattered villages such as Rudopolje, Zalužnica and Gornji Babin Potok shape the wider municipality. Plitvice Lakes National Park borders the area to the east, while Otočac and the Gacka valley provide a natural continuation westwards. Vrhovine is therefore best understood not as a substitute for the lakes, but as a quiet inland base with a distinctive adventure attraction and direct access to the D52 route.

Vrhovine draws its identity from a position between Mala Kapela, the Plitvice region and the Otočac side of Lika. The village sits on the railway towards Gospić and Split and beside the D52 road to Korenica and Plitvice Lakes. Its municipality is composed of scattered settlements including Rudopolje, Zalužnica and Gornji Babin Potok, so the landscape unfolds as forests, open fields and long rural roads rather than a compact historic centre. The modern emblem of local tourism is the Bijeli Vrh recreation centre in Rudopolje, where the Pazi medo zipline has turned Vrhovine from a place passed through into a destination for an active excursion.