Historical navigation: 180 years of the tourist route to Šibenik and the Krka National Park

The city of Šibenik and the Krka National Park welcome millions of visitors from all over the world every year, but it is worth remembering the moment when it all began, because tourism also had its very beginnings

The first organised group of tourists arrived in Šibenik on June 29, 1844, on the steamer Imperatore, owned by the Trieste steamship company Austrian Lloyd, for the celebration of the saints day of SS. Peter and Paul. From Šibenik, they continued on a smaller steamer to the Skradinski bBuk waterfall, and on the way back they visited Zadar.

Today, July 1, we commemorated this historic voyage on the ship Sv. Jakov/St. Jacob, which headed towards Skradinski buk from the “Krka” wharf. Instead of tourists, there were representatives of the City, the County, the Krka National Park, tourist boards, hoteliers, and travel agencies on board. Musicians from Skradin welcomed them at their destination, where they could feel like real tourists.

The Šibenik chronicler Darko Gulin revealed that Austrian Lloyd introduced a regular passenger shipping line between Trieste and Kotor on August 20, 1838. In 1844, they started organising excursion tours, such as trips to Venice, Ancona, and Pula. On June 28, 1844, tourists were passengers on the new steamship Imperatore on a trip to Dalmatia, including Šibenik and Skradinski buk, and on the way back they visited Zadar. It was the first ship in Dalmatia intended exclusively for tourists, what we would today call the first cruise ship. On August 10, 1844, the captain of the port in Dubrovnik recorded the arrival of 153 passengers, some of whom were described as “passagieri della gita di piacere” or leisure passengers. The Croatian Tourist Board also considers 1844 the official year of the beginning of tourism in Croatia, due to the opening of the Villa Angiolina in Opatija.

One hundred and eighty years later, Šibenik and the Krka National Park are widely recognised as destinations that perfectly combine the natural and cultural heritages. Šibenik, a city almost a thousand years old, today is an internationally recognised destination for cultural tourism, thanks to its fortresses and the unique old town center with twenty-four churches and 2851 steps.

With as many as 388 kilometers of cycling trails and 47 kilometers of hiking paths, seven waterfalls, but also seven medieval forts, as well as numerous endemic plant and animal species, the Krka National Park is a destination where you can simultaneously become aquainted with the several thousand-year-old cultural and historical heritage, and also enjoy the charms of the protected natural features. These are the foundations onto which the visitor experiences are built, the story of Šibenik, Skradin, Skradinski buk, and all the other sites in the Krka National Park, the presentation of which all began 180 years ago.