DURATION
2 nights
LOCATION
Croatia
ANNUAL LEAVE
1 day off work
SEASON
May-Sep
GROUP SIZE
Up to 8 people
MEETING POINT
Zadar Airport
ACCOMMODATION
Classic
Wild camping
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
You need a reasonable level of fitness and an adventurous nature, but no previous experience
Kayak the turquoise waters and travel through the picture-perfect canyons of the spectacular Zrmanja River
Stop to play in waterfalls and freshwater pools and explore mysterious caves
Camp beside the water and spend the evening relaxing around the campfire
Day 1
Kastel Zegorski
Meet your host in Zadar and drive to the small village of Kastel Zegarski. Set up camp, relax and enjoy a BBQ dinner around the campfire with the rest of your team.
Day 2
Kayak the Zrmanja River
Kayaking
4-5hrs
Spend the day paddling, swimming, jumping off waterfalls and enjoying the wilderness as you follow a particularly scenic section of the beautiful Zrmanja River. Take a short hike to an 8m high waterfall for a picnic lunch and a refreshing swim, then return to the river and negotiate some class II and III rapids while floating through limestone canyons and past lush, green vegetation. Camp near one of the Zrmanja's biggest waterfalls and enjoy a traditional meal around the campfire.
Day 3
Reach the Adriatic and then head home
Kayaking
4-5hrs
Continue your expedition down the Zrmanja River to the Adriatic Sea via a deep and spectacular canyon in the Velebit Nature Park. Finish in Novigrad where you'll have time to change into dry clothes and relax over lunch before heading back to the airport in time for your flight home.
Included
Guides
Professional, English-speaking guide
Accommodation
2 nights wilderness camping
Meals
Breakfast and dinner each day
Transfers
To and from the airport and everything in-between
Equipment
All your kayaking and camping equipment
Not Included
Flights to and from the meeting point
Some meals as described
Travel insurance
Personal expenses
Visas where required
Day 1
Wild camping · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2
Wild camping · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 3
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Meals tend to be based around meats and sausages, bread and pastries and pasta and dumplings. If you have any special dietary needs, please let your host know when booking. Vegetarians, vegans and other dietary requirements and allergies can be catered for, but we do recommend that you bring some of your favourite protein snacks along with you. Please let your host know of your dietary requirements by requesting it on your passenger info form.
What is the accommodation like?
The wilderness
You'll stay in two wild and beautiful locations beside the river. On night 1 you'll stay near the lovely village of Kaštel Žegarski and on night 2 you'll stay next to one of the Zrmanja river’s waterfalls - perfect for swimming, diving and relaxing. On night 1 there are only basic facilities, however, showers are available on night 2. Your host will provide a tent and sleeping mat as well as all communal equipment for cooking and eating. Solo travellers get their own tent at no additional cost.
If you would like to arrive early or depart late, your host recommends staying in Zadar at the Hostel Forum.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Zadar main bus station or Zadar Airport
17:30 or 18:00
Ends
Zadar main bus station or Zadar Airport
16:30 or 17:00
Transfers
You can be met either in Zadar bus station at 17:30 or at the airport in Zadar at 18:00, though you may decide to arrive a day or two early to suit flights and explore more of Croatia (your host will be in touch before the trip to finalise the details). At the end, you will be dropped off at Zadar airport around 16:30 in time to catch flights that depart after 18:00, or at Zadar bus station at 17:00. Alternatively, leave a day or two later and explore some more of Croatia.
Travel options
There are regular flights to Zadar from airports across the UK and Europe.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- All your camping and kayaking equipment
What do I need to bring?
- Lightweight easily washable items for travel and daily wear
- Swimwear
- Towel
- Sun hat with brim and sunglasses
- Thin trousers and long sleeve for the evenings (just in case)
- Lightweight rain jacket (waterproof and breathable)
- Water shoes or other sport shoes that you don’t mind getting wet
- Sleeping bag
- Pillow (if wanted)
- Water bottle or hydration pack
- Sun block and lip balm
- Personal first aid kit (including any medications you use)
- Small backpack
- Dry bag (if wanted)
- Camera, film/memory cards and spare batteries
Sleeping bag hire: 2 nights
Payable Before Departure
Sleeping bag hire: 2 nights
…
Amazing trip. I would highly recommend for singles or for couples.. the scenery is just stunning. Bring a head torch…
Overall, beautiful scenery and fun paddling location, but not quite the trip we were expecting for the price. The river is quite low in September so most of the exciting rapids shown in the video are not as pictured, though thankfully the waterfall drop is still navigable (and very fun!). The camping is not wild at all, but just pop up tents at the base camp and car transport back and forth between camp and the raft kayak return / sea kayak start. We got stormed out of the second day kayak, which wasn't handled very smoothly and put an additional damper on the trip after the camping disappointment, but Edis let the three of us still in town return a few days later to redo it and we were very glad to not miss paddling the beautiful canyon to the sea.
Overall the trip was good, the host and guide was brilliant and the organisation was great.
Day 1 kayaking on the river was beautiful and just what I was hoping for (a bit more water in the river would have helped but we can't do much about a summer draught). The group dynamic was great and the difficulty level was good, perhaps a little easier than I'd have proffered but really it was the location not the difficulty I was going for.
Unfortunately day 2 kayaking didn't happen. We were advised the weather wasn't good as it was too windy. It was a shame that we didn't even try though because it wasn't at all windy at the campsite. I sort of felt we were being discouraged because it was a bit cold and wet. Personally I thought we'd have been fine to go out with full wetsuits, and if it had been too windy we could have turned back but they never even loaded the boats.
The guide did take us on a scenic road trip back to Zadar but we were back at the bus station at about 2 pm so it didn't feel like we'd had a two day trip at all. Shame really.
We had a brilliant time kayaking the rapids on the Zrmanja River on the first day and then kayaking through the canyon and out to sea on day two. Our guide, Davor, was brilliant - really friendly, helpful and engaging, and we had a lovely, small group. We had some bad weather but the organisers were quick to adjust the itinerary to make sure we were safe. The campsite was quite basic and the tents were a little small, but the food was absolutely delicious. (Thanks Marina!) I can highly recommend this experience - though some previous kayaking experience would definitely be an advantage, particularly for the longer haul on the second day.
A thoroughly enjoyable trip - kayaking was great fun if not hard on the arms for two days.
Camping is rustic and cramped with pop up tents for two - not the most comfortable experience.
Great scenery and beautiful surroundings. Our host was delightful and knowledgeable and ensured everyone had a great experience.
A fun weekend but not exactly as sold - the kayaking level is definitely harder than advertised and the camping was not 'wild'. I enjoyed the company of a lovely group!
Renee was our fantastic leader. He gave clear instructions, had loads of local knowledge and had a positive and fun outlook. The first day kayaking down the rapids was great.
Host was lovely , kayaking was a great experience and the views are stunning .
Fantastic trip - incredible scenery with quite a variety each day. Camping was not exactly wild, but very enjoyable. Great guide, and a really fun group!
Stefan was amazing, really knowledgeable and friendly. The group we were with were good fun - lots of laughs for the whole trip. Really different kayaking experiences across the two days - the first day was kayaking down rapids and jumping in waterfalls and the second day was a more chilled sea kayaking day. Great trip away!!
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 42kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
You need to have a reasonable level of fitness and an adventurous nature for this trip, but no previous experience is required.
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
On the Dalmatian coast, the weather is a little warmer and drier than in Zagreb. Spring and autumn temperatures range from 9 – 21 °C with roughly 10 days of rain per month. Summer temperatures range from 16 – 30 °C with just 6 days of rain each month.
Yes, anything that you don't need for the trip itself can be kept securely ready to pick up at the finish line.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory on all of our adventures. Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure.
Your insurance policy should also include specific Covid-19 cover, including cancellation and curtailment cover if you, your travel companion or a close relative are diagnosed with Covid-19.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
Pay In Installments
You can choose to pay for this trip in as many installments as you like, with no interest or fees.
Full Financial Protection
Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
