Dinaric Alps, the limestone mountains behind the Adriatic coast.

What are the Dinaric Alps?

The Dinaric Alps are the mountain range that runs parallel to the Adriatic coast, from north-west to south-east, from the Julian Alps, in Slovenia, to the Šar-Korab massif, on the border of Albania and North Macedonia. They are about 645 km long and between 200 and 250 km wide, and cross Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. The highest point is at the end, in the Prokletije, between Montenegro and Albania: Maja Jezercë, at about 2,690 m.

Almost the whole range is limestone, and water dissolves it. From that come its landscapes: sinkholes, caves, rivers that vanish underground and reappear, deep canyons and lakes that form and dry up with the season. The word karst comes from here, from the Kras, the limestone plateau of south-west Slovenia. For the traveller, this means the mountains have little surface water in summer, plenty of forest inland and a face towards the sea that is dry, of white rock, that drops sheer onto the coast.

How do you get there and get around?

By plane, the gateways are Ljubljana, Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik and Podgorica, with flights from Spain to several of them, mainly in season. From there, the range is toured by car: scheduled buses link the cities and stop at places such as Plitvice, but they do not reach the high valleys or the trailheads.

Some real distances: from Ljubljana to Postojna it is about 50 km, forty minutes by motorway; from Zagreb to the Plitvice Lakes, about 135 km and a little over two hours; from Zadar to Starigrad, at the entrance to Paklenica, about 45 km and an hour; from Split to Mostar, about 175 km and over two hours; from Dubrovnik to Kotor, 80 km, which with the border can be two hours or much more in August; and from Kotor to Žabljak, the base for the Durmitor, about 150 km of mountain road, more than three hours.

On foot, the Via Dinarica links the range from end to end. Its main route, the white one, is about 1,260 km, from Razdrto, in Slovenia, to the Valbona valley, in Albania. It is done in sections: almost nobody walks it all.

What to see in the Dinaric Alps

In the north, in Slovenia, the Postojna caves, with their underground electric train, are the best introduction to karst. In Croatia, the Lika region holds the Plitvice Lakes, sixteen terraced lakes over travertine barriers, a national park since 1949 and a World Heritage site since 1979. Above the coast is the Velebit, Croatia's most extensive range, about 145 km long, with two national parks: Paklenica, with its canyons and climbing routes, and Northern Velebit, with the Premužić Trail, 57 km long, built between 1930 and 1933. Further south, the Biokovo drops onto Makarska, and behind Split and Dubrovnik the mountain is always in view from the sea.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Neretva river cuts through the range to Mostar, and Sutjeska park holds the Perućica forest, one of the last primeval forests in Europe. In Montenegro, the Lovćen dominates the Bay of Kotor and the Durmitor National Park, a World Heritage site since 1980, gathers eighteen glacial lakes, the best known the Black Lake, the Bobotov Kuk summit, at 2,523 m, and the Tara canyon, about 80 km long and up to 1,300 m deep. At the end, the Prokletije, the Accursed Mountains, between Montenegro and Albania, are the highest and least visited part.

When to go and what changes with the season

May, June, September and October are the best months for almost everything: the Plitvice lakes carry more water in spring, the forests change colour in autumn and the coast is not saturated. July and August are good on the high summits, such as the Durmitor or the Prokletije, but on the coast and at Plitvice there are many people and heat, and long queues form at the borders. On the sea face, the limestone reflects the sun and at midday walking is not pleasant.

From November to April the interior is continental: snow on the Velebit, the Durmitor and the high passes, and mountain roads that close. The bora, the cold north-east wind, blows strongly on the Velebit and can close stretches of motorway and coastal bridges. Žabljak works in winter as a ski resort.

How many days and how to divide them

With three or four days, the sensible choice is Postojna and Plitvice on the way between Ljubljana or Zagreb and the coast, with a night in Lika. With a week you add the Velebit, with Paklenica from Zadar, or a stretch of Herzegovina with Mostar from Split. With ten days or two weeks you can go down to Montenegro and spend two or three nights at the Durmitor, which needs time because of the distances. The Prokletije are a trip of their own.

What to know before you go

Slovenia and Croatia are in the European Union and in Schengen and use the euro; Montenegro also uses the euro although it is not in the Union. Bosnia and Herzegovina uses the convertible mark, Serbia the dinar and Albania the lek. Outside Schengen there is passport control at every border: check with the Spanish Foreign Ministry what document each country requires and tell the hire company if you are going to take the car out of Croatia, because it needs authorisation and insurance for the other side. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and in some interior areas of Croatia there are still areas suspected of mines from the war of the 1990s: do not leave the marked trails or the roads.