A trail to a medieval city-fortress in northwest Croatia – Jelengrad

Another weekend, another hiking trail. Our little hiking group gathered and decided to head towards Jelengrad, a medieval city-fortress in the northwest of Croatia, at the heart of Moslavina.

Honestly, spring is generally the best time to head toward woods unless you are allergic to all sorts of pollen and grasses, then, I wouldn’t recommend it. At this time of the year, everything is flowering and the forest is starting to breathe with its full lungs, so it’s exciting to see it happen, especially if you are not a fan of winter, just like me hahaha.

So the history behind Jelengrad, like many other fortresses in the area, is not fully known, but there are some claims that it was owned/ built by Ban Pavao Čupor of Moslavina in the 15th century and ruled by the same family which was later overrun by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century and completely destroyed. From this second largest city-fortress in Moslavina, all it was left was ruins and exterior walls.

There are two ways you can reach Jelengrad (check Google Maps). Either going through a very easy hiking trail or by car.

Popovača-Jelengrad car routes – Photo: Google Maps

The hiking trail we knew about starts in a village called Kamenica, which is marked on the map in yellow color. The trail starts a bit deeper in the woods, a few minutes outside the village, and it is marked from the road view. You can park your car there on the sideroad and head across the small bridge you can see in the picture below.

I will be honest with you and admit that the first 10-15 minutes of your hike there, are pretty hefty. An uphill part that you gotta pass is at an about 45-degree angle and make sure you go slowly as it doesn’t stop this quickly. I am sure that if 58-year-olds could manage it, you can as well. Once you survive this part, the rest is easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Go ahead and follow the marked trail for an additional 10 minutes and you are there.

Fortress Jelengrad, Photo: Adria.fun

Once you catch some breath and wish to continue further deep in the woods, follow the path down the fortress. From here, you can do 1h and a half circle back to your car if you wish to have a proper walk, if not you can return the same way back to the car.

About Jelegrad, Photo: Adria.fun

We decided to go further and continued toward Košutgrad (another historical city). Although we took the road towards it, this time we were not heading there, we decided that we are going to leave that trail for another day.

As you go further down the road you will come across a first turn in which one (on the left-hand side) goes towards Moslavačka Slatina or the second (right-hand side) goes towards Košutgrad. As you can see on the map and pictures below.

Continuing towards Košutgrad you will follow the beautiful forest trails and enjoy the peace and quietness. Ahhh, what a perfect life…

At one point you will now reach another turning point which will lead uphill (left-hand side) or downhill (right-hand side). To return to the place where you started you will go downhill, and to go towards Košutgrad you will go uphill. The easiest way to recognize this turning point is a small bench on the side just like in the picture below.

Once you reach here, all that is left is for you to get back to the place you left the car, at the very bottom is an additional crossroad and a place where you might have left your car. The road to the right leads you back to Kamenica village.

That’s it, my dear readers, you did it! This is the end of your Jelengrad trail. Before I wrap this up, I would love to share some data captured by the Health app. Due to a poor GPS signal, I can only share with you that the full walk lasted for almost 2 hours, and the highest elevation is about 274 m asl.

Heath tracking app, Photo: Adria.fun

Until next time, I am sending you pusu u čelenku (*forehead kiss*)

Leave me a comment below if you ever visited this trail or planning to, if you like such articles, and what you think we could do better. All inappropriate comments will be removed due to minor safety and for keeping the environment positive and happy for future generations. ✌️