Kupa Valley & Iron Suspension Bridge

The Kupa river forms the natural boundary between Croatia and Slovenia through the whole of Gorski Kotar and its wildest, most spectacular section runs through the deep gorge below the village of Severin na Kupi. Here the river is a bright emerald green, ice-cold and fed almost entirely from limestone springs, and its upper valley is one of the least-populated corners of Croatia — dense forest, small hidden hamlets, and the constant sound of water. The iconic 1902 iron suspension bridge at Severin — an elegant single-span structure of Austro-Hungarian engineering — is still in daily use and crosses the river into a tiny frontier hamlet on the Croatian bank. Wild swimming in the Kupa is a beloved Rijeka pastime on hot summer days: several small pebble beaches downstream from Severin, water temperature rarely above 15 °C. The valley is also world-class for fly-fishing (Kupa brown trout and the endemic Danube salmon), kayaking and canoeing. A superb marked 20-km cycling route from Severin follows the Kupa gorge downstream to Brod na Kupi, entirely along a shaded riverside road with almost no traffic and multiple river-access points for picnic and swimming stops.