Cetina Spring in Croatia: The Blue Eye or Dragon Eye of Croatia

The Cetina Source: Perspective is crucial

Maybe this viral video has already appeared in your feed in which a whale suddenly comes up for air from a small, mystical lake in Croatia? How do things like that work? This mysterious lake aroused our curiosity and we wanted to get to the bottom of the matter. Of course (surprise, surprise) we didn't find a whale, but I was still able to swim in the coldest water of my life. Livin' for the grief...or something. But what is this actually about?

We are talking about the spectacular Cetina spring, a very popular excursion destination in Croatia. The source is located in the picturesque Dinara Mountains and rises from the Cetina River. The area around the spring is known for its beautiful landscape and offers numerous opportunities for hiking, rafting and other nature activities.

With a length of over 100 km, the Cetina is one of the largest rivers in Croatia, more precisely in the Dalmatia region. At an altitude of 385 m, the river rises from a 115 m deep spring near the village of Cetina of the same name.

Swim in the eye of the dragon

This lake is mainly (similar to the famous Suspension rope bridge in the Zillertal) the perspective is crucial: The special thing about the Cetina spring is its eye-shaped appearance from a bird's eye view. For this reason, many people call the spring the "Blue Eye" or the "Dragon's Eye".

Directions to the Cetina source or the Blue Eye

For our trip to the Cetina source we had chosen a bed & breakfast in the town of Knin. Knin is ideally located around the Krka National Park or even the Cetina source to visit. From our accommodation, we arrived at the Blue Eye in just 30 minutes. The spring is about 2 kilometers from the village of Cetina and freely accessible without entry fees.

We got up very early because we wanted to see the spring at sunrise and wanted to avoid that there were already too many tourists on site. We did it, only one camper was there.

The Cetina spring is located not far from the village of Cetina. We have already been able to experience many great places on our travels, but the Cetina spring is really a small miracle of nature. There is a beautiful, small orthodox chapel right next to the spring: The Crkva Svetog Spasa.

If you dare, you can also jump into the water. But watch out: The water is really ice cold at 6°-7°. We dared anyway, if only for the unique pictures we took with the drone.

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