The big rubber rafts that Dalmatia Rafting supplies for your trip down the Cetina River are comfortable and soft and you might be reminded of the deck chair or lounger that you left behind on the beach in order to come out for a drift down the river. The similarities will soon leave your mind.
While the first few hours of the trip start on a lazy, winding river, the second half of the trip takes you down serious rapids that require group maneuvers, life jackets, and helmets for everyone on board.
Even so, most of your time is spent drifting down the beautiful river canyons of the Cetina river and like Croatia rafting in general, the point of the trip is to enjoy the outdoors rather than prove anything to yourself or the river by going through the biggest or toughest rapids.
Rafting is popular on the Cetina river, but the best place to go if you want to drift through canyons and hit the whitewater is Karlovac. With three rivers converging within just a few miles, there are multiple trips you can take from your base camp at Karlovac.
If you do decide to run the rivers around Karlovac, your first day trip should be the Kupa river. The Kupa runs through Risnjak National Park, allowing you to see the park from the inside out and see the complete path of the river as it winds its way along. Unfortunately, the Kupa river is only high enough to raft during the spring.
Your second day of rafting should be on the Dobra River. The Dobra was the first river in Croatia to have commercial rafting trips grace its waters and is one of the most popular places to get wet with whitewater. It is also one of only two rivers in Croatia with category IV rapids, the other being the river Una which makes up part of the Croatia/Bosnia border.
Rafting in Croatia typically runs between 20 and 40 Euros per person per day. Longer trips get more expensive and a lot of the rafting companies compete with each other for the lesser number of tourists during the late spring and early fall, before and after the rush of tourists come to join their river expeditions.
If you only have one day or have limited time in Croatia, you may want to try combining a tour of the Plitvice Lakes park with a rafting trip down the Korana river. Tour Plitvice first for a day and be amazed by the marvelous waterfalls, then follow the water that you watched cascade the day before down through the river and toward the ocean. There may be no better way to feel like you really saw one of the most impressive sights Croatia has to offer.