Do you knowOTOCAC?CROATIA?

Otočac is a beautiful small town in the heart of the Gacka Valley. The town has a long history tightly connected to the river Gacka which flows through it. Historicaly Otočac was built to be a border fortress.  The part of the fortress where the captain and most of his men resided was surrounded by walls and several towers.

There also stood the Church of Saint Mary, as well as the Chapel of Saint's Fabian and Sebastian. The rest of the unit and most inhabitants lived outside the fortress, in clay-covered houses built on thick poles amid water. These houses are so beautifully arranged that they seem to form a town with streets and lanes, which boats can pass through with ease.
Houses are, however, not lined next to each other, but stand detached from one another, so that one needs a boat to get to his neighbour’s house.

This medieval setup no longer exists but the materials were used to make the modern old town Otočac, The Stone bridge, various housing and the new church.

Otočac nowdays has about 3 850 inhabitants. In Otočac is the seat of the Gacka area and the seat of the township. It is one of the oldest towns inhabited by Croatian population. The first written records of the town date back to the end of the 11th century (1100) and the Baška Tablet, an inscribed stone tablet from the island of Krk which belongs among the earliest known monuments to Croatian literacy and culture. At that time, St. Nicholas Monastery in Otočac was affiliated with St. Lucy’s Convent in Baška on the island of Krk. However, the historians believe that Otočac dates further back in time than the 11th century with a presumption that one of the first Croatian leaders, Duke Borna, held one of his seats in Otočac at the beginning of the 9th century.

Since it is surrounded by mountains and various forests, there is no shortage of wood in Otočac. Although modern policies mostly revolve around turism there is still some woodcutting industry around Otočac. Mostly small private sawmills.

Hospitality industy and tourism are the focus of many people in Otočac lately. There is a large number of cafe's, restaurants and many people are renting their homes nowdays.

The river Gacka is renowned for its brown trout (Salmo trutta), truly being a mecca for all passionate anglers. Because of the abundance of food, the brown trout of Gacka grows 5-7 times faster than in any other trout water in the world. The largest specimens of the Gacka's trout have been known to grow up to 5 kg. The angling season on the Gacka River opens from 1st of March and closes on October 31st.


Although essentially a karst river, Gacka is extremely slow and quiet with a uniform flow of water. Apart from the uniform abundance of its source, Gacka is known for its stability and small temperature fluctuations. The average annual water temperature is 9.4°C (7.9°C in winter, 10.8°C in summer), which is particularly suitable to the fish of the salmonid family.

Watersport activities like kayakng and canoeing are also very popular lately. People like to do active things on their vacations. In Otočac you can  climb hills or mountains, go for bikerides or quad rides, fish, play football, basketball, tennis or you can go to the bowling alley. The variety is aplenty.

Interested for more?

Do you know our school?

igh school Otočac, in its present state, is founded in the year 1993., but it's history of secondary education begins in 1946.
The school has about 280 students between 14 and 18 years of age.  More than 60% of them travel to school every day from surrounding rural areas. For some of them there is a possibility of staying for education and upbringing in school student’s dorm with a capacity of 30 students.  

Our students participate in regional and national competitions with good and excellent results. In the year 2019 our National agency for VET education started a new form of VET competition under the name Worldskills Croatia in which our forestry technicians won third place. Eco-Schools is one of the most important programs for our students with annual schedule of activities. They participate in the World cleanup day, celebrate eco-dates, pay attention on energy savings, learn about sustainable development in forestry, eco food production and water conservation, visit nature parks and forest reservations etc. We have good cooperation with national forestry company Hrvatske šume, national parks and local entrepreneurs in which our students have their professional practice.
Some of our teachers are also regularly participating in regional and national meetings as educators where they share their experience and their methods of teaching. Teacher training is also quite extensive for the last three years as we were preparing for the implementation of new Croatian national curriculum which become a standard from the 2019/2020 school year. This has implied many changes in the way that school approaches student. The goal of this reform is, not to overload the students with information but to give them real life applicable solutions so they can be ready for the labor market and lifelong education. As one of really important things in this new approach is the use of modern technologies.

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