Željava, the secret military airport that sleeps beneath the Balkan mountains

The former Yugoslavia is a land that never ceases to amaze those who love discovering unusual places , often suspended between historical memory and mysterious charm . Just think of the enigmatic spomeniks , the Brutalist monuments scattered across the Balkans, which resemble alien sculptures planted in nature. Some people, guidebook in hand, travel on the road to see as much of them as possible.

Or, again, think of the underground bases , designed with cutting-edge techniques incredible for their time and guarded for decades as state secrets. Among these works, a special place is occupied by the Željava military airport , a colossus of military engineering hidden beneath a mountain on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Željava, the largest secret military airport in former Yugoslavia

Before the base was built, the area was little more than a rugged and largely untouched mountain landscape, nestled between the Plješevica massif and the Una River . It held no particular cultural or political significance until the postwar Yugoslav government recognized its strategic potential.

Tito's Yugoslavia , torn between East and West during the Cold War, sought to protect itself from an increasingly concrete threat: a possible atomic attack . Thus, in 1960, the secret Željava project took shape, which would become the largest and most fortified military airport not only in the country, but in all of Europe.

The complex, dug into the mountain and designed to withstand nuclear bombing, was a true underground fortress. The runways stretched along the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina , perfectly positioned for territorial control and defense. The heart of the system was hidden inside: an intricate underground bunker with kilometers of tunnels capable of housing up to 80 MiG-21 fighter jets .

Željava was not just an aircraft hangar, but an underground military city . It included command rooms, fuel depots, personnel dormitories, and living quarters designed to ensure autonomy in the event of conflict. Armored doors, several meters thick, sealed the complex, making it inaccessible and invisible even to Western radar.

However, with the collapse of Yugoslavia and the coming of the Balkan Wars, the base's fate was sealed: mined and blown up, Željava fell into ruin, transforming from a symbol of power into a relic of the Cold War .

How to get to and visit the Željava military base

Those who reach Željava encounter an almost unreal landscape : concrete runways overgrown with grass, craters left by explosions, rusty aircraft wreckage, and the dark openings of tunnels that seem to lead to another world. The military base is not an official tourist attraction , but several tours are organized , or, if you arrive independently and take your own precautions, you can enter a few meters inside the tunnels with flashlights.

To get to Željava, we recommend driving your own car and starting from Plitvice Lakes National Park , located about 20 kilometers away. The most common access point is near the village of Željava , not far from the border crossing with Bosnia.