When I found out my friends would be in Zagreb right after I was finishing a tour in Italy, I got SO excited because it meant not only would I get to see them (obviously), but also because I would finally get to visit Plitvice Lakes national park. I will admit that I didn’t know TOO much about the park, except that it was cool, beautiful (pictures I’d seen were ridiculous), and apparently pretty popular. I didn’t have a car, so I was depending on buses to get there, which was actually really easy. Here are a few things I learned, which will hopefully help you plan your time – plus a lot of photos you can skip to if you just want to ogle the pretty. 🙂
Logistical Things to Know:
1) The park is located in the center of Croatia, about half way between the capital of Zagreb and Split, which is the sort of northern end of the Dalmatian coast. There are all sorts of bus options, but do your research and make sure you get express buses – it was about 2 hours from Zagreb, and then a little longer, maybe 3 hours to Split (but I had two quick stops and one unscheduled pause on that bus ride). Driving is certainly an alternate option, and would of course give you a lot more flexibility, but will also likely cost you a bit more in the long run.
2) The park is pretty spread out, going uphill as you go south (which doesn’t make sense, somehow, but it’s true). There are two main “entrances” to the park, with Entrance 1 being up high above the lowest and furthest northern end (meaning you have a quick downhill hike to start your day). Entrance 2 is in the middle, by the large lake in the center, and has the most “stuff”. Three hotels, restaurants, shops, and the main ticket office and stuff like that. The top end of the park is connected to both main entrances by shuttle bus. Your ticket gets you unlimited access to the shuttle buses, but only one ride on the boats that cross said large lake in the middle. Here’s a pic of the large map at the main ticket booth that attempts to orient you to this slightly complicated series of awesomeness:
3) There is a whole village of “ethno” hotels on the opposite side of the gorge from the two main entrances, and they all advertise being steps away from “Entrance 3”. If you mention this mythical entrance 3 to anyone inside the park, they will look at you like you’re crazy & tell you that it doesn’t exist. Which is true, BUT – there is a parking area on that side, which is just a bit uphill from the large picnic area at the boat dock on the large lake in the middle (“P3” is that boat dock). (You can sort of see the village even in the map above, by the top right end of the lake in the middle close to the river.) And guess what else is there? A restaurant, bathrooms, and yes- a ticket booth! I stayed at an ADORABLE little complex on this side, and had I known a bit more about the layout of the park and the one-boat-ride-per-ticket rule, I would have planned my day differently, and much more efficiently. In fact, but don’t tell anyone I told you this, you can even sneak in some free hiking at the park by using this back entrance – so long as you don’t try to use any of the shuttles or boats! The other downside to staying over in this area is that if you don’t have a car, you have to have them come & get you, and since they have to go all the way around the gorge, it’s not as quick, easy, or cheap as you’d hope for. But- they’re all pretty cute, and feel like you’re staying on someone’s farm. Mine was called Ethno Houses Plitvica Selo. Here are a few pics of my darling room, the grounds (complete with a petting zoo and kids adventure park), and some of the food (which was traditional & delicious!):
SO: Planning your time:
1) The vast majority of people who visit the park come for the day, either between Zagreb and points south (or vice versa), or even just a day trip from Zagreb. The bus schedule makes this easy – it arrives at 10am and then there are two that leave back to the capital at 4pm and 6pm. So, guess what? It is MEGA crowded from 10am till about 3:30pm or so. Also, everyone starts at the “bottom” and works their way up. It seemed to me that the lower part was the most crowded, but that’s likely because I was there in the height of the crowds and there is really only one path to take, whereas at the upper part there are two different paths and it’s longer and larger. This is another reason why I chose to spend the night there, so I could be in the park when all the day trippers left. After seeing how the light falls, I think I would rather be there early in the morning rather than later in the afternoon – but if you’re not a photographer, then that’s less of a concern for you.
2) If you really only have a short amount of time, stick at the lower/northern end of the park. It might be more crowded, but you get the most bang for your buck. First of all, right when you arrive you have to hike down to the bottom of the gorge. The path is super easy, AND you get amazing panoramic views over the entire gorge. Also, the largest waterfall (or “Big Waterfall” as it’s referred to in English) is down here, so you do get the best of both worlds if you just stay in the lower end of the park. You’ll see some giant, truly impressive waterfalls, some of the crystal clear ponds filled with trout, and quite a few of the smaller, gurgling waterfalls. Because of where I started, I actually ended up hiking this section three times (like I said- bad planning on my part!!), but loved it each time I passed through – especially the last time when it was basically JUST me on the trails. Here are some (ok, a bunch of) shots of the lower section (in roughly the order you’d see them starting at Entrance 1 & heading south/uphill):
3) Plan your lake crossing wisely. Like I said, since you only get one boat trip – make it count. You CAN walk along either side of the lake, and depending on what time you’re hitting the lake, it might be actually faster. To give you an idea, I waited a half an hour for a spot on a boat crossing the long way across (so from my mythical back entrance at P3 over to P2) at 3pm, but if you take the path along the west side of the lake, it’s only a few kilometers, so it might really take less time than the wait in line & then the slow ride over. But the ride over is pretty peaceful (even on a packed boat), and like I said- there are lots of practicalities you might want to use at P3, so the boat ride might be right up your alley – here are some shots of the crowds & the ride across:
4) The upper lakes: These were a bit more spread out than the lower lakes, covering something like 6km from the boat dock at the south end of the lake all the way to the top of the system (and shuttle stop ST3). You can even do loops of just the far upper lakes & falls, or just the part of the system just above the boat dock. To me, the area just above the boat dock was probably the most impressive, with higher waterfalls and more exciting twists & turns – but it was also more frustrating because of where the light was (directly behind most of the falls), and the fact that I couldn’t quite loose my boat load of people I’d ridden over with. Even with those frustrations, it was just shockingly gorgeous though. Most people seemed to just do that smaller loop, rather than hike all the way up to ST3, so by the time I was up there, I was again nearly completely on my own. The terrain up there, though, is much less interesting – with mostly one large-ish lake being filled by a just one wall of waterfalls, and then one final bigger waterfall you hike up next to. It is really great hiking though, and like I said- MUCH less crowded. Here are another bunch of photos from this area, again- roughly in the order as you head uphill:
So, to sum up- Plitvice Lakes National Park is FOR SURE worth a visit. So many itineraries focus so much on the Dalmatian coast and don’t head inland at all, but to me- it is just a shame to skip this absolute treasure. With a bit of planning, and either just one or two extra days, you can have such a magical experience. For active people or nature lovers, it really is a dream – but even those who aren’t into hiking 10km will love it. Because of the way nature made the system, most of the hiking is actually pretty level, with short bursts of steps or ramps (other than the way in/out down at entrance 1 – that would be a heck of a hike up for about 10 minutes!). I hope my pictures help convince you to add this one to your list, or get a trip planned now! 🙂