Plitvice Travel Guide
Plitvice national park or Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest and largest national park in Croatia. The Park is located in the mountainous region of Croatia, between the Mala Kapela mountain range in the west and northwest, and the Lička Plješivica mountain range to the southeast.
It was the first national park in Croatia and since 1979 is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage.
The Park is mostly covered with forest, with smaller areas under grasslands. The best part of the park which are the lakes cover just under 1% of the area.
The lake system is comprised of 16 main lake and several smaller ones, cascading one into another. Due to the geological composition and hydrogeological conditions, the lake system has been divided into the Upper lakes and Lower lakes.
Table of Contents
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Good to know about Plitvice
To start with out Plitvice Travel Guide, you should know that there are 2 main entrances in the park during the high season. Simply called Entrance 1 (in the north) and Entrance 2 (in the south).
As we stayed north used the Entrance 1 which is the main one. We will in this Plitvice Travel Guide relate to this entrance.
Also, the park offers you different pre-made routes to follow. From entrance 1, you will have Program A, B, C, K and from entrance 2, program E, F, H, K. But of course, you can mix them if you want.
Our program was
- Day 1 : Program C + Waterfall + Cave + Viewpoints + Program A
- Day 2: Program K
But we will talk about this later, as it was for us quite confusing at the beginning.
Getting there
If you are coming by car, then you can simply park in the main parking lot of the park. Located right opposite of the entrance and connected to it with an over road bridge. It cost 10 HKS per hour.
But you can also reach the park with local bus from the main city. If you are coming from Zagreb there are many daily departures to the Lakes. You will have to use the stop: Plitvička Jezera
Here are the distances from the main cities:
- Zagreb: 135 km, 2 hours 15 minutes
- Zadar: 136 km, 2 hours
- Split: 260 km, 3 hours
- Dubrovnik: 450 km, 5 hours
You can check this website to plan you bus journey: https://voznired.akz.hr/?lang=en
How many days in Plitvice?
You can spend 1 or 2 days in the park. And honestly both options are good. We personally opted for 2 days, and it was amazing. 2 days give you the options to go more than one trail and also have more chance to have a better weather.
Also, if you visit during the peak season a second day will offer you the possibility to have another morning to enjoy the park without the crowd.
Also, know that you can visit the national park on a day trip from Zagreb, Zadar or even Split. But you will be spending a lot of time on transportation and won’t have that much time to spend in the park. We strongly recommend staying overnight.
Buying the ticket
You can buy your ticket at the counter at the entrance or online. We opted to get it online at on the national park website.
We took a 2 days ticket as if bought like this it is much cheaper than 2 1-day tickets and got an e-ticket which was easy to bring around 😊
We recommend buying the first spot available and be as early as possible in the park. Also, with your ticket you can enter and exit the park many times. In our first day there, we visited it early in the morning and then went back to our accommodation and back to the park in the afternoon.
PS: When we arrived in the park in August between 7 and 8am, the line for the ticket counter wasn’t long at all. Yet, buying online is much safer. To enter the park, you just show your e-tickets. Here also early morning = no line.
When to Visit
The park is open all year round but during the colder part of the year some of the facilities are closed. Depending the year, it may change, but you can find some information on their website
The park is open from 7am to 7pm. Ticket sales stop at 4pm.
We visited the park in August, and we got 1 rainy day and 1 sunny day in 2021.
Regarding the time to visit the park. Again, the opening time is the best moment to visit it. It is only at this time that the park is not crowded. It gets quite pack during the day. And even in the afternoon.
Our visits there:
- Day 1: 7am to 11:45am & 3pm to 5pm
- Day 2: 7:30am to 2pm
The only time where it was quite not crowded was from 7am to 9am. But we were there in August which is the peak season. So, the best times of day for visiting Plitvice Lakes are in the morning (from 7am-9am)
Moving around
The main mean of transportation in the park is walking. But depending on the route you take you can take (free of charge, included in your ticket) :
- An electric boat from: P1 to P2, P2 to P3 and P3 to P2
- A Panorama Train from: St1 to St2, St2 to St1, St2 to St3 and St3 to St2
Note: The panorama train is more like a bus.
If you look at this modified map of the K Program from the park, we marked all the type of transportation.
Where to Stay
There are both options to stay in the park and outside of it. We were by car, so we opted for a guesthouse north of the parc located 10min driving. You also have lots of campsite nearby.
- (€): House Nada
- (€€): Studio Apartments Eagle
- (€€€): B&B Lower Lakes Plitvica Selo
What to Eat
There are a couple of stores and small fast foods in the Plitvice National Park as well as some restaurant
Upper and Lower Lakes
The Upper Lakes are made of 12 lakes: Prošćansko jezero, Ciginovac, Okrugljak, Batinovac, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Vir, Galovac, Milino jezero, Gradinsko jezero, Burgeti and Kozjak. These lakes were formed on impermeable dolomite rock, and are larger, with more indented and gentler shores than the Lower Lakes.
This area is basically from the entrance 2 upward.
The Lower Lakes are made of 4 lakes: Milanovac, Gavanovac, Kaluđerovac and Novakovića Brod. These lakes were formed in permeable limestone substrate, cut into a deep canyon with steep cliffs. The lakes end in the impressive waterfalls Sastavci, with the Korana River springing under the base of the falls.
This area is basically from the entrance 1 eastward until entrance 2.
Things to do in Plitvice
The programs
First of all, know that there are 4 programs for each entrance. Each program is basically one hike but are called program because they can include some transportation (boat/train). Also, those programs are recommended route from the national park. But you do not need to follow them. And they can of course be done going both directions.
Honestly, through the day, we had both been with people going our way and the opposite.
For example, if you want to see the cliff view over the lower lake. You will have to go off the programs.
Also, each entrance has a program K, so you can count together 7 programs.
Most of the trails are going along the lakes and are CRAZY STUNNING. Only a small portion of Program K goes up in the forest.
Program A
Duration: 2 to 3h, length 3 500m, entrance 1, lower lakes
It first offers a great view of the waterfall and then goes downhill till a small intersection where you can go and see the big waterfall from its foot (Veliki Slap). You then go back to the intersection and follow the train back to the entrance.
You will come to an intersection going through a cave. If you use it, it will bring you back up right away to one of the most scenic view of the park. From there you can either go back down or back to the entrance.
Program B
Duration: 3 to 4h, length 4 000m, entrance 1, lower lakes
Same beginning then the program A, only instead of going straight back to the entrance, you will use the bridge on the right and then take the boat and later the train to go back to the entrance.
Program C
Duration: 4 to 5h, length 8 000m, entrance 1, lower and upper lakes
Same beginning as Program B until the boat. But once you are out of the boat you will start walking in a supper scenic part of the upper lake until the station 3. From there you will take the train back to the entrance.
This is the first trail we did in the park.
Program K
Duration: 6 to 8h, length 18 300m, entrance 1 & 2
This trail follows the same beginning as Program C, only you won’t be using any transportation. And you will walk all around. The boat is replaced by a stunning walk along the lake. Later you will hike in the forest uphill the upper lake before reaching back the trail to P2 where you take the boat to P1. Then instead of using a train, you will walk on the other side of the lower lakes.
This is the train we followed on our second day.
Program E
Duration: 2 to 3h, length 5 100m, entrance 2, upper lakes
Start with a small boat ride until the upper lake trail and walk along a stunning path toward the station 3 where you take the train back.
Program F
Duration: 3 to 4h, length 4 600m, entrance 2, lower lakes
Similar to program B, only going the other direction. You first take the boat to P2 and P3 before walking on the trail near the entrance 1 and taking the train back
Program H
Duration: 4 to 6h, length 8 900m, entrance 2, lower and upper lakes
Similar to program C but going the other direction. You will start with the train to St3 and then walk till P2 to take the boat and then reach the entrance 1.
What to do then ?
Which program to choose?
When we first checked online to see what we will be doing we were super confused and the same again when we arrived in the park. We didn’t know what to do, which programs to follow.
So, here is our recommendation.
If you have one day, follow the program C or H. If you want a bit more than go off the trail to see the upper cliff viewpoint of the lower lakes.
If you have 2 days, your day 1 will be the same, and on the second day do the Program K
Entrance 1 or 2??
This is also a good question; our recommendation is entrance 1 as it is the one we used. But mostly people chose the entrance based on where they are staying. We stayed north, so entrance 1 was closer.
Other things to do in Plitvice
Another thing that might interest you is to know that you can also do other activities in the park:
- More Hiking: You can go off the lakes area and hiking on much longer trails.
- Rowing: you can rent a rowing boat in P1
- Skiing and sleighing: Possible in winter
The end
We hope you liked our guide, if you want more insight view, you can read our article telling our story day by day in Plitvice. It will also give some more insight of what to expect.
Tko vino večera, vodu doručkuje – ‘Who dines on wine has water for breakfast’: You have to pay the price for whatever you did the night before.
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