Visit the Plitvice Lakes in Croatia

Created in 1949, the Plitvice Lakes National Park is the first Croatian national park. Located halfway between Zagreb and Zadar, it is a must-see during a trip to Croatia, with its million annual visitors. The national park now covers over 300 km2, making it the largest Croatian nature park. It is mainly composed of forests and meadows. The lake portion, the most spectacular, represents only 1% of the park's total area.

The Plitvice Lakes are a set of 16 turquoise lakes interconnected by more than 90 waterfalls. These lakes and waterfalls are formed by natural dams, known as travertine barriers. These are the result of water flowing over the dolomitic and limestone rocks that make up the park for millennia. This geological phenomenon has been recognized internationally as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979.

In the Plitvice Lakes National Park, you'll find a wealth of fauna and flora, such as wolves and brown bears (don't worry, we didn't encounter any on the trails around the lakes). This fauna and flora is protected, however, so it's forbidden to venture off the marked trails, pick flowers, litter, or swim in any of the lakes, even if the water's color makes you want to cool off.

We visited the Plitvice Lakes National Park during our Central Europe road trip at the end of May 2022. We wanted to visit Plitvice Lakes before June 1st to take advantage of the mid-season rate of 180 HRK (± 24€) per adult, compared to 300 HRK (± 40€) during peak season. Let's just say, entry can be very expensive and we recommend visiting the park before June 1st to get a more affordable price.

As the number of entries is limited each day, we bought our tickets online 2 days in advance for Friday, May 27th, as a precaution. We think that at that time, there's no capacity issue to get your tickets on the same day and on site.

On arrived at the opening of Plitvice Lakes National Park on the day of our visit to beat the crowds. And we were glad we did! At 7am, it was calm and we were able to enjoy the magic of the place almost alone.

After parking the car, we entered through entrance 1 (ULAZ 1) and there were no lines at that time. We started our visit with the lower lakes and the largest waterfall (Veliki Slap), which is 76 meters high.

We then walked back up to the upper lakes and took the boat shuttle connecting points P3 and P2 of the park.  This boat connection is a different way to enjoy and admire the Plitvice Lakes.  Since the boat is electric, you only hear the sound of the water during the crossing. A peaceful moment to admire the unique landscapes surrounding us.

From 9:30-10:00 AM, the world started to arrive; often in waves with the shuttle boats and the panoramic train. We were patient in some places, letting the groups ahead of us depart to enjoy the locations without being pushed.

We returned to entrance 1 by way of the scenic path, while enjoying the famous viewpoints of the stilts winding between the different lakes. It was around noon, and we could clearly see the crowds at that time.

After almost 7 hours and 16 kilometers on foot, we finished our tour of the Plitvice Lakes National Park. There are several routes, more or less long, to visit the Plitvice Lakes from entrances 1 and 2. For our part, we took route C by doing the scenic train part on foot.

In conclusion, we think it's a must-do during an off-season trip to Croatia. The environment is beautiful and the lakes are such a pure blue, it was truly beautiful. However, we are really happy to have done it during the week in late May and not have paid the high season price (which we find really expensive for what it is ultimately).

We would like to return in autumn or winter to admire the lakes, waterfalls, and forests in other seasons. For the summer period, we would prefer another park like the Krka National Park which is very renowned.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is open daily all year round. Opening hours vary depending on the time of year. During the summer season, the park is open from 7:00 to 20:00. Be sure to check the opening hours a few days before your visit on the national park website.

The adult entrance fee is 80 HRK | 11€ in the low season (from November 1st to March 31st), 180 HRK | 24€ in the mid-season (from April 1st to May 31st and from September 1st to October 31st) and 300 HRK | 40€ in the high season (from June 1st to September 30th). You can find all prices on the official national park website and purchase your tickets online here.

The simplest way is to park in one of the paid car parks provided at each entrance to the Plitvice National Park. The basic price is 8 HRK per car for one hour. This increases to 10 HRK during peak season.

You can find all the parking information on the official website of the Plitvice Lakes National Park.

To be at the opening of the Plitvice Lakes National Park, we stayed the day before in the village of Rastovaca 15 minutes from the park entrance. Unfortunately, we do not recommend our accommodation (which lacked soundproofing) even if the view was quite promising.

We had dinner at Old Shatterhand in Rakovica which makes good burgers. A great, inexpensive address (we paid ± 26€ for 2) a few minutes from the Plitvice Lakes.