Plitvice Lakes National Park

Because the Plitvice Lakes were so beautiful, and we have some free time, we would like to dedicate a separate post to them.

The day started early, as we had rented a car at 8 am to have as much time as possible in the park. After about 2 hours of driving, we arrived at the national park without much traffic (entrance 2, we missed the entrance to entrance 1). We had already bought the tickets online, which saved us from waiting in line, so we could start right away. We chose Route K (the longest, about 18 km), because we didn't want to miss anything.

The Plitvice Lakes are the oldest and largest national park in Croatia. They are located in a mountainous region between the Mala Kapela and Licka Pljesivica mountain ranges. The process of travertine formation, which created the travertine barriers, represents an exceptional and universal value, which is why the Plitvice Lakes were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979. The national park is mostly forested and consists of 16 large and several smaller cascading lakes. They are divided into upper and lower lakes, which makes it easy to hike between them.

The national park is beautifully designed, well-preserved, and clean. The short distances on the lake are covered by electric boats, and everything is left as close to nature as possible. We would recommend everyone to take the long route, simply because there are fewer people and you can fully enjoy the beauty of the lake landscape. It took us about 5 hours of walking time, and sturdy footwear is recommended.

Very tired but infinitely happy that we made this trip, we arrived back at our hostel in Zagreb around 7 pm.