The national park with the hard to pronounce name in Croatia.... Plitvicka National Park, or Plitvice Lakes in English, is definitely worth a visit. The waterfalls in this national park look like they must have been concocted by some sort of mad scientist, but no... it was just Mother Nature at her best.
You'll wonder at the incredible blues and greens and the water falling everywhere in every direction... little trickles of water, wide waterfalls, tall falls, short falls, twisting falls, waterfalls inside rocks.... and bubbling streams connecting everything.
Plitvicka National Park is not just for nature lovers. It's such an unusual place that we think anyone would be wowed by it. You will do quite a bit of walking, but I wouldn't really call it hiking. The paths are good, and there are lots of wooden walkways to get up close to the park's beauty. The paths take you around and over the lakes and waterfalls... in some cases, the paths even lead right up the middle of a waterfall!
There are sixteen terraced lakes connected by all those waterfalls. The boardwalks are designed to give you great views of the travertine formations that account for the pretty lakes and so many waterfalls.
There is a boat ride along the park's biggest lake. It takes you to the starting point for many of the boardwalks. The entrance fee is good for all day and includes the boat ride, shuttle buses and parking.
As inviting as those lakes look, there is no swimming in them... the environment is just too fragile for that. You can do some good birdwatching, and you might even be lucky and see deer. If you're really lucky, you could see bear or boar. Do take a camera with plenty of memory, because it's so beautiful that you'll be snapping away.
We broke our rule about finding a hotel before dark, but there are three reasonably priced lodges right at "Entrance 2" to the park. That seems to be the main entrance to the park because it was the first entrance we came to, and we found it easily in the dark. They're basic "national park" hotels with restaurants that serve good (if uninspiring) food.
We were very happy with our lodge, and even the food, since we arrived later than we wanted due to a road construction delay. (Something that you probably still need to allow time for.) There are also hotels and campsites outside of the park.
The Plitvicka National Park is located roughly halfway between the capital city of Zagreb and Split or Zadar on the Dalmatian Coast. It's about a two hour drive from either direction (unless you hit those construction delays... then it's longer... we can vouch for that!)
You can take a bus from either Zagreb or Zadar... there are several every day. There is also a bus from Dubrovnik, but that's a longer ride. It was easy driving in Croatia, and we had no trouble finding the park... even in the dark. Plitvicka is such a stunning place that if you go to Croatia, you should really make an effort to see it.
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