How to visit plitvice lakes: aka “melted jolly rancher waterfalls”
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When I first started planning the Sturgeon Family Trip 2019, as I’ve mentioned before, I had nature on my mind. I wanted to come up with experiences and sights that we had never seen before. So, when I was researching where I could find unique landscapes in Europe (Because I had to fly to Spain to start my semester we couldn’t go too crazy in terms of location), Croatia topped the charts - rather - Plitvice Lakes National Park topped the charts.
As soon as I saw a picture of Plitvice Lakes National Park, my heart was SET. There was no other option. Even though most Croatia itineraries stay in the south to save on time and money, my entire itinerary was built around figuring out how to visit Plitvice Lakes. I knew I had to come up with a way to see it all (Which I did!)
Read More: The Ultimate Croatia Road Trip Itinerary
Now the flights all the way to Croatia were pricey, as it is pretty far to the east. My parents put up a little bit of a fight (we all pay for ourselves on vacation, but we try to be as cost effective as possible). There were cheaper flights to easier places, but I kept pushing.
One night my dad came home from work and announced that we were going. He had looked up photos of the park, and said it was something we absolutely HAD to see. So now whenever i propose new trips i literally make a PowerPoint so I can show them all the incredible things we’d be missing out on if we didn’t go LOL true story.
How to Visit Plitvice Lakes:
*** You can’t swim in these lakes, as they are a UNESCO world heritage site. This might be disappointing to some, but I’m pretty sure they’re always freezing cold so idk how enjoyable that would be. For beautiful Croatian waterfalls you can swim in, check out Krka national park.
For how excited I was to actually see Plitvice Lakes National Park, I really didn’t do that much research until the NIGHT BEFORE. We stayed in Zagreb to avoid the pricier Plitvice Lakes accommodation, and we simply woke up earlier to drive! It worked really well for us, and we got to explore Zagreb for a few days as well. Win-win!
Read More: Top things to do in Zagreb, Croatia
For how excited I was to actually figure out how to visit Plitvice Lakes and fit it into my itinerary, I really didn’t do that much research until the NIGHT BEFORE. Not the night before the trip, the night before we drove to the park. I had vaguely remembered reading the the park was made up of the Upper lakes and the Lower lakes, and that it was best to start with the lower lakes. We had an entire day in our itinerary dedicated to walking the entirety of the park, and if you have time I really suggest you do the same! I don’t think I could choose between the two sections of the falls, (but if it were urgent I’d choose the lower lakes).
Prices vary depending on the season, I believe that my family and I paid about 20 or 25USD a piece to spend all day there. If you go in shoulder season or off season (Okay can you imagine the park in the snow?!) the prices are much less expensive, but 20 dollars for a whole day definitely isn’t anything to get upset about.
So we were looking it up online, knowing that we had to buy tickets somehow, but what we didn’t realize was that there were time slots with a limit to how many people could buy tickets for a certain hour and they were almost completely sold out. My heart dropped to my toes.
The only time slot available was 7am, and there were 5 tickets left. The 5 people in my family quickly SNATCHED those babies and then realized we were nearly a whole three hours away. We ~promptly~ set our alarms and tried to force ourselves to go to bed. Unfortunately jet lag would not have it.
Moaning and Groaning, we all crawled out of bed at 4 in the morning, realized we had hardly packed up, frantically threw everything in the car and set out a little later than planned. We rolled up to the park at 7:55, booked it to the entrance while waving our tickets, prepared to argue that we were well within the hour window that we had. They let us pass with no issues and we walked in without a problem, sitting on a bench immediately to catch our breaths and recover from that SCARE.
As a whole, we like to be places early to avoid the crowds, so after taking a breath, we got straight to it. We definitely could’ve stayed closer to the park for less of a hassle, and a nice place to have a few hours to rest and recover after walking literal miles through the park (or want to go back the next day!!) Definitely something to keep in mind! This is also a good option as well if you have chosen to not rent a car.
The first view came up very quickly, as you have to descend to the lower lakes before walking next to them to reach the upper lakes. It was a beautiful lookout point from above, and all exhaustion that might’ve still been residing in our bodies left RIGHT away. It was everything I’d ever dreamed of. We stood there speechless for a good minute before whipping out our phones and taking literally the same picture every 3 steps. Little did we know that was just the beginning of what Plitvice Lakes National Park had in store for us.
I got so excited I practically skipped down the entire path, turning around with my jaw dropped in awe to point at what was gradually growing closer. My vocabulary this day consisted of:
”ARE YOU KIDDING ME”
”Can you believe it? this water looks like straight up melted jolly ranchers”
What can i say? It did!
We were on track to follow the “C” path, which takes you all over the main sights of the lower lakes, and it takes you exactly where you need to go to see the rest of the upper lakes. This is without a doubt the path that i would recommend. If you took the “H” route, the other route that starts at the second entrance that also takes you from upper to lower, you would constantly have to turn around to see the waterfalls, as you would be walking in the direction that they flow, if that makes sense.
The Lower lakes are full of small waterfalls and platforms located at the bottom of the taller falls. The path is a boardwalk that winds over the water, and we saw people with canes and walkers struggling to make their way across. It is possible, they did make it, but it is definitely not as accessible as it could be.
The upper lakes are a little bit more calm, as the paths loop around the perimeter of some of the larger lakes. The waterfalls are fewer and far between, but the waterfalls that do present themselves are GORGEOUS.
It is a LONG day of walking, let me tell you. You can stop for lunch, as there are multiple places to buy pizza or a burger or something simple like that. They are owned by the park though, so expect high prices for what you get. Surprisingly, even in our groggy state, we were able to throw together a quick Pasta salad in the morning before we left, and at one point in the upper lakes, we literally sat down in the middle of the path (the paths in the upper lakes aren’t nearly as crowded, especially once you get higher up the sides of the canyon) and ate our freaking pasta salad. It’s kind of our tradition. We ALWAYS have our pasta salad locked and loaded. I guarantee you it was better than that pizza.
It was actually raining when we went, but don’t let inclimate weather make you cancel your plans! We just threw on some rain jackets and called it a day. We definitely took them off for pictures, just don’t be fooled.
There comes a time when you’ll think that the C path is never-ending. We got really worried about it. Just push through, and eventually you’ll start to see signs for the train/trolley that will take you back to the entrance of the park. It goes so fast and the road is so windy (and on a CLIFF) that even with my intentions of catching a quick snooze I couldn’t. All i could do was yell at how much the water looked like melted jolly ranchers, like I had been doing ALL. DAY. 100% worth the hassle of figuring out how to visit Plitvice lakes and make it fit into your itinerary.
After we got off the trolley, I started ~sweating~ because we were nearly Back to the start and I hadn’t seen the iconic view that I had seen all over the internet yet! Plitvice Lakes National Park is SO large I was worried I had missed my chance. So I walked myself into a souvenir shop and showed them a picture of the exact view and they pointed me in the right direction.
I would explain it to you but honestly I’m extremely directionally challenged and also have a bad memory. Go to the workers, they’ll be able to help you better than me. It was one of the last pictures I took of the day, and we just followed the C path straight through, back to the parking lot. So if you keep on the path, you’ll come to it!
From this vantage point, we could see that famous windy boardwalk getting CLOGGED with tourists. 15,000 people come to see these awe-inspiring waterfalls everyday, so maybe the 4am wake up call was the right call after all.
After having our choices re-affirmed like that, we nodded with content and hobbled the short remaining distance from the gift shop (where we sent postcards and bought coffee, we clearly needed the fuel) to our car and set off for split around 3pm.
Despite the coffee, i knocked out SO fast. It was a long, beautiful day. Plitvice Lakes National Park, you have my heart.
I hope that answers all your questions on how to visit Plitvice Lakes!Follow along with the adventure and check out more of Croatia!
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