Visiting Plitvice Lakes, a Complete Guide

We tell you all the information you need to visiting Plitvice Lakes: how to get there, things to do, best time to visit.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is a Unesco World Heritage Site and was immediately a “must” of our trip when we traveled in Croatia.

Visiting Plitvice Lakes

This park stands out for two things:

• 16 lakes of crystalline water, which as they get deeper they acquire turquoise, dark green and all kinds of variations between these two colors.

• Small and large waterfalls that unite them to form an unparalleled spectacle.

That is to say, during the tour (which is the one we chose to do) we will ascend from lake to lake, since they are arranged in a staggered way.

🔝 Looking for more places to see in Croatia? Check out this article on things to do in Croatia in 7 or 10 days .

1. Best time to visit Plitvice Lakes

Although it can be visited all year round, the ideal season to visit it is from April to October, when the weather is more pleasant. We visited in the middle of the summer season and had clear skies, pleasant weather and no heat.

If you visit the Plitvice Lakes in July and August, keep in mind that the number of visitors is very high, although thanks to the extension of the park you can visit the points of interest without rushing.

🔝 Check out these recommendations for touring the country in the Croatia Travel Guide.

2. Plitvice lakes tickets

The entrance fee varies according to the month of visit. In the low season, which runs from November to March, the entrance fee is 80 kuna. In the autumn and early spring months (April, May, June and September) the price is 180 kunas. In the summer months, July and August, you have to pay about 300 kunas to access. These prices are updated to the year 2022.

Discounts are available for children between 7 and 18 years old. Children under 7 years old have free access.

3. Tour of the Plitvice Lakes

Walking through the lakes is a great and vertiginous experience, you cross narrow wooden walkways arranged over the lakes, and when you look into the lake you can see two things: the bottom of the lake and fish standing around, as if they were flying. I say standing and not swimming because it was like that, they were there, standing still in some of the parts of the lake where the water did not continue downstream until it stopped at the next lake.

📷 Book here the Plitvice Lakes tour from Zagreb, which includes transportation, lunch and entrance to the lakes. You can also book the tour to Plitvice Lakes from Split or Zadar.

Tours within the park can be done in many ways. In fact, tickets are sold for tow days if anyone wants to do it quietly. It took us 4 hours and we consider that we did it quite fast, and even shortened our way, without taking the longest routes or the most remote roads.

Of the various ways to tour it, we did the following: we start with entry 1, which are the lakes below, and continue on to entry 2, which are the lakes below, and continue on to entry 3. climbing quietly up to the lakes that are further upstream until arriving at station 3 (I say station, because it is not an entrance as such from the route).

If you do it the other way around, you have a descent all the way down, but to get to entrance 1 there is a very steep climb. In fact, I stumbled a lot, hahaha, I scraped my elbow, knee and right hand. I didn’t roll, I fell on my head.

4. Tips for visiting Plitvice Lakes

• There are two entrances from the road: entrance 1 and entrance 2. There are lockers, car parking, restaurant and lockers in both. The storage of backpacks is free of charge.

• If you enter through entrance 1, the tour will take you to entrance 2, but you will have to return to entrance 1 to pick up the backpacks left in the left-luggage office. There is a free shuttle bus included in the ticket price that takes you between each one.

• The bus to Zagrebhas a stop at each entrance. It seems to stop first at entrance 2 and then at entrance 1. In our case, when the first bus from Zagreb arrived, only a few people could get on because it was quite full, but behind it came another bus.

• In addition to the shuttle bus, the entrance fee includes a boat ride on one of the largest and deepest lakes.

• We traveled, and fast, the lakes in about 4 hours. We took the boat and then, from station 3, we took the bus to entrance 1. There is a lot of walking.

• Can you swim in Plitvice Lakes. No, so leave your swimsuits in your backpacks!

• There are no free maps to tour the area and analyze possible routes. There is one at the entrance, but it is quite small and without much detail. At the information center they sell one for 20 kunas for those who want to tour it more thoroughly.

5. Where to stay in Plitvice lakes

The bus also stops in two other towns in case someone has lodging there. As we got closer to the park, we saw many small towns where they offered apartment-zimmer-camera-sobe. We decided to do the lakes in one day and then sleep in Zagreb.

There are three options for accommodation just a few meters from the Plitvice Lakes National Park: Hotel Bellevue, Hotel Plitvice and Hotel Jezero. All are boutique style hotels with very nice facilities.

Other good alternatives outside the park are:

• Golden Lakes Rooms1.5 kms from the park entrance, it is a rural manor house with modern facilities inside. Rooms with terrace and views of nature.
• Guest House Spoljaric Sasais a simple but comfortable guesthouse with the advantage of having a restaurant in the same place. Ideal if you go by car, as it is a bit farther from the main road.
• Lake HouseLake House: 3 kms from the entrance to the park, it is a rural lodge run by its owners with a very abundant breakfast.

🏨 Do you want to look for other options? Find here the best best hotels in Plitvice.

How to get to Plitvice Lakes

How to get from Zadar to Plitvice by bus

When we visited the lakes the two morning bus schedules from Zadar to Plitvice were 8:30 and 9:00, and since it was high season, several buses left at least in the first hour. You arrive at the park (entrance 1) around 10:30 am. Price: 105 kunas each (about 14 € approx). In this case, there is no charge for carrying the backpack in the trunk.

How to get from Plitvice to Zagreb by bus

Tickets for Zagreb can be purchased at the park’s entrance 1. We traveled on the 16:15 bus (there may be other schedules of other companies), keep this in mind to finish the visit and return on time. The bus arrives in Zagreb, without stops, around 19:00. Price: 100 kunas.

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