How to Hike Plitvice like a Pro

Okay so you’ve decided to go to Croatia. But there are so many options and you don’t know where? Let me make it easier for you. One of the places that you have to visit is Plitvice Lakes National Park. Plitvice is part of UNESCO’s World Heritage list. I recommend leaving enough time to tour all 16 lakes which comprise both the upper and lower lakes. There are multiple routes to travel, so do some research beforehand to see which specific route works best for you. The park opens at different times depending on the time of year as well. Also, don’t waste your time booking a tour. The trails are fairly easy to follow.

To beat the crowds, try to arrive to an entrance as soon as it opens. We definitely ran across fewer people in the first few hours of the morning. (Which gives more time for picture taking!) We toured the lower lakes first, which worked out better for us, as we were able to get more pictures with the waterfalls without other tourists around. The upper trail offers a more expansive view, so you are bound to get people in pictures, but at much further distances. Also please note that the trails are wooden walkways with no siderails, often directly over the water. It doesn’t leave much space for multiple people to walk on, (or a lot of time to stop for pictures) once more tourists arrive. Pay attention to where you walk, because one false move and you’ll fall in – which is unfortunate because there is no swimming in the lakes!

We arrived to the area the night before, which was the best decision that we could have made. It allowed for us to get an early start to our day when walking the trails. But just as a tip, come with a food plan. There is only one market in the area, and it closes fairly early (I believe it was 8pm the night we were there). We made sure to buy food for breakfast and supplies to make sandwiches for our walk through the park for the following day. There is also only one restaurant in the area. We ate dinner there the evening that we arrived.  Mind you, we didn’t know any of this before going, and almost didn’t catch the market during its hours of operation. That would have been an epic fail on our end!

Wanderlust Travel Tips

• Check out where the bathrooms are along the trails before starting, there aren’t many
• If traveling with children, I would avoid strollers, as there isn’t much space along the path in some areas
• We were able to walk and see both the upper and lower lakes in just under six hours at a steady pace
• The best way to get to the park – rent a car or take the bus. There’s a bus stop really close by the villas (a lot of the villas rent out rooms to vacationers who want to see the park – we stayed in one of these). Personally, we took the bus, but if I had to do it again, I would definitely rent a car – especially since they drive on the same side of the road as we do in the USA!

We visited in July and it was wonderful, but I’ve seen pictures from the fall and winter too, and they look equally as gorgeous!