Plitvice National Park useful tips
- Irene
- Jun 12, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 6, 2024
Plitvice National Park is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been, it literally looks out of this world and it seems surreal that this is in Europe! At the beginning the price of the tickets, especially in the summer, can look a bit steep. However, the tickets include the boats to cross certain lakes and the buses to take you back to certain points.
Before booking your trip I have put a list of useful things that you should know before visiting the National Park.
1. How to get there?
The short answer is by car. You can either drive from Zagreb or from Split. From Zagreb it takes 2 hours driving and the road is in very good condition. From Split takes 2 hours and 45 mins driving.
We went there from Zagreb and after visiting Plitvice drove back to Pula. I would not recommend driving from Plitvice to Pula. It took us a long time (3hours and half) through a very narrow road that I would not recommend.
2. Choose the time for the visit wisely.
Ideally, the best time to go is autumn or spring so the weather is milder and it is more enjoyable to walk around. We went at the beginning of June and even though it was a bit hot, it was still very nice. Something important to note is that the tickets prices are different depending on the season. For example for a day ticket, June to September the price is 300KN (approx. 34GBP) but November to March the ticket is 80KN (9 GBP). If you buy a 2 day ticket they have special prices.
3. Which route to choose?
If you have visited the official website, you will have noticed that there are 8 marked trails that you can follow. It all depends on how many days you have. I enjoyed a lot having 2 days to explore the area instead of rushing around.
If you have just one day I would do trails C or H. Both follow basically the same route but H is slightly longer as it keeps going up around the upper lakes a bit further. C and H trails include boats and electric buses but C starts at entrance 1 and H at entrance 2. Trail C takes between 4 to 5 hours and this time includes the walk to the carpark and the waits for the boats and the buses. Trail H as said before is a bit longer and takes 4 to 6 hours to complete.
If you have 2 days you can instead do 2 shorter routes. This is what we did. The first day we did route E that takes you to the upper lakes and the second day route B that takes you to the lower lakes. Route E starts at entrance 2 and takes 2 to 3 hours depending on how fit you are. Route B starts at entrance 1 and takes 3 to 4 hours. Route E was in my opinion a bit more intense and tiring however after trail B we barely felt tired! I think that on route B you just spend more time on the longer boat and bus routes.
4. Where to park?
There are 2 options in terms of parking, you can park at the signed location near entrance 1 or entrance 2. Parking at entrance 1 is much closer to the actual entrance to the park however it is much busier than entrance 2. It was much more pleasant the day that we started at entrance 2 as we were almost on our own doing the trail and I would recommend to go to this one if you don’t mind walking slightly longer.
If you want to avoid entrance 1, you can do route F instead of B on the second day.
Something to take into account is that the 1st day you will have to enter the park from the entrance that you have booked the tickets on online for, however on the second day you can start wherever you want.
The parking cost is relatively low compared to general standards.
5. What to wear and what to take with you
As we were doing a very long road trip and we did not want to carry hiking boots with us, we wore trainers, but these were proper trainers. Do not wear converse or superga or something that does not hold your feet and ankle properly.
Of course in the summer you will need shorts, sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. This might sound obvious but we saw some people with flip flops and dresses and it didn’t seem like the smartest idea.
You need to carry plenty of water and food with you was well as there are restaurants only in certain areas near the buses or boats stops.
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