One of the best national parks in Croatia, and certainly the most visited, Plitvice National Park, was the first of its kind in the Land of a Thousand Islands. Taking from Croatia’s nickname, the spectacular park combines dense rainforest with inland waterways, which you can easily travel between on a series of footpaths and storybook bridge
The National park covers an area of 300 square kilometers and is located in the Croatian region called Lika. However, it is not too far from the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was also recently named the most popular Instagram location in Croatia.
There are a total of 16 lakes in the area, grouped to Upper Lakes (hr. Gornja Jezera) and Lower Lakes (hr. Donja Jezera). The largest lake is called Kozjak, while the largest waterfall is called The Big Waterfall (hr. Veliki Slap), with a height of 78 meters.
he park’s history
A tourist attraction since the late 19th century, Plitvice Lakes is the oldest national park – and only UNESCO World Heritage site – in Croatia, and was officially established in 1949. In the 1960s, a number of Spaghetti Westerns were filmed here, including the (quite poorly) overdubbed ‘The Treasure in Silver Lake’.
Why is the water so clear?
The mineral composition of Plitvice creates an array of stunning colours in the lakes, from teal to azure, green, grey and blue. The crystal clear water provides a brilliant view of some extremely fat fish. The water itself is high mountain runoff and, because the water calcifies everything it touches, there’s no mud or algae, which keeps the water clear. While it looks enticing, swimming is prohibited.
f possible, plan a visit during Spring or Autumn and avoid high season in July and August. In the middle of the day, the boardwalks become congested with trudging tourists, trying to pass each other in different directions on the narrow path, mostly without handrails. Every so often, the entire line stops as someone attempts the perfect selfie with a waterfall behind them; don’t get upset about this, as you’ll probably end up doing it too.
(On that, park management has recently taken to Twitter to warn tourists to be careful when taking selfies. Last year a Canadian man attempting a selfie miraculously survived a 75 metre plunge from a popular viewpoint and in 2015 a 54 year old Slovakian tourist was killed in a fall attempting to take a selfie. So take care when getting that perfect shot.)
The boardwalks are usually jammed between 10am and 3pm, so try to get there just after the park opens at 7am (in summer), or take a late afternoon stroll. You can see a lot in 90 minutes, but schedule at least three or four hours to see most of the park. Nature lovers could easily spend a couple of days.
