Plitvice Lakes National Park makes it a lovely day trip from Ljubljana.
We visited last year in June on a sunny Saturday for the first time! It took us approximately 3 and a half hours to reach Plitvice from Ljubljana. At first we were a bit sceptical if one day will be enough to see and really enjoy the beautiful lakes and waterfalls. In the end it turned out that we did all-together around 12 kilometres on foot and one day is completely enough to cover everything from point 1 to point 3. We started our day at entrance no. 1 and first visited the Big waterfall which was the busiest of all. After taking some photos and avoiding the crowds we continued our way along the path and shortly reached Lake Kozjak (marked as P3 on a map). There is possible to relax a bit, have something to drink and to eat and from there you can take a scenic boat ride to the other side of the lake (where entrance no. 2 is located). Since the queue for the boat was really long (think 30-60 mins of waiting), we decided to walk instead. After all we were there to enjoy the nature so why not hike if you have a chance? 😊 The walk to the other side of the lake turned quite nice and not too long. It took us around 20 minutes to reach point P2, where we continued exploring the upper lakes. Here we were almost alone and really had a chance to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We finished our day at bus station no. 3 where we took the shuttle bus back to station no. 1 which was our starting point.
How to beat the queues?
Since it is one of the most popular destinations in Croatia one cannot expect it to be without the crowds. However, instead of taking the most popular paths we took some less travelled and found ourselves enjoying the lakes, waterfalls and magnificent views almost without the crowds. Try not to take any boats from one point to another (as they were really busy) and try to take the opposite direction that everybody is taking and this way you may find yourself alone. If possible start at point no. 3 and end at point no. 1.
Admission fee: Price depends on the season and varies from 60 – 250 HRK (approximately 8 – 33 EUR) for one day ticket.
Duration: 2 – 8 hours.
Trail length: from 3,5 – 18,3 kilometres.
Plitvice Lakes National Park are part of the Unesco World Heritage and are definitely a must visit! We were completely fascinated by the natural beauty of cascading lakes, magnificent waterfalls, and the greenery surrounding the area. The National park is also worth visiting in wintertime when lakes are covered in snow. I guess this will stay on our bucket list until next time!
