Do you remember that scene in Lord of the Rings, where Frodo wakes up and is suddenly in this magical land of Elves called Rivendale? That’s exactly what Plitvice Lakes reminded me of.
When I researched and put together an itinerary for the Croatia travel plans, I knew that I HAD to incorporate Plitvice Lake National Park somehow (thank you Pinterest)! Since my sister and I wanted to keep our travel plans to the coast, we decided that Zadar would be the best place to take a day trip from and it was only an hour and a half drive. Our first concern was how would we go about getting there?
What is Plitvice National Park? It’s a park that is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and consists of sixteen lakes that are separated between an upper and lower region, with waterfalls in between the two. The waters at the lakes vary between blue and green depending on the cloud cover and time of day.
Getting There
Option 1: Rent a car. After the Scotland trip in 2015, in which my sister had to drive in a foreign country on the opposite side of the road and car, this seemed like an added stress factor that neither of us wanted to deal with. Sure, Croatian roads and cars are on the same side as America, however, we had foreign drivers and a foreign language to contend with.
Option 2: Take a tour group. There are plenty of day tours offered from Zadar that looked amazing. A simple search on Viator shows various trips, prices, and reviews available. However, the downside to this is that we wouldn’t arrive to the park until around 10:00 am, three hours after the park opens and apparently when ALL the tour buses get there.
Option 3: Take a public bus. This was definitely the least expensive method to get there, and for a while was going to be our plan. The public buses are actually pretty decent in Croatia, given our experience of an eight-hour bus ride from Dubrovnik to Zadar. However, the first bus to depart Zadar was at 8:00 am, which would again mean that we would arrive well after the park opens with all the tourists.
Option 4: If our main goal was to get there bright and early, another idea was to arrive there the night before and find a nearby hotel to stay at. However, that would mean departing Zadar the night we arrive and also wasting money on a pre-paid AirBnb. Pass!
Option 5: Hire a driver. I researched various transportation companies and checked Trip Advisor for reviews. I settled on a small company called Octopus Transfers. It was probably one of the priciest options, however, the pros outweighed the cons in our opinion. It eased our travel anxiety of car rentals and tours, and we would be able to do our own path on our own timeline. We ended up choosing to hire a driver on the way there and taking the public bus on the way back. I simply sent an email to the company via their website for a quote, submitted a ten euro deposit, and provided the address of our AirBnb.
Arriving at Plitvice National Park
Our driver picked us up bright and early at 6:00 am and I was impressed already with the ease of communications with this company. They responded right away when I emailed them to confirm and let me know the name of the driver. The drive to the park was super easy, although it got really windy once we traveled between the mountains. I could tell even the driver was nervous! A short nap later, we arrived at the park.
Unlike the hot weather we experienced in Dubrovnik, the temperature was about twenty degrees lower, especially early in the morning. I recommend dressing in layers since it is so chilly in the morning but can obviously get warm the more you hike. Me? I wore shorts. Oops!
Seeing as how no cafe was open in Zadar before we left, we hadn’t had breakfast. Luckily, there is a restaurant in the front of the park as well as bathroom facilities. Since we had time to kill (we arrived a half hour before the park opened, thanks to our speedy driver), we had a pastry and coffee at the restaurant.
Exploring
We were some of the first people to arrive to the park thanks to our strategic planning. After we paid the 110 Kuna to enter, my first impression was a sense of peace and calm. It was also so quiet! No sounds of city traffic, just me, a few people, and the breeze. The air felt so crisp and clean.
There was a map of various routes you could take of the park, depending on how much time you wanted to spend and the difficulty level. Of course, being the planner that I am, I already knew which route I wanted to choose since I had researched the Plitvice Lake website. There are two entrances to the park; since we arrived at entrance 1, we had to choose a route from there. We chose Route C because the time-table worked out the best for us.
One of the first main sites after navigating our way down the hill was called the Veliki Slap. It’s hard to miss, since there are multiple signs.
After that, it was a matter of simply following the signs for Route C. We followed along many wood plank bridges, sometimes a bit narrow and went up and down clear and easy paths along the hills. At one point, we used a boat to cross one of the lakes and towards the end, a tram took us from one point to the next. All of which are included in the price of the ticket. I definitely recommend packing a backpack with snacks, water bottles, and bug spray. However, don’t pack too much water; the bathrooms are only located at the entrance, the boat and tram stops, and the exit.
The pictures below demonstrate how truly magnificent this national park is.
The best part about the hike was that for 90% of our journey, it was just me and my sister. There was an instance in which a group of Japanese tourists decided to clog up the narrow bridges by taking group selfies, but once we were past them, it was extremely peaceful. Upon ending our tour, we saw masses of people crowding the pathways and I couldn’t imagine enjoying myself if I had to deal with that. The extra money we spent on hiring the driver was definitely worth it.
Return to Zadar
We had about an hour to kill after we finished our route before our bus arrived. Side note: we had pre-booked the bus tickets online prior to our trip and it was very easy to do so via the Get By Bus site. It was a little difficult to figure out which bus was ours, since there were many buses coming and going. Since the buses are run by independent companies, it’s important to look at the bus company name on your ticket. Also, it doesn’t hurt to ask! As soon as everyone boarded the bus, we were off and mostly everyone on the bus was quiet from a much-needed nap.
We returned to Zadar fully rested and ready for dinner. The best part about arriving earlier in the day was getting to come back early to have a nice dinner at Zadar and watch the sunset at the Sea Organ and the Salute to the Sun. In all, it was one of the best days in Croatia so far and definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
Thanks for the great tips Janae! I think hiring a driver was the best way to go for sure. Many times the benefits completely outweigh the costs! We’re still up in the air in Croatia for 2018 — because we need to go in January!