Plitvice Lakes National Park

“And into the forest I go, to lose my mind & find my soul.”

Getting there is already an adventure and, yes, the pictures I found online of this park did look pretty. So, yes, I was expecting for this park to be beautiful.

But I did not expect for this place to be so surreal!!

We planned a three day stay in Zagreb – one day to explore the city, one day dedicated to this park and one spare day to explore any other cities nearby. The park is a two hour drive from Zagreb and there are buses at scheduled intervals. There is one every second hour or so, so try not to miss the bus!

Once there, and after ticketing, I suggest you stock up on some basic trekking essentials: water, juice, fruits and snacks. So that, once you are inside and you reach the end of the trail, you can have a nice little picnic at the wooden tables set up at the top. You deserve it!

When we arrived the weather was a bit cloudy and it rained a bit. But have a look at how serene this place looks even with a bad weather!

Eventually, during the day the weather cleared up, it became nice and sunny and the view changed drastically! Everything looked brighter and you could suddenly see the different shades of blue in the lakes, too!

It should take 3-4 hours for you to finish the trek one side. After that you have an option to take the inter-park bus to take you to the start point of the trek where the ticketing window was and the point from where you can catch your bus back to Zagreb OR you can decide to trek back to that point.

I would personally suggest to go with plan A. Laziness aside, that would give you more time to enjoy the trek without having to worry about coming back to the starting point before the park shuts (5 pm).

What’s more, it can get pretty crowded post 12pm-1pm, so try to get an early start if you can. And please, PLEASE do not carry anything you won’t need, trekking with a heavy backpack is the worst nightmare!

We didn’t know there are accommodation options available inside the park. Since planning a trip to Plitvice Lakes will take at least a day off your itinerary, maybe you could consider staying the night in there and getting a chance to trek and explore the park at leisure.

Even if you do decide to go there just for a day trek and then spend additional time in interesting things at Zagreb, it is absolutely worth the travel.

If you need help with the stay in Zagreb or what do in Zagreb, here is the link to my blog about our stay + travel in Zagreb – www.bombbaekar.com/travel/zagreb