Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, the Most Beautiful Collection of Natural Lakes

Dear Reader, have you ever heard of Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia? If so, you have been in on one of the most beautiful secrets of nature. We faintly knew of its existence only because Akiko remembered a picture of Plitvice burned into her mind after a random, mindless, perusal session of Pinterest (Ha! Pinterest is not a complete waste of time after all...case closed).

TRANSPORTATION AND LODGING
When we arrived in Croatia, we didn't have any particular pre-planned destinations, and Akiko happened to remember something about these lakes, so we decided to head there from Zagreb. After some research, we discovered that it is in the middle of Croatia, and is a difficult place to get to by public transportation. In fact, there are none, except for a bus to/from Zagreb that may or may not stop once a day, and not anywhere near the entrance to the National Park. It seemed too unreliable. We had no intention of renting a car at anytime during our travels, but in spite of the extra cost, it seemed to be the best option. By having a car, it also opened up more options for cheaper lodging farther away from the National Park, since we could just drive and park there.

So, that is exactly what we did on Wednesday. We rented a itty-bitty 4-cylinder car from Dollar/Thrifty in Zagreb for a whopping $50/day. That's declining their insurance and everything. Rarely are there automatic transmission cars in Europe, so we got to brush-up on our rusty stick-shift driving skills, which came back "like riding a bicycle". Outside of the city, we were pleasantly surprised at how tourist-friendly the driving was. The toll roads were wide, not congested, well-lit, and with good signage. The toll booth attendants spoke English, stop signs said "STOP", pictures were clear, etc. The country roads were simple 2-lane roads with speedy Croatian drivers passing each other, but it was very peaceful.  The only surprise was the fuel cost at ~$7/gallon!  

In the Balkans, there are countless places to stay called Sobe. Basically, rooms in a family home. The Sobes are rated depending on the amenities (breakfast, air-conditioning, refrigerator, kitchen, etc.). Most of them do not advertise on any English speaking websites so our options for advance booking is limited, but we have reserved several Sobes in Croatia through www.booking.com and www.hostelworld.com. For this leg of our trip, we stayed in a basic Sobe called M&N Zafran in the town of Grabovac. The family was very nice. We had some lemon beers with the dad outside and discussed the state of tourism in Croatia (he's on the Croatian tourist board!), and their daughter checked us in because mom had to go to work for her job at the National Park when we arrived. By staying 8km away from the National Park (thanks to having our own wheels), we were able to cut our lodging cost by half to $40/night.

THE LAKES

When we claim that there are no words to describe this magnificent natural wonder, we are not exaggerating. To say that Plitvice is a series of 16 naturally formed lakes cascading into each other by countless waterfalls is an understatement.

These lakes are literally alive - constantly changing shape by the natural dams (travertine) created by moss, algae, and bacteria interacting with the water and air.  They say the travertine barriers grow at a rate of 1cm/year!  Not only do the shape of the lakes changes due to the live travertine, the color of the water changes constantly from grey, blue, green, aqua, turquoise - depending on the time of day, weather, and season.  The only constant is the clarity of the water.  These waters are deep and we were still able to see clear to the bottom.  

Some consider this one big lake connected by waterfalls. There were so many streams and waterfalls, we quickly lost count, but no 2 were alike.

We've been to some of the most awe-inspiring National Parks in the United States, and we've never seen anything so unique as this where there is an over abundance of sights within a 2 square kilometer area; where there's something new to see every step of the way; and we could get very close to each of the lakes and waterfalls.

OUR HIKING ROUTE
The park has 2 entrances. Parking 1 at the northern part of the lakes (which is the lower lakes) and Parking 2 in the middle of the park where the 3 hotels are situated. There are many different hiking routes from both entrances for all abilities. We parked at Entrance 1 and hiked from the lowest lakes all the way to the uppermost lakes and around. On our way towards the upper lakes, we literally meandered through the lakes on wooden planks. We did take the ferry across the biggest lake, Jezero Kozjak, and saved about 45-minutes off the hike. Once we got to the upper-most lake the majority of the walk back towards the lower lakes were full of lush forest, which reminded us of the Pacific Northwest, then along the cliffs looking down onto the lakes. After having a close-up view of the lakes all day, it was fantastic to visualize how they are actually inter-connected by vista points from the cliff's edge.

To avoid fighting crowds on the narrow planks of wood in the middle of the lakes, we started our hike around 8am (the park opens at 7am). This was the best decision we've ever made! Although the sun hadn't quite lit up the lakes yet, we felt like we had the entire park to ourselves for a while. The sun started shining on the lakes around 10am so the lighting was perfect for photographs. We were on our last leg when we started encountering large groups of people walking around. In total, we were able to hike the entire park in 5 hours. Afterwards, we had lunch at a restaurant inside the park. Akiko was happy to see fresh grilled trout on the menu after seeing numerous trout swimming around all over the lakes!

TIPS
1. For transportation, best option is to rent a car. Parking cost 5 kuna per hour (less than $1/hr).
2. During peak season, start sightseeing early before the big crowds show up. The park opens at 7 am.
3. Admission is around $18/pp, although subject to change.
4. For a nice, counterclockwise path, start the trek around the lakes from Parking Area 1 (instead of 2) at the very lower end of the lakes where the large waterfall is.
5. Plan on 5-6 hours to hike around all the lakes. The trek is not that strenuous, although there are plenty of wooden planked stairs. It took us about 5 hours. There are shorter hiking options listed at the entrances.
6. Fortunately, most of the paths are shaded!
7. There are plenty of rest stops throughout the park serving food/drinks, selling souvenirs, and nice clean bathrooms.

View entire Croatia photo album here.