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I am not a National Park ‘groupie’, but the Plitvice Lakes National Park blew me away. (Yes, I think Yosemite is spectacular and Yellowstone is a must visit for nearly everyone, but in general exploring Tokyo, or Paris, or the coastal villages of Uruguay, are just more me.)

In June, my wife and I went to Croatia to spend 10 days exploring the coast and islands in the mid section of the country. I had the trip basically outlined when a friend of my wife told her not to miss the Plitvice lakes. She put an explanation on that point (pun intended), by saying the only mistake she made was not spending the night in the area so she could devote a whole day in the park.

Since the Plitvice Lakes National Park is only a 2 ½ hour drive from Split, we decided to rent a car a=when we landed at the Split airport and drive directly to the park.

The drive starts along the Dalmatian Coast and is part fun and part boring. The most interesting part is where the road heads inland past a large lake, Karinsko More (or Sea) and what word would be called a fjord if it was in Norway. As you pass the road climbs, and climbs, and climbs up the mountains and affords an expansive view of the area.

We found a delightful place to stay in the park, Etno Gardens, that is on the back side of the lake area. It had the advantage of having a walkable private entrance to the park, entrance 3. At this point you are about 5 miles from the border with Serbia. (The war of Croatian independence from Serbia was only 30 years ago, so one should tread respectfully on this topic.)

We had a nice traditional Croatian dinner in the restaurant there and walked to the park.

NOTE: Buy your tickets online well in advance. They are for a specific date and entrance time. I bought ours a couple months in advance and even then the 7 am and 8 am times were sold out – on a Tuesday in early June.

Once down to lake level you are immediately immersed into a ‘magical’ world, of lakes, waterfalls, and wooden trails. If you can call a pond a lake for a minute, then there seems to be more than a thousand lakes. And if you are ok with waterfalls of 300 feet high and waterfalls 3 feet high, there are definitely more than 1,000 waterfalls.

The sound of rushing, spilling water is everywhere. And the wooden paths take you directly into, around and through everything.

It took us 6 hours to loop around the lake and the entrance ticket includes a tram ride to the highest part, as well as a 15 minute boat ride at one point to continue the path and traverse the largest of the lakes. You can do as much or as little as you want, but all of it is fun and magical.

They also do a fantastic job of limiting the number of people. Even though the tickets were sold out, much of the time, my wife and I found ourselves alone on the paths. Below is a phot that almost captures that explorer feeling.

If you have the time to include this park, I am quite sure you will not be disappointed.