National Park
Plitvice Lakes National Park
Plitvice Lakes · Lika & Plitvice
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- National Park
- COUNTRY
- Croatia
- REGION
- Plitvice Lakes · Lika & Plitvice
- DURATION
- 1 day
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
Plitvice Lakes National Park (Nacionalni park Plitvička jezera) is the protected area that holds the whole lake system — roughly 300 square kilometres of forested karst in the Lika region, through which sixteen named lakes are stepped down a valley and joined by a succession of waterfalls. The park was made a national park in 1949 and inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, among the first natural sites to be listed. What makes it unusual is that the waterfalls are not carved by erosion but built by it: the lakes are separated by travertine (tufa) barriers, deposited by the mineral-laden water as it tumbles from one lake to the next, so the landscape is literally growing — new barriers and falls form while old ones shift. The park is crossed by wooden boardwalks that run directly over the water, and by an electric-boat service on the largest lake and a panoramic train linking the trailheads.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Plitvice was made a national park in 1949 in socialist Yugoslavia, and in 1979 it became one of the first natural properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. But the lakes themselves are far older than the park: the travertine barriers that separate them have been depositing for thousands of years, building up layer by layer as calcium carbonate precipitates out of the water at each waterfall. The result is a landscape in slow motion — barriers grow, waterfalls shift, new pools form and old ones fill, so the park’s appearance changes measurably over a human lifetime. The area was a front line during the 1990s war and was for a time closed and mined; it has since been cleared and restored, and today receives well over a million visitors a year.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
The sixteen lakes — twelve Upper Lakes and four Lower Lakes, each a different shade of blue and green, stepped down the valley in a chain of waterfalls.
The wooden boardwalks — trails built directly over the water and between the falls, the signature way to experience the park.
The travertine barriers — the living rock that builds the waterfalls, visible at every cascade as a rim of mineral deposit.
The electric boats on Kozjak and the panoramic train between trailheads — both included in the park ticket.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
Plitvice matters because it is a rare living landscape — one where the waterfalls are still being built by the water that flows over them, so the park is changing in real time rather than slowly eroding away. For a visitor it is also the great natural counterpart to the Una and Kravice waterfalls across the border in Bosnia & Herzegovina, and the easiest way to see a large, developed waterfall park from a Bihać or Una base.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
THROUGH THE LENS
From the road
MAP & LOCATION
Plitvice Lakes National Park
Plitvice Lakes National Park, Plitvice Lakes, Lika & Plitvice, Croatia
44.8654, 15.5820
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Plitvice Lakes
THINGS TO DO
Things to do nearby
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Lička Kuća — traditional Lika cuisine at the park entrance
Park restaurants and cafés at Entrance 1 and Entrance 2
Picnic spots along the upper trails
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Park hotels inside the reserve for early starts
Guesthouses in Rastoke, the watermill village nearby
Family hotels and apartments in the villages around the park
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
INTERESTS
Explore by what you love
ROUTES
Routes through here
Plitvice Program A — Lower Lakes Loop
The shortest Plitvice program — a loop of the Lower Lakes canyon and the Great Waterfall from Entrance 1.
3.5 km · 2 h · easy
VIEW ROUTEPlitvice Program B — Lower Lakes & Kozjak
The Lower Lakes canyon plus the electric-boat crossing of Kozjak, with the panoramic train back — a half-day from Entrance 1.
3.5 km · 3 h · easy
VIEW ROUTEPlitvice Program C — The Full Circuit
The classic full-day Plitvice circuit — all sixteen lakes, the Upper and Lower Lakes, the Kozjak boat and the train return.
8 km · 5 h · moderate
VIEW ROUTEPlitvice Program H — Upper Lakes
A walk through the twelve forested Upper Lakes — the longer, quieter, more expansive half of Plitvice, from Entrance 2.
8 km · 4 h · moderate
VIEW ROUTEPART OF
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