Croatia's most famous natural attraction, Plitvice Lakes, also known as Plitvice Lakes National Park, is made up of 16 lakes and waterfalls of all sizes, as the name suggests. Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest national park in Croatia, and the entire national park is divided into the Upper and Lower Lakes District, which contains 12 lakes and the Lower Lakes District has 4.
Founded in 1949, Plitvice Lakes National Park was declared a World Heritage Site in 1979 and is now a popular spot for tourists. The classic blue-green clear lake water is paired with dead wood at the bottom of the lake, so that The Sixteen Lakes have the reputation of Jiuzhaigou in Europe.
If you're planning a trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park, there's one important thing to keep an eye out for – confirm the winter closures! In the 16 Lakes, which are designed to maintain the original appearance of the environment, the park uses wooden trails and has no fences. After the snow falls in winter, the trails become very slippery, and in order to protect the safety of tourists, Plitvice Lakes National Park closes the Upper Lakes area every year after winter. If you go to Plitvice Lakes during the closing period, you can only see the 4 lakes in the Lower Lake Area!
Knowing that you should avoid winter travel, is it appropriate to arrange a few days of stay? At present, most people in Plitvice Lakes National Park are scheduled for one day or two days and one night. There are 8 official park routes in the park (A, B, C, E, F, H, K1, K2) can be referred to, of which A, B, F routes only go down the lake area, E route only goes to the lake area, C, H, K are covered in the upper and lower lake areas, but the direction of the park is different.
In terms of difficulty, it is as simple as about 2-3 hours, and the most difficult is 6-8 hours. You can choose the right route according to your itinerary time, walk in the park, as long as you follow the indicators, you will not miss the classic scenery of Plitvice Lakes National Park!
Most of the articles on the Internet recommend walking down the lake area in the morning and walking up to the lake area in the afternoon to take the best photos with the light. When I went to Plitvice Lakes myself, I took into account the hope of staggering the crowds and physical problems, so I chose the H route that was different from everyone's direction, starting from the high-altitude upper lake area and slowly walking towards the low-altitude lower lake area.
Route H comes in the clear water of the lake at the beginning! The ripples on the surface of the lake shimmer in the sunlight, and the dead wood and small fish at the bottom of the lake can be seen clearly, and I can't help but stare at the lake surface to see it, it is really super healing!
In the Sixteen Lakes Park, each lake is connected by a wooden boardwalk in the photo, and the clear lake water and waterfall are so close to you, it is completely the feeling of walking in nature! But the trails are not spacious, so it can be a bit scary when there are many people, and you need to be careful.
There are a lot of small waterfalls in the middle of the way are super beautiful, it is very recommended that you slow down, pay attention to the scenery along the way, and really take super photos from any angle.
This is one of my favorite places, there are a lot of ducks on the lake that are not afraid of people, the lake is also so clear that you can see the fish swimming in it, and then look at the reflection of the mountain walls on the blue-green lake, if this is not a fairyland, where is the fairyland! The point is that this side of the road is very wide, don't worry about the fear of being knocked down by passers-by and fall into the lake, you can play with the ducks with peace of mind!
In addition to the blue-green lakes and mountain waterfalls, Plitvice Lakes National Park also has spectacular rock wall waterfalls, the landscape that can be enjoyed is quite diverse, and it will not make people feel that the same scenery is a little paralyzed at the end, and it is in a state of amazement at any time.
Route H ends with a walk to the classic Great Waterfall of Plitvice Lakes! Although because of the backlight, it is impossible to take a very three-dimensional and rainbow photo, but it is still spectacular and beautiful to see on the spot!
Of course, the H route will not miss the most classic S-curve trail in the Lower Lake District, standing at the commanding heights to watch the people coming and going of the trail, the dark green lake water is really beautiful, can't help but be here in a daze for a long time!
This time the Plitvice Lakes National Park is only arranged for one day, although it is indeed a little nervous to catch the first and last buses, but overall there is plenty of time, enough to walk at a slow speed through the upper and lower lake areas, and you can also stop along the way to rest and take photos, personally feel that it is no problem to arrange a day's itinerary!
In addition, I first considered the physical problem, and after I personally walked through it, I proved that everything was too much for me! The drop between the upper and lower lake areas will not be very large, the slope of the trails is very gentle, when arranging the itinerary, you can not take this factor into account ~ If you are very mindful of taking photos of the light, it is also a very ok choice to start walking from the lower lake area in the morning!
The beautiful Plitvice Lakes National Park, which is as beautiful as a wonderland, began to limit the number of people entering, with a restriction of 150 visitors per session. If you want to go to Plitvice Lakes National Park, remember to book tickets in advance, so that you will not arrive at the scene and pounce, affecting the mood of tourism!