On our 2nd day we were heading to Plitvice Lakes National Park – Croatia’s most famous national park, which is around 150 km southwest from Zagreb.
We stayed nearby in Rakovica at a place called House Tina. The place was OK with a nice balcony, but quite small for 3 adults. Especially in the bed by the roof slope the feed wouldn’t fit. No glasses in the room as well as no night curtain, so you are bound to wake up at 5 am. Otherwise it was clean and pleasant (not very quiet at night though).

The food was half price in nearby restaurant Plitvički Dvori than in the BBQ at the apartment, which was taking only cash (even though they had card reader in the reception!). The grilled squid in the restaurant was € 13 and in House Tina € 25. The total bill for 3 people was € 57.

Plitvice Lakes National park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to unique variety of flora and fauna present in the park. It is Croatia’s largest national park, is located in the lower elevations of the Dinarides and consists of 16 lakes that are grouped into two: the upper Lakes and the lower lakes, connected by a series of cascading waterfalls and watercourses. The lake system is the result of millennia of ongoing geological and biochemical processes creating tufa barriers, which interact with living organisms, such as mosses, algae and aquatic bacteria. The park is covered with preserved forests and is home to many noteworthy species, such as Brown Bear, Grey Wolf and Lynx, as well as rare species of flora such as butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), which is a rare carnivorous plant as well as small bladderwort (Utricularia minor), also rare carnivorous plant which grows in the water.
You can book your tickets for the Plitvice Lakes National park online in their official website https://np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/en/. We’ve booked just in the evening and it was € 23.50. Just make sure you select the right entrance, as there are two entrances: number 1 and number 2. In summer the price is almost € 40. Make sure to check the weather beforehand, as it is not very nice when it is raining as the paths can get flooded too. Also, make sure you have sunscreen as it can get pretty sunny. Last, but not the least, decide which path you wish to do as there are different routes of different length. We did Programme C, which was around 8 km. Pity drones were not allowed at the park, so couldn’t take pictures from a flight.

We went not too early – at the entrance at 9am, but since we’ve mixed the numbers, we’ve entered only at 9:30am. It was a bit busy, but not too much and we’ve entered very quickly (no queue at all).


When the Sun came out it became much more pretier!









I’ve tried to experiment with a long exposure on my OnePlus 10T and I was pleasantly surprised! My friend’s Samsung Galaxy S23 was not able to do that (it was getting over exposed as it doesn’t adjust aperture automatically).











After some walk we reached first bar/cafe, where we stopped for coffee and beers. The total was only € 15. Beer € 3.45 per bottle. After short rest, we took a boat. We had to queue for a good 25-40 min to get in though. After we transferred with the boat, we could see so much more green colours!

















So after we reached the bus-train stop, we decided not to walk all the way back, but take that bus. A short queue (15 min or so) and we were back to the start of our route.




We’ve spent almost 5 hours in the park and it was just right amount of time. Also decided to buy some magnets as souvenir, but they were quite overpriced in the shops there (nearly € 5 the nicer ones). However, even if you can find elsewhere cheaper, these ones had much more detail and looked better quality.
It was time to head to our next destination – Zadar.