Plitvice Lakes. Tips on where to go, parking and entrance.

03. 12. 2023

Bite-sized adventures in my Shorts channel.

Are you planning to visit Plitvice Lakes? Do you want to know when to arrive, where to park and what route to take? I've put together some tips to help you find your way around the national park.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the most famous parks in Europe. In 1979, it was included in the UNESCO list and was filmed here, for example, Vinnetou.

Arrival and parking

If you are planning to visit Plitvice Lakes, I recommend arriving between 7:00 and 8:00. When I arrived at 7:45, the parking lot at the second entrance (probably more used) was already almost full.

The park’s opening hours are from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.

If you’re sure you’re going to the park, I recommend buying your ticket early online. It can be purchased with parking. This will avoid waiting and possible not being allowed into the area.

There are two entrances to the park with parking:

I personally parked at the second entrance. The parking at this entrance is located in the woods. If you don’t have an online ticket, you pay the parking fee when you exit.

Trails and circuits

At the park gate, you will be advised of the circuits you can take (see map of the area).

I recommend following the red trail ST1 along the lake to the right from the ford towards ST2 up the hill. This will take you to the waterfalls and rocks, and you will return along the lakes below ST2 towards refreshment P3. The reason to start this way is that right at the beginning many people decided to shorten the route by boat. Since there were only two boats available at the ford, they couldn’t keep up with ferrying people, thus lengthening both the queue and the waiting time for the ferry.

At point P3 there are several refreshment stands offering full restaurant-like food and seating. There are also toilets. However, there is not much space to sit in the shade.

If you don’t feel like walking around the lake on the red trail, you can get in a boat at P3 and be ferried to point P2, from where you can continue on the red trail. Personally, I have not used this transport but a transfer should be included. The waiting time here is likely to be longer as, again, only two boats were used to arrange transport between the sites.

If you choose the shuttle, you will miss out on probably the most peaceful part of Plitvice Lakes. Because many people are using the boat transfer, there are fewer tourists and this gives you an almost uninterrupted view of the clear lake.

After refreshments from P3, continue along the red trail along the lake. Once you reach the level of the ford P2 along this trail, you can decide whether to continue right to Lake Ciginovac or take a shorter loop around Lake Gradinsko. You can cross between the red trails.

The ford P2 from which you will be taken back to P1 is included. Expect a 30 minute to 1 hour wait here. The transfer across the ford was really slow. There is nowhere to sit and you gradually move along a wooden path.

The circuit on the red road will take you about 5-6 hours from 8:00.