When to go to Plitvice Lakes?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: May to June and September to October
At a glance
Why go to Plitvice Lakes?
Plitvice is not just a string of waterfalls: it is a living system. The mosses and algae that grow in the limestone-rich water fix the carbonate and build travertine, a porous rock that grows by about a centimetre a year. These natural dams hold back the water and create sixteen terraced lakes spread over eight kilometres and a drop of a hundred and thirty-five metres. The landscape is therefore constantly changing, on a scale of decades, and some of today's waterfalls did not exist a century ago.
The park was created in 1949 and made a UNESCO World Heritage Site as early as 1979, among the very first natural sites on the list. It covers 297 square kilometres, of which the lakes make up only a fraction: the rest is beech and fir forest home to brown bears, wolves and lynx, with a strict nature reserve at Čorkova uvala, one of the last primeval forests in Europe. Visitors crowd into less than ten per cent of the area.
The visit follows eighteen kilometres of wooden boardwalks laid just above the water, sometimes a few centimetres from the surface and with no handrails. That is what gives the place its particular feel: you walk through the lakes rather than around them. The trade-off is a one-way system, entry quotas since 2019 and peak hours when you shuffle along in single file. Arriving at opening time changes everything.
Map of Plitvice Lakes: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- Veliki Slap
- Lower Lakes
- Lake Kozjak
- Upper Lakes
- Prošćansko jezero
- Rastoke
How much does a trip to Plitvice Lakes cost?
The main expense is the entry ticket, whose price varies greatly by month: around €10 in winter and up to €40 per adult in July and August, internal transport included. Accommodation around the park remains reasonable, and local food is cheap away from the outlets inside the park.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €50-80/day | Campsite or private room, picnic, long-distance bus, one park ticket |
| Comfort | €100-160/day | Guesthouse or park hotel, hire car, two-day ticket, dinners in Lika inns |
| Premium | €230+/day | Newer hotel with pool, private naturalist guide, canoeing on the Mrežnica, the region's top restaurants |
Croatia has used the euro since 1 January 2023, and the kuna is no longer legal tender. Park tickets are bought online by card, which is strongly recommended in summer as time slots fill up. On the spot, carry cash for roadside stalls, some guesthouses and small cheese producers. ATMs are found at the park entrances and in Korenica.
Is Plitvice Lakes safe?
The park is closely managed and serious incidents are rare, but the boardwalks are the real thing to watch: laid just above the water, sometimes only a single plank wide, with no handrails along long stretches, and slippery as soon as it rains or freezes. Falls into the lakes happen every year, and swimming is strictly forbidden everywhere, even just to cool off. Stay on the boardwalks, don't leave the marked paths and avoid stopping in the middle of the flow when it is busy. The forest is home to brown bears, wolves and lynx: encounters on the routes are exceptional, but they justify the ban on walking off-trail and wild camping. Finally, storms often break in late afternoon in summer, and the park may close sections without notice in case of flooding or ice.
What to see and do in Plitvice Lakes
- Veliki Slap
- Lower Lakes and canyon
- Šupljara Cave
- Crossing Lake Kozjak
- Upper Lakes and Galovački Buk
- Vidikovac viewpoint
- Prošćansko jezero
- Rastoke village
Veliki Slap and the Lower Lakes
The northern end of the park, and the most photographed. Veliki Slap drops 78 metres into the Korana canyon, its flow ranging from a torrent in April to a trickle in August. Upstream, four lakes follow one another in a gorge with 40-metre walls: Novakovića Brod, Kaluđerovac, Gavanovac and Milanovac, linked by continuous cascades. The boardwalks run right at water level, often just a single plank wide. The whole section takes two to three hours from Entrance 1.
Lake Kozjak
The largest body of water in the park, 82 hectares and 46 metres deep, separating the Lower Lakes from the Upper Lakes. An electric boat crosses it in about twenty minutes between the jetties, included in the ticket but often packed in the middle of the day. A wooded island floats in the middle. The banks, covered in beech and fir, drop straight into the water, and a footpath lets you walk along the lake if the wait at the jetty is too long.
The Upper Lakes
Twelve lakes spread over a drop of around a hundred metres, in a valley wider and greener than the northern canyon. The travertine dams here are massive, covered in living mosses that keep producing the rock. Galovački Buk fans its falls out over several levels, and Lake Galovac can be crossed on zigzagging boardwalks. Visitor numbers are noticeably lower, especially in late afternoon. Allow four hours for the full circuit.
Šupljara Cave and viewpoints
A through-cave links the lower boardwalks to the ridge path thirty metres above, via a narrow, damp stone staircase. It served as a set for several Winnetou films in the 1960s, which made the park famous well before mass tourism. On the way out, the Vidikovac platform opens onto the string of turquoise pools and the canyon all the way to Veliki Slap. This is the viewpoint behind almost every photograph of the site.
Prošćansko jezero and Čorkova uvala
In the south, the first lake in the system stretches for two kilometres at 636 metres above sea level, fed by the Bijela Rijeka and the Crna Rijeka. There is no spectacular waterfall here, but a peaceful forest and banks without boardwalks, where visitor numbers fall almost to zero. Further on, the strict nature reserve of Čorkova uvala protects one of the last primeval beech and fir forests in Europe, closed to the public. Brown bears, wolves and lynx live in this part of the park.
Rastoke and the Korana valley
Some thirty kilometres to the north, the hamlet of Rastoke is built on the waterfalls where the Slunjčica joins the Korana. Its wooden and stone houses sit directly on the travertine dams, with waterwheels beneath the floorboards. Around twenty mills once turned here, and a few still work. The water runs under the houses and re-emerges in falls of two to six metres between the gardens. It is the natural stop on the way up to Zagreb or back down.
How many days, and which itinerary?
One full day is enough for a long circuit, Lower and Upper Lakes included, as long as you go in at opening time. Two days let you split the two sections and walk away from the boardwalks. Three days open up the forest trails, Rastoke and the Mrežnica river, without ever rushing.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Plitvice Lakes guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of Croatia
One well-planned day
Entrance 1 at opening time, around 7am in summer. Down into the canyon, Veliki Slap, the Lower Lakes on the low boardwalks, back up via Šupljara Cave and the Vidikovac viewpoint. Shuttle or walk to the jetty, cross Lake Kozjak, then the Upper Lakes as far as Galovački Buk. Return on the panoramic bus from stop ST3. Allow six to seven hours of actual walking, about 12 kilometres, with no difficult climbs.
Two days to take your time
Day one for the Lower Lakes and the canyon from Entrance 1, with Veliki Slap early in the morning followed by the viewpoint. Day two from Entrance 2, along the Upper Lakes as far as Prošćansko, taking the forest trails rather than the boardwalks where they exist. The two-day ticket costs less than two separate entries and lets you go in late in the afternoon on the first evening, once the coaches have left.
Plitvice and inland Croatia (4 days)
Two days in the park, then Rastoke and its mills on the Korana, thirty kilometres to the north. Then take your pick: canoeing down the Mrežnica canyon, a visit to Paklenica National Park for its gorges and climbing, or the road to Zadar and the coast, two hours away. A car is needed to link these stages, as bus connections are slow and infrequent away from the main routes.
Getting there and getting around
There is no airport nearby: Zagreb is two hours' drive to the north, Zadar an hour and a half to the south-west, Split two and a half hours. A hire car remains the most flexible option, at €40-70 a day, with paid parking at each park entrance.
Long-distance buses on the Zagreb-Zadar and Zagreb-Split routes stop at Entrances 1 and 2 several times a day, for €10-15 one way from Zagreb. They drop you at the side of the main road, with no shelter or ticket office, and you often have to pay the driver in cash for luggage in the hold.
Inside the park, everything is done on foot, supplemented by electric boats on Lake Kozjak and panoramic buses between stops ST1, ST2 and ST3. These are included in the ticket, but waits easily reach thirty to forty minutes in the middle of the day.
The direction of travel on the boardwalks is fixed, and routes are labelled A to K according to length and the entrance you choose. Pick your route before you arrive, as changing your mind halfway is often impossible: several sections can only be walked in one direction.
Where to stay in Plitvice Lakes?
Rooms in private homes and guesthouses in the villages of Rastovača, Jezerce and Plitvička Jezera, less than three kilometres from the entrances, cost €45-80 a night. This is the most common option, often with a home-made breakfast and free parking that saves you using the park's car parks.
Two campsites run by the park, including Korana, eight kilometres from Entrance 1, open from April to October from around twenty euros a pitch. They are large, shady and well equipped, but far from the shops: stock up on supplies beforehand.
Three hotels belong to the national park and lie a few minutes' walk from Entrance 2, at €80-140 a night. Their main appeal is proximity, which lets you go in at opening time ahead of the coaches, rather than comfort, which remains basic and dated.
Around the park, several newer and better-kept establishments are scattered between Grabovac and Rakovica, ten to twenty minutes away by car, at €110-180 a night with a pool. Rates halve in April and October, seasons that remain excellent for walking.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Plitvice Lakes?
The cooking of Lika, the region the park lies in, is hearty mountain fare: spit-roasted lamb, potato and bacon stew, fermented cabbage and turnips. Allow €15-25 a dish in the inns along the main road, often served in generous portions.
Trout from the surrounding rivers, grilled or baked, appears on almost every menu, at €15-22. Several restaurants in Rastoke raise their fish in pools fed by the Slunjčica, the shortest possible route from water to plate.
Lika cheese, a pressed cow's milk cheese aged in cellars, and smoked farm prosciutto are sold directly by the roadside, on stalls that also offer forest honey and, in summer, bilberries. Prices stay low, around €10-15 a kilo for cheese.
Inside the park, the choice is limited to a few buffets and snack bars at the main junctions, expensive and uninspiring. Bring water and lunch: the routes last four to six hours and you walk almost the whole way with no way out.
Entry requirements
Schengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Plitvice Lakes
How much does it cost to enter the Plitvice Lakes?
The adult price varies by season: around €10 from November to March, about €23 in April, May and October, and up to €40 in July and August. The ticket includes the boats on Lake Kozjak and the panoramic buses. Time slots have been limited since 2019, and booking online is strongly advised in summer.
Do you need one or two days to visit the park?
One full day is enough for a long circuit covering the Lower and Upper Lakes, six to seven hours of walking and around a dozen kilometres, as long as you go in at opening time. Two days let you split the two sections, walk the forest trails and come back in late afternoon once the coaches have left.
Can you swim in the lakes?
No, swimming is banned throughout the park, without exception. The travertine dams are living, fragile formations that bathers would destroy, and the chemical balance of the water governs their growth. To swim, head to the Korana downstream of the park or the Mrežnica river, an hour's drive to the north.
Which entrance should you choose, 1 or 2?
Entrance 1, in the north, leads straight to the Lower Lakes and Veliki Slap: it is the most spectacular from the start, and so the busiest. Entrance 2, in the south, gives access to the Upper Lakes and the Kozjak jetty, with a more gradual start and fewer people in the morning. Both let you do the full circuit, in one direction or the other.
When is the best time to visit?
May and June bring peak flow after the snowmelt and a forest in full splendour. September and October offer autumn colours and fewer visitors. July and August combine crowds, heat and reduced flow. In winter the park stays open with restricted routes, partly frozen waterfalls and a ticket three to four times cheaper.
Similar destinations
City🇫🇷 Annecy
Region🇸🇮 Lake Bled
Region🇫🇷 The Verdon Gorge
Region🇫🇷 The French Basque Country
Region🇫🇷 The French Alps
City🇮🇪 Donegal
City🇮🇪 The Ring of Kerry
City🇮🇪 Galway and Connemara
Region🇮🇹 The Dolomites
Country