Plitvice: Croatia itinerary part 2
On Day 5 of our trip, we drove up to Plitvice National Park, just under 3 hours from Split along the toll road (do take the toll road). What was to have been one night morhphed into a two night stay as soon as we walked into our hotel and said “Aaaaah!”. Take my word for it and book yourself a room at Holiday Park Fenomen Plitvice, a gorgeous and under-advertised property, with a restaurant on site.
The National Park itself now allows for online pre-booking, and I highly recommend doing this. The lines at the park are long, and you don’t want to stand in them. Really.
Plitvice National Park has two entrances, aptly named Entrance 1 and Entrance 2 🙂 The recommended way to go about it is to buy tickets for Entrance 2, for the morning. The admission window is roughly 1 hr from start. So, if you buy a ticket for 8am, your ticket will say 8am to 4pm, but the actual entrance to the park needs to happen between 8a-9a.
If you stay at my recommended location, note that it is a 20 minute drive to Entrance 2 (and 1), after which you need to find parking. If you have cool GPS technology on you, mark where you park because the lots are unsigned and have kind of grown organically through the woods. At any rate, definitely start with Entrance 2 (after a short ride on the park bus) and if you are short on time, skip Entrance 1 altogether. Carry water and some light snacks.
The views & waterfalls along the trails from Entrance 2 (rather, from the St 4 bus stop) are to die for. Do not skip this walk.
I used information from this website to plan my park visit and followed route H for the most part. https://www.frankaboutcroatia.com/plitvice-lakes/
Once done with Entrance 2, if you are staying at the Fenomen, go back, have a good lunch, and then hike to “Secret Spot” for a view of the lower lakes. This is almost the best view of the lower lakes! The way to the secret spot from inside the park is widely documented (just google it). From the Fenomen, drive to the bridge. Follow the trail to the left of the bridge (don’t cross the bridge). Keep going till you see the view area. From here, you can continue into the park past the Do Not Enter (!) sign.
Once you’ve seen that, if you want, you can continue hiking into the National Park with your ticket on you, and start the Lower Lakes hike from the top down. The best views are near Secret Entrance, or close to bus stop St 1.
Use the next day to rest and soak in the green beauty of the area before driving to your next destination. In our case, we drove straight back to Dubrovnik. If using the toll road again, a stop at Skradin rest area is recommended. If you are driving the coastal road, Å ibenik is the place to stop. We skipped both because we had a late start and a long way to go.
We spent one last night south of Dubrovnik, in their Cavat district. You can book oceanside rooms here and enjoy the waters for one last day. If you find yourself with more time, bus tours to Montenegro and/or Mostar are suggested.
That’s it, my friends. Happy travels!