A day trip at the Plitvice lakes

While me and my best friend were in Croatia we decided to visit another famous part of the country and this was the Plitvice Lakes. The Plitvice Lakes is the largest national park of Croatia and has also been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, which makes it a national park of great importance for the biodiversity of the region. That is why we headed to the north part of Croatia to explore this beautiful national park full of amazing nature all around.

Our trip to the Plitvice lakes started early in the morning and since we were staying nearby the national park we arrived there in no time. Thus, at the entrance of the national park, we bought our students’ tickets for fifteen euros and entered from the main entrance of the park.

We walked for a bit until we reached a huge encircled area with a viewpoint right above the Lower lakes and the Great waterfall that was falling from a high cliff down to the lowest parts of the park. The Great waterfall of the Plitvice lakes is almost eighty meters high and entirely filled by the nearby river Plitvice. This part of the park is the most famous and most visited part, as this is usually the picture you will see on a postcard when you look for the Plitvice Lakes. The view over the park from this point is quite mesmerizing as all the green and blue colours are combining with each other perfectly creating a magical view.

However, at this point, we had to choose, which path to follow and our choice was B. It was starting from the Great Waterfall, continuing to the Lower lakes, crossing the great lake Kozjak and ending at the other entrance of the Plitvice lakes. There was an option to continue back to the main entrance of the national park, but this would have made our trip a bit longer, thus we decided to end it at the other entrance.

So, after we saw the Great waterfall of the Plitvice lakes we continued down to the Lower lakes and the little wooden bridges. There we had to keep walking on the narrow wooden bridges between the high fence that the bulrushes made around it. It looked quite like a swamp, but at the same time, it only added to the uniqueness of the Plitvice lakes. After we crossed the wooden bridge we got near to the Great Waterfall and could see it from below. Honestly, from down below the waterfall looked even more magnificent than from above, so I suggest that you choose this path for sure.

Then, we continued further to the Gavanovac lake, which was full of bulrushes on the sides and was leading us up to the little waterfalls above it called the Milke Trnine. Around those waterfalls, we could witness for the first time the famous “tufa” of the Plitvice lakes. The tufa at the Plitvice lakes is a sort of limestone that in most of the cases is covered with evergreen moss or other plants surrounding it. However, the tufa of the Plitvice lakes is of great importance for the national park, as it creates a great home for many small creatures living there.

We climbed a bit more until we reached the Milanovac lake, which is one of the biggest lakes in the national park that also had some nice big waterfalls and many fishes swimming inside the lake. Its water was again turquoise, which was the distinguishing feature of all of the lakes. an interesting fact is that the colour of the water is so beautiful due to the crystal clear water and the limestone rocks that are serving as the bottom of the lake. All of this reflects the colours of the sky and we get to see the beautiful turquoise water everywhere. Absolutely mesmerizing!

After that, we climbed a bit further and got to an asphalt path which led us to the Kozjacka Draga, which was a good stop for rest with many benches and tables for a picnic. There was also a souvenir shop from which we could get some souvenirs to remind us of this magical place, but we decided to just look around. Then, we went to the dock where the boats were waiting for people to gather and we went on one, which was supposed to cross the biggest and deepest lake of them all - the Kozjak. The boats were quite big and could gather up to twenty or even more people. They were open at all sides so we could enjoy the half an hour ride on the Kozjak lake, which led us to another side of the lake.

Unfortunately, we realized that we took off on the wrong side of the lake, so we had to wait for another smaller boat, which was supposed to cross to the other side. Finally, after asking the tour guides that were everywhere we went to the other side of the lake and prepared to end our journey at the Plitvice Lakes.

Before leaving the national part, we went to the Bistro Kupaliste, which was a nice hut-like bistro offering all types of drinks and some food for you to enjoy while overlooking the other side of the Kozjak lake.

Eventually, we followed the signs and managed to get out of the national park. However, I was quite sad, as this place was truly quite magnificent and breathtaking. Anyway, I am happy that I had the chance to spend some time there and would suggest you to do the same in case you cross this amazing country!

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