Hi everyone! My husband and I are in our mid-30's and will be visiting Croatia for the first time in August. The only way for us to make the flights work was to fly into Split and out of Dubrovnik. We have decided to skip Zagreb, but are set on a visit to Plitvice Lakes National Park.

I've been reading mixed opinions regarding whether a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park from Split is doable vs staying overnight. My plan was to spend 3-4 full days in Split (not including the day we arrive, mid-day). 1 of those days would be Plitvice Lakes and another day I was thinking of doing an organized day tour to the Blue Cave, Vis, Hvar and Pakleni Islands (I know it will only be a taste, but I rather see a bit of them than nothing!). That would leave 1-2 full days in Split (any opinions of 1 or 2 days are also welcome!).

I really wanted to try and make a day trip to Plitvice Lakes work if at all possible, to avoid either having to check in and out of a place in Split in the middle of our stay OR paying for 2 places for a night. If we do a day trip, we would pick up the rental car the night before and leave really early. Does anyone have experience doing this as a day trip from Split? It looks like one of the parking lots at Plitvice opens at 7am and another opens at 8am. I think leaving by 5am would be doable for us, but any earlier would really be pushing it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Yes you can do the day trip, a long day though. Well worth it.

I would stay overnight, Here's a link to our day there with photos.

https://travelswithmaitaitom.com/cha...d-in-plitvice/

If you time it right, a day trip could work. The drive should take about 3 hours – but personally, I’d add time to that estimate. I believe the park opens at 7 a.m. (I think the transportation within the park doesn’t start running until an hour later. I could be wrong.) Try to reach it before 9 or after 10 to avoid the worst of the tour groups. IMO, the best way to see the park is to take a single, long walk through the park -- something on the order of 6 hours or more (including time for the boat that connects the lower and upper lakes); you can then take a bus back to where you began. By all means, start at the lowest part of the park so you are facing the falls as you proceed.

If I were you, I’d check dawn and dusk before going (try timeanddate.com).

if you do stay overnight, you might (at least) end up with one of the most delicious fish dinners imaginable.

Hope that helps!

i was just there and while it is beautiful it’s not imo a must see. The waterfalls are better in many other places but not many places have midieval towns and castles. It is a pretty there but tiring because of the curvy roads.

To each his / her own. While I agree that there are more spectacular waterfalls elsewhere, there are few places where one can see travertine waterfalls, and a major reason to visit the Plitvice Lakes is for the lakes, which are in a wide variety of colors (even sometime in the same lake) because of unique microbiota.

We are certainly all different. I cannot imagine not loving Plitvice, and you do need most of a day there.

this is why the forum is great. You get more than one opinion.

True, but I think yours is the only one I've seen from someone who did not enjoy Plitvice, and I'm wondering why?

Did you have the wrong expectations? The most impressive waterfalls I've seen are Iguazu in South America (which easily out class Niagara) and certainly, Plitvice is nothing like Iguazu, but I didn't expect it to be.

Or do you just prefer towns and cities to scenery?

Plitvice is one of our most wonderful memories of any of our European trips.

Hello Kja, which restaurant has the "most delicious fish" ? Also, when you say start at lowest part of Plitvice, do you mean entrance 1 ? Thank you.

for sure go to plitvice, it is wonderful: we just got back
we walked the entire park- took several hours but very doable as a day trip
we left split at 8 am, went to plitvice, then continued on to lubljiana, arrived in time for a late dinner
dont miss plitvice- you are young and fit- it is a walk, not a hike, not difficult at all
the only caveat is that it may be very crowded if you go later in the summer so you may be impeded by crowds, so will take longer and maybe less enjoyable, I cannot comment as we went in early may

I always seem to be in the minority but I would've skipped Plitvace and spent more time just exploring the amazing mountains filled with castle ruins and medieval old towns. Its stunning and I could drive for miles and not see another car. I was there in late April.

Sorry for the belated reply -- I was away from Fodor's for a while!
- My meal was at the Mukinja, and OMG I still remember that wonderful meal! That said, I suspect that most B&Bs and hotels in the area also serve very fresh fish....
- And yes, my suggestion is to enter the park at the lowest entrance, which I believe is # 1.
Enjoy!

Maybe you should switch Plitivice for Krka national park. Also very nice and just an hour drive from Split. Less crowds and you can swim there also..

If the timing doesn't work for the Plitvice Lakes National Park, then the Krka National Park is, indeed, an alternative -- but it is different! The Plitvice Lakes are, indeed, lakes, connected by gorgeous travertine waterfalls, and part of the beauty of the park is that not only are there many, many waterfalls, but also, the lakes are be different colors, in part because the lakes hold numerous distance microbiotic micro-environments. In contrast, Krka's most famous falls are along a river and the main set of falls are broader and contain more cascades (of varying heights and widths) than those of the Plitvice Lakes. As ivson notes, you can swim at the bottom of the main falls of the Krka Park, but you can't swim anywhere in the Plitvice Lakes. You might do a google image search to see the differing images.

The Krka National Park should be reasonably easily reached by public transportation (bus from Split to Sibenik, bus to Skradin, walk or boat to the park). You would probably need to plan on a full day.

I could easily be wrong, but I have to admit that I would be surprised if the Krka National Park wasn't also very crowded in August....