Plitvice Waterfalls

In fact, these waterfalls were apparently tourist attractions even since the late 19th century. We learned this from a plaque alongside the Galvanovac that stated that Plitvice was named after a world famous Croatian opera singer at the time. So, this is hardly a new attraction though it seems to only be coming into its own as a world class tourist attraction recently.

To get a handle on the enormity of the Plitvice Jezera (meaning Plitvice Lakes and is pronounced "PLIT-vits-uh Yez-er-uh"), you can divide the complex into the Upper Lakes and the Lower Lakes separated by the long lake called Jezero Kozjak. Each section is quite easily walkable in a half-day if you choose do each part as its own loop. However, there are numerous criss-crossing and sub-loops that you can walk to get even more out of your visit (plus take a lot more time). And rushing through this place is something we don't recommend.

Since the authorities intelligently made most of the park vehicle free, you'll have to rely on the public transport options (included in the price of admission) available to you. These include a pair of shuttles (one going to the Lower Lakes [ST2 to ST1] with the other going to the Upper Lakes [ST2 to ST4]) and a pair of boats (one shuttling between the P1 and P2 and another shuttling across Jezero Kozjak [Kozjak Lake] from P2 to P3).

If you feel like hoofing it without the aid of the public transport, the signs indicated that the full loop of the park takes about 8 hours, I recalled. And I'm pretty sure that didn't include photo stops or other distractions.

There are a pair of dedicated car parks (labeled "entrance" or "ulaz"; one near the Lower Lakes and another near the Upper Lakes) so you can leave your rental vehicle if you're not staying in the park. However, if you're staying in the park (like we did), you probably won't need to be driving your car again unless you choose to dine in a place that you're not staying at. Of course, if you're on a tour, then you don't have to worry about cars, but you do have a little less control of where you want to go when the public transport options close for the day (which was around 19:30 when we were there in late May).

Now that you have a general idea of how things work over there, let's get into the particulars of the main sections of the park.

The Lower Lakes
In my mind, the Plitvice Waterfalls in the Lower Lakes are bigger and more "organized" (for lack of a better word). The terrain here is more of a rugged gorge as the gorge walls close in the waterfall and lakes network so that means you won't have immediate access between the lower boardwalks (by the lakes and waterfalls) and the upper walkways (on the tops of the gorge banks).

The waterfall network begins by draining the large Jezero Kozjak in its uppermost waterfall called Milanovački Slapovi, and this waterfall spills into the next lake called Milanovac Jezero. The Milanovački Slapovi is a fairly tall (I'd say around 20m or so) but is quite wide and photogenic when seen from above, which is possible from both sides of the gorge. The lower boardwalk crosses above this waterfall and links the boardwalk within the gorge with the Upper Gorge walk between the P3 boat stop and the overlooks of the bottommost waterfalls in the section (which we'll describe later).

The Milanovac Jezero then drains over the next waterfall called Slap Milke Trnine. This waterfall is also wide, but is quite tiny in height and tends to hide amongst the thick foliage growing within the waterway. I recalled there was also a bench here for chilling out and staring at the falls if the weather cooperates (it didn't necessarily do that for us). The Slap Milke Trnine drains into the Gavanovac Jezero, which is a pretty small lake.

Next, the Gavanovac Jezero drains over a pair of attractive sections known as the Velike Kaskade. Here, the boardwalk skirts alongside the smaller upper tier before going down steps alongside the much larger lower tier (watch your step!). At the base of the falls, the boardwalk splits off into a path that crosses right in front of the wide but attractive cascade and another path that climbs up a bunch of stairs and passes through the Sulpjara Cave linking with the Upper Gorge Walkway on the side eventually leading to either the ST1 shuttle stop or Ulaz 1 Entrance.

The Velike Kaskade drains into the Kaluđerovac Jezero, which is a fairly long lake. And the waters are briefly interrupted by a small intermediate waterfall (I believe is called Novakovića though I'm not sure if that's really referring to the larger waterfalls further downstream) before passing under a boardwalk spanning the lake and then over the next series of waterfalls.

That last series of falls (as far as we're concerned) spills over some smaller tiers before ultimately spilling dramatically over what might be a 20-25m drop known as the Sastavci Waterfall. We think it's here where the waterfalls are most photogenic. That's because not only does the Sastavci drain the Kaluđerovac Jezero, but there's also another watercourse joining the action over more waterfalls.

In fact, that's not the end of the waterfalling in this section of the park.

Just a little further downstream, the boardwalk bends around a cliff right above the rushing waters and goes right before the tall and misty "Great Waterfall" also known as Veliki Slap. I recalled there were signs claiming that this "Great Waterfall" was 70m tall, and after going up and down the stairs that go from its base to its top, I would concur with that assessment.

Speaking of that walk, once you've climbed up the stairs (plus one tunnel), you can also get a nice top down view of the Veliki Slap from an overlook perched near the edge of the gorge. But you can also continue walking over a road bridge traversing the stream responsible for the Veliki Slap and towards a short spur path on the other side of the stream where the shaded path stops at a dramatic overlook of the Sastavci Waterfall and the lakes upstream from it.

Julie and I informally called this vidikovac ("look out point" in Croatian), the "Money Shot."

With a little further exploration from the "Money Shot" (we were given this tip by a fellow tourist though you do have to watch your step and take your time), we saw a couple more unofficial viewpoints - one with a pretty satisfying view of Veliki Slap and another with an awkward and overgrown view of Sastavci (maybe we didn't explore enough?).

Now the official boardwalks don't continue further downstream. However, we have seen maps saying there are even more waterfalls further down there. But as far as we're concerned, this concludes the dramatic Lower Lakes section of the park.

[Back to top]



Upper Lakes
The Upper Lakes are more spread out than its Lower Lakes counterpart. That means, you have a wider network of waterfalls side by side with each other as well as have wider lakes. There are also more boardwalks traversing the length of the network so there are several options available to you as to how you want to get the most of your visit in this part of the park.

The way we ended up doing this part was to take a shuttle bus from ST2 all the way up to ST4. We then walked downhill criss-crossing the waterfalls and lakes network a couple of times before ending up at the P2 boat stop and concluding our Upper Lakes tour.

Obviously, there are many more ways of doing this, and we must mention that we didn't even walk up any of the hills that might have given us a scenic top down contextual view of the Upper Lakes (I think on the Stubica according to our map).

So we're going to describe the progression of waterfalls and lakes from the top down.

For starters, the lakes Prošćansko Jezero and Ciginovac both drain over a series of mostly hidden waterfalls and cascades (due to the thick foliage covering them up) as they spill into the Okrugljak. The falls here are quite long, but difficult to photograph due to their concealed nature. However, the boardwalks do pass over and besides quite a few of them so you can get a sense of the scale of the falls even though there's no all-encompassing view.

Draining Okrugljak is the next series of small waterfalls and cascades with lakes in between them. According to our map, there are three labels - Veliko, Malo, and Vir, but I'm not sure if they're referring to the ponds in between or to the main waterfall sections themselves. There's also the Batinovac Jezero off to the side going around the waterfall network.

But I'm pretty sure as you walk through this section, you probably won't be very aware of which waterfall or lake is which. Besides, the waterfalls in this section are still the appetizers for the larger waterfalls still yet to come.

All of these waters drain into the fairly large Galovac Jezero. The size of this lake give you an opportunity for a waterfall breather as you leave the crashing waters and walk alongside the calm (and maybe colorful if the lighting's right) lake.

Next, the Galovac Jezero drains into perhaps the most dramatic part of the Upper Lakes.

And if my recollections are correct, I believe you could cut right to the chase by stopping at the ST3 stop instead of ST4 stop if you knew that this was the stretch of the Upper Lakes was all you wanted to see straight away.

It's here that the largest waterfalls of the Upper Lakes are located. However, it's also here that I start to lose track of which waterfall is what. All I know is that our maps indicate that the waterfalls of note here are named Veliki Prštavac, Mali Prštavac, and Galovački Buk. I think the largest of these falls are about 25-30m in height (though this is just a guess).

The boardwalks criss-cross this section walking both above and below most of the waterfalls here. There's even one switchback where you can get right besides one of the larger drops. Plus, there's also clear and colorful lakes sprinkled in between all the action.

Unfortunately, this part is also prone to serious overcrowding as tour groups are sure to inundate this area (as they had when we were there) so it might get a bit tight, especially considering that most of the boardwalks don't have rails (so be careful not to fall in!). It doesn't exactly make for a peaceful experience, but then again, the tourism industry does rely on the steady and relatively stable income from mass tourism so for independent tourists, you'll just have to take the good with the bad.

I'd say that of the half-day that we walked from ST4 all the way to the P2 stop, we spent probably about half the time in this stretch where it was one big waterfall and/or clear, colorful pond after another.

By the time you're finally through walking this stretch of the Upper Lakes, there's still more waterfalls (as alluded to earlier) further downstream. The large waterfalls draining Galovac spills into the next lake called Gradinsko Jezero. There's a brief calm section before this lake drains into the last series of waterfalls as they all drain into the Jezero Kozjak (remember? the long lake segregating the Upper and Lower Plitvice Lakes?).

After having gone through the main waterfall stretch, this last series of waterfalls doesn't quite have the same appeal, and I can speak for ourselves here when we were a bit waterfall fatigued as well as fatigued in a more general sense by the time we made it down here. So by the end of it all, the paths ultimately descend to a docking area at P2 where you can pick a boat that shuttles you back to P1 (where the hotels and the Ulaz 2 Entrance are) or that shuttles you across the Jezero Kozjak to P3 at the head of the Lower Lakes.

In any case, we have lots of photos and videos to share, which you can check out below. That way, you can also get a more visual taste of how we experienced the Plitvice Waterfalls. Note the photos are in more or less chronological order on how we toured the falls (so it may or may not make sense to your specific tour).

[Back to top]

PHOTOS OF THE FALLS

Heavy rains weren't going to stop us on this day

Walking along one of the Upper Gorge tracks after leaving the ST1 stop

Looking down into the gorge at the Velike Kaskade

Looking towards Velike Kaskade and accompanying lakes as we descend down to lake level

Lots of fish in the water; an indication of a relatively healthy ecosystem

Boardwalk traversing the Kaluđerovac Jezero with fish in the water

Looking down into Sastavci

The misty base of Veliki Slap

Another look at the base of Veliki Slap

At the top of the gorge looking towards Veliki Slap

Bad weather, but still beautiful

Descending back before Veliki Slap

Sometimes the boardwalks go right over the waterfalls

And in high water conditions, parts of the falls even flows over the boardwalk

The boardwalk going right before the Velike Kaskade

Looking back at Velike Kaskade from the other side of its width

Looking over Velike Kaskade

A bench for chilling out and checking out Slap Milke Trnine if it wasn't so rainy

Looking down at Velike Kaskade from an opening of the Sulpjara Cave

Looking down into the gorge when the sun finally showed itself; too bad it was at the end of the day!

Looking down at Velike Kaskade from the upper trail

Looking straight down at Velike Kaskade and boardwalks

Looking down towards Slap Milke Trnine from the top of the gorge

Milanovački Slapovi and boat headed to the P3 stop on the Jezero Kozjak

We went the wrong way from ST4 the following morning and saw this cascade

Boardwalk alongside the banks of Ciginovac

One of the first significant-looking waterfalls we saw that morning

Line of waterfalls spilling into Okrugljak

Walking amongst some of the waterfalls

Boardwalk going around some very clear lakes with submerged trees

Closer look at some of the uppermost of the Upper Lakes waterfalls

Boardwalk descending alongside cascades spilling into Galovac

A calm part of Galovac as the boardwalk goes around it

Looking back at the breadth of the Galovac Waterfalls

Descending below Galovac and looking towards more ponds and lakes

Behind one of the large waterfalls draining Galovac

Another attractive waterfall in the main section

Sometimes the boardwalk goes above these waterfalls

Boardwalk approaching another big waterfall in the main section

Clear pool fronting one of the main waterfalls

Walkers dwarfed by some of these large Upper Lakes waterfalls

Angled look at one of the main waterfalls

A close look at one of the main waterfalls

Boardwalk passing before another of the main waterfalls

Looking back over a clear pond towards walkers

A snake

Another look back over the clear pond

A clear pond fronting yet another attractive falls in the main section

Still another waterfall in the main section; can you start to feel the waterfall fatigue at this point?

And another waterfall

Looking over submerged branches towards yet another waterfall

One of the last of the main section waterfalls that we saw

The next calm part

Boardwalk fronting some of the waterfalls comprising the lowermost network of falls in the Upper Lakes

One of the lowermost of the Upper Lakes network as seen from a boat; note the self-hired canoers providing scale

Back at the Lower Lakes but this time on the Upper Gorge on the banks near P3; looking straight down at Milanovački Slapovi

Looking straight down at the colorful and clear lakes

Looking down at Velike Kaskade from a different perspective

First look at the so-called Money Shot

Veliki Slap from the top

Looking down into Sastavci with a rainbow this time

Incoming bad weather

Closer look at the Milanovački Slapovi

Profile view of the Milanovački Slapovi

Last look at the lowermost of the Upper Lakes waterfalls as seen from the boat

Back at the Money Shot Overlook the following morning

Unusual view of Veliki Slap from nearby the Money Shot

Unusual view of Sastavci from nearby the Money Shot

[Back to top]

MAP OF THE FALLS

TRIP REPORTS

• May 31, 2010 and June 1, 2010

GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

NEARBY WATERFALLS

Have you been to the Plitvice Waterfalls?

Share your experience!

Click here to see visitor comments for this waterfall

Click here to see visitor comments for other waterfalls that we've visited in this region

Click here to go to the Comments Main Page

What Other Visitors Have Said

Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...