It was 6:40h in the morning in Karlovac and I was boarding the bus to Plitvice NP. I had assumed that primarily locals would be on a bus this early, but I was mistaken. Indeed, plenty of Asian travellers had boarded the bus at 6:00h back in Zagreb. That's when I knew that this was a popular site.

We arrived around 8:00h and exited the bus at Entry 1. Directly behind the entry there is a viewpoint with a nice view of the largest waterfall of the park. Arriving this early had the benefit of mist still covering the lakes and canyon. It looked mystical. I should have brought a dark filter and a tripod for my camera.

There are several hikes in the park. I started with Trail A, but was a bit befuddled when I didn't see the glorious cascades. So I hurried all across park to get to Entry 2 hoping to see them there, but no. Clyde in our whatsapp group eventually resolved the mystery: Water levels in autumn were really low, so the cascades were not as impressive as they could have been.

Due to bad bus schedules and me having to travel back to Pula I only had 2h on site. While this is enough for Trail A, I would have preferred some more hours to see a bit more.

Getting To

Plitvice is Croatia's most popular tourist site. As such I assume that you will be able to book plenty of tours from the main tourist centers. In high season.

If you are travelling late like me, i.e. in shoulder season (October) and if you are coming from the North Western corner of Croatia (Istria( your options are far more limited. To get to Plitvice from Porec I traveled to Karlovac the previous night. From Karlovac there are several daily busses to Plitvice. Unfortunately, the available return busses were not well timed, so I ended up with only two hours on site. I would recommend taking the early bus at 6:40h. After returning to Karlovac I traveled back to Istria (Pula, 4h).

Other connections from Plitvice are Zagreb and Zadar/Split. I have found the online information for Croatian busses to be of limited use, so check multiple sites. Best info I got was from Arriva. Also note that Croatian busses fill up quickly and do not run as frequently as you would want them to. So reservations are mandatory.

While You Are There

I had to spend a night and some hours waiting on my bus ride back to Pula in Karlovac. They have a large local brewery and a castle, but it's mostly unmemorable.