If you’re visiting Croatia, Plitvice Lakes National Park is probably on your to-do list. An “essential Croatian attraction,” as everyone says—but at what cost? Is the visit worth it? Are you getting your money’s worth? Too many questions that typical articles don’t quite address...
Let’s attempt to answer them here and give you the keys to planning your visit without disappointment.
Let’s start at the beginning. Before diving into planning tips or sharing experiences, let’s quickly introduce the park itself. Plitvice National Park is Croatia’s largest park, spanning 30,000 hectares, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 for its beauty. It features 16 lakes, 92 waterfalls, small rivers, caves, grottos, a forest, and a diverse range of flora and fauna.
The park’s fame has spread well beyond Croatia’s borders, drawing over a million visitors each year.
Photos of the park are dream-like: wooden walkways, waterfalls, and clear blue-green waters. But there’s also a high entrance fee, and depending on the season, it can mean large crowds, sweltering heat, and a “follow-the-leader” style tour—far less idyllic than the photos suggest.
Let’s now cover the practical aspects to help you plan your visit.
It’s easy to reach Plitvice Lakes by car (or any vehicle, really). The roads are accessible and even served by buses (find more information on bus options here).
Upon arrival, you’ll need to choose between two possible entrances to park and begin your visit.
A ce stade, on te conseille de filer directement à l’entrée 2, surtout en pleine saison, car cette dernière est toujours moins remplie que l’entrée 1. At this point, we recommend heading to Entrance 2, especially in peak season, as it’s generally less crowded than Entrance 1.
Now that you’re there and parked, let’s talk ticket prices.
We won’t sugarcoat it—the entrance fee is painfully high. However, prices vary depending on the time of year and visitor status, so if you plan wisely, you might get a ticket at a “reduced” rate (though it’s hard to say “reasonable”).
As you can see, entrance is quite pricey, especially in peak season!
40€ at full price is steep and hard to justify.
Thankfully, there’s a little note indicating reduced prices after 4 PM. More on that below.
Besides the high entrance fees, be aware that parking is also charged separately. Yes, you read that right!
The cost depends on the season and your vehicle type.
For vans and larger vehicles, it doesn’t make a difference as you pay a daily rate, but for cars, which typically stay for an afternoon or an entire day, you’ll easily spend between 5€ and 10€ on parking—something to consider in your total trip cost.
To wrap up the practical side of visiting Plitvice Lakes, let’s talk about the different routes available. Although the park is vast, visitors can’t freely roam inside. There are marked trails (varying in length and difficulty) to prevent visitors from straying off and damaging this unique site.
Each trail is well-marked and easy to follow. Even without a map, you’ll navigate the park without trouble (though free maps are available at the entrance; if you want a more detailed one, it’s paid, but it’s honestly unnecessary).
Just pick a route in advance. There are eight in total, but don’t worry—we’ll break them down for you.
Each route is named with a letter and starts from either Entrance 1 or Entrance 2, making it four trails per entrance. Easy!
Here’s the breakdown:
Here’s the official map from the National Park, with the correct color codes, which you’ll also find on-site and on their website.
The dotted lines on the maps indicate the sections traveled by shuttle (which they call a "panoramic train," though it's actually a bus) or by boat. These transports are included in the ticket price, so there's no extra charge (thankfully! 😂)
Routes C, H, and K are the three largest loops that include both entrances. If you want the most complete visit, we recommend one of these three. Note that Route C (at Entrance 1) is equivalent to Route H (at Entrance 2), though they vary slightly. Route K is the same from either entrance.
After reading many blogs, we opted for Route H, which offers a good balance of exploration and walking time. We spent four hours on a loop, alternating between shaded and sunny areas, and saw all the lakes and several waterfalls. While Route K covers more, it requires 6 to 8 hours. We arrived at the park at 1 PM, so timing didn’t allow for it.
Now that the essentials are covered, here’s our experience.
We visited Plitvice Lakes in mid-June (June 20, 2022, to be precise). Many articles mention the summer rush at the park, with long waits for tickets and crowded pathways. We were worried it would be packed. But upon arrival, Entrance 2 parking wasn’t even full, and we waited less than five minutes for tickets. So far, so good—except for the steep ticket price.
We checked ticket prices in advance and noticed there was a student rate. Cleverly, we showed our student cards, and it worked!
We paid €26.50 each, saving €27 for the two of us—not insignificant!
There’s also another way to lower the ticket cost, regardless of whether you get the student rate. As we mentioned earlier, during summer, if you visit the lakes after 3 PM (in September) or 4 PM (in June, July, and August), you get a discounted rate.
When we saw this online, we immediately planned to do it! But after some phone research, we realized the park closed at 5 PM. No way to complete the 4-hour loop, and paying for a short 1-hour route seemed a waste.
So, we arrived at 1 PM to have enough time for Route H.
However, upon reaching the shuttle to start our route (after paying), we saw signs indicating the park actually closed at 8 PM (5 PM was just the ticket office closure, which wasn’t clearly explained).
Although we didn’t take advantage of this, it’s good news! Now that you know, you can arrive at 4 PM in the summer, enjoy the park with a €26.50 ticket (instead of €40), or get an even lower rate if combined with the student discount.
A great way to cut costs on this visit!
Additionally, you can buy tickets online via the park’s online store. Prices are the same as on-site, but in summer, if you know when you’ll visit, this can be useful to skip lines and ensure entry, thanks to a visitor cap. If you don’t book in advance and capacity is reached, you’ll still get in with an online reservation.
Two points to consider when buying tickets online:
Inside the park, there were some people, but nothing overwhelming. The walk remained pleasant, with beautiful viewpoints. You can stop here and there on benches to rest or simply take in the surroundings and enjoy the lakes.
We waited 5 to 10 minutes for the first shuttle to reach the start of the H trail. Midway, we waited 5 minutes for the boat, and at the end, we waited 10 to 15 minutes for the return shuttle.
It seems, however, that after 7 PM, boats and shuttles become less frequent. Detailed schedules are available here.
It’s a beautiful park and a nice walk, but it’s definitely not worth the price!
It’s sad to say, but if we had to do it over again, we probably wouldn’t visit Plitvice Lakes. There are equally beautiful, free sites in Croatia—you just have to find them.
For example, we visited:
We also heard a lot about Krka National Park. It’s cheaper than Plitvice but smaller. The one advantage Krka used to have over Plitvice disappeared with COVID restrictions, as swimming was once allowed at Krka but is now prohibited in both parks. Based on our research and our Instagram followers' recommendations, if you have to pick one, go for Plitvice Lakes over Krka.
That’s the end of this article. We hope the information shared here is helpful. We’ve tried to be as transparent and honest as possible. Unfortunately, it’s not a visit we recommend, though we understand the dilemma, especially with the park’s UNESCO World Heritage status. However, don’t stop at that; consider everything that surrounds it.
You now have all the tools to make your own decision. Let’s hope prices drop and become reasonable (we can dream a little 😂).
If you decide to visit Croatia, you can get your tickets here:
Share your experience if you've visited this park, and let us know your hidden gems in Croatia.
1. Never throw away an expired student card; it can always be useful! It might not be entirely honest, but it allows you to get discounts in many places, even abroad. We didn’t feel guilty using it at Plitvice because of the outrageous prices.
2. If you decide to visit Plitvice Lakes, don’t go at opening time (which everyone does); go after 3 PM (in September) or 4 PM (June through August) to enjoy lower prices and fewer crowds.
3. Just because a place is on the UNESCO World Heritage list doesn’t mean it’s a must-see. Don’t hesitate to look for more hidden and preserved spots in the countries you visit. You’re likely to find free treasures!
How about we chat?