article about a new ticket system at Plitvice

Posted by Lia (Columbus, USA) on 05/08/19 02:23 AM

"Plitvice National Park has introduced an online e-ticket system. Tickets can only be purchased in advance, at least 2 days prior to arrival. Entry tickets will still be able to be purchased at the Park, but with the risk that they will not be available because the number of tickets per hour will be limited because of overcrowding, daily Jutarnji list reports. A maximum of 10,000 people per day can visit the park."

Here is the article, which seemed to be 'published' today:
https://www.croatiaweek.com/new-ticket-entry-system-introduced-at-plitvice-lakes-national-park/

Posted by Paul-of-the-Frozen-North

Sioux Falls, SD, USA

05/08/19 05:06 AM

3044 posts

WOW! Fabulous!! Clearly PL is concerned about crowding, and this answers a question many have posed. Thanks.

Posted by acraven

Washington DC

05/08/19 05:55 AM

27063 posts

I wonder how many people were in the park on the dreadful day I visited it in 2015. I just don't have any idea what 10,000 will look like, spread over the area of the park.

In the short term, this is potentially going to be ugly for some folks. It's bad enough to show up in Granada, only to find out there are no tickets available for the Alhambra, but there are other sights to see in the city. Plitvice is a lot more isolated.

Edited to add: Avoiding the hour-long ticket line I experienced will be a great benefit of the new process. It sounds as if they expect some early kinks, though, so I'm still recommending that people show up early, before the line has had a chance to build. Hope we'll get some reports of the real-world situation before too long.

Posted by Lia OP

Columbus, USA

05/08/19 01:02 PM

396 posts

I'm arriving mid-afternoon in mid-September to visit the park, spending the night at a park hotel and visiting again the next morning. I've read that your previous day's ticket can be validated by the park hotel to use for a second day, which is what I planned to do. It's not clear to me how that will work now; the park website doesn't mention anything about it that I could see. I suppose the park will not be maxed out yet during the opening hour(?) Since we've carved hours out of our itinerary to see this, I'll probably just buy a ticket for the second day too, rather than have any concern about it.

Posted by Lia OP

Columbus, USA

05/09/19 02:17 AM

396 posts

This website has a description of the new ticketing. I don't know how accurate the info is.
https://getbybus.com/en/blog/plitvice-lakes/

Posted by Paul-of-the-Frozen-North

Sioux Falls, SD, USA

05/09/19 04:13 AM

3044 posts

I looked at the website, and the prices seem to have really gone up since we went in 2011. If you arrived after 3 PM, your ticket is 150 K, but the next day's new ticket is 250 K. That's 400 K in all, which is about $60. Pricey. I'd email the hotel and ask if they do revalidate the ticket .

Posted by Lia OP

Columbus, USA

05/09/19 01:27 PM

396 posts

I read that there's a 60% premium buying the tickets ahead of time; didn't verify that personally but the tickets are quite expensive. I don't have experience with national park tickets in Europe but the prices seem way too high compared with other sights. I don't see how families can afford to buy tickets in advance. I guess this will have the desired effect of pushing some attendance into shoulder periods where people can predictably gain entrance without buying a ticket (voucher) in advance.