We will be touring twice in September. We will tour for a couple of hours late the first day and a couple hours early the second day. Does anyone have an opinion on whether upper or lower lakes would be better in the morning? or late afternoon? One of our objectives will be photography.
thanks much
rwc
( i accidentally posted this in trip reports first time )
The only thing I can say is that when we got there early in July was that it was extremely foggy at the lower lakes, however, by the time we worked our way back in the afternoon, it was clear but the crowds were unbelievable.
I can't comment on upper or lower lakes first, since we got there midday in early October last year.
My suggestion is for your early day, get there when it opens, because it will get unbelievably crowded. Also check the ferries hours since I think the upper lakes close earlier, I might be wrong though.
When I went with a Rick Steves' group we started at the highest point of the park as early as you could. By 11am or so it was shoulder to shoulder people on the trails. As our guide told us, get those elbows out and be assertive walking through the crowds.
I've been to Plitvice twice - once in early October, once (recently) in mid-May. Both times, I started at the upper lakes (south, closer to entrance #2), which in my opinion offers the slightly better waterfalls (not that the lower lakes falls are so bad). As I recall, the best time to shoot most of the waterfalls is in the morning. By afternoon, you aren't quite shooting into the sun but almost. Depends in which falls, of course, but many of them seem best photographed in the morning.
I have been out first thing in the morning both visits and that's what I recommend. Get there at 7am when the park opens the second day you are there. If you are at Entrance #2, you can take a short boat ride across to the start of the upper lakes trails, but the first bot from the upper to lower lakes (from the boat launch near Entrance #2) may not start running until late - 8am? If you get out there that early, you'll still be able to use your tripod for a while; once the boardwalks are busy with tourists later in the morning, it's hard to keep your tripod steady as they walk, not to mention it can be hard to keep them out of your shots. In some areas you can set a tripod down on the ground but sometimes you have to set it on the boards, because there's a drop-off to the water below.
