Hi everyone! I have a question to those who drive from Split to Plitvice, how is the drive from those places? Because I'm planning to rent a car in Split and go to Plitvice the early morning. Then the next morning going to back to Split, I'm going first to Kraka national park Or should I first in Kraka national park then just head out in Plitvice lakes early morning before I check out? What do you guys think?
Posted by
Citizen of the World
1403 posts
Because Plitvice Lakes National Park gets mobbed with tour groups from about 10:30 am to 3pm, I would reserve one of the three National Park Hotels inside the park and buy the “one day “ admission ticket only they offer. It allows you to go in the park the afternoon you check in to the hotel, and again the next morning before you check out for the price of a single admission, which now runs about US $44. This means you can see the park when most visitors are leaving on your first day, and again the next morning before they have arrived late morning. The three hotels are the Jezero, the Plitvice and the Bellevue. The Bellevue is generally the least expensive and the Jezero the most expensive with more amenities like a gym, swimming pool and sauna. All the hotels are inside the park giving you more time to visit the park and they all have free parking for your rental car when you are staying with them. They already are completely booked up on some days this summer, so if you know your dates already, I would act sooner rather than later.
Krka is a 90-minute drive from Split. It’s another 90 minutes from Krka to Plitvice Lakes. So, if you can depart Krka by 1:30 or 2pm go there first. If you need more time in Krka then visit Krka the day you depart from Plitvice on the return drive. The nearby seaside town of Sibenik makes a great stopover for lunch.
Be sure to rent your car somewhere in downtown Split and not at the airport as it is a one hour trip out of
town.
Have a great trip!
Posted by
Portland, Oregon
5687 posts
I've been to Plitvice twice, on different trips. The drive between Split and Plitvice is very easy - partly on the A1 (E71) expressway, partly on a two land road (route 1). The biggest worry on route 1 is that Croatian drivers love to pass on the two lane road with very little passing distance, and it can be unnerving. At first it made me nervous; after a few hours, I was driving just like them. Drive like the locals, I say, to be safest.
Personally, I would spend most of my time at Plitvice, but it depends what your interests are. Krka is a much more widely spaces park between attractions, where at Plitvice there are dozens of little waterfalls - the whole park is THE attraction. At Krka, many see just the huge Skradinski Buk cascading waterfall (dwarfing anything you will see at Plitvice). But I don't know what your interests are at Krka. You may or may not be able to drive directly to Skradinski Buk - I took a boat from the town of Skradin up to the waterfall and back.
Posted by
9 posts
I took a bus from Zagreb to Plitvice and back, which seemed to be really the only option besides getting a car. As I recall, it took a long time and we had a lot of stops, but the driver was really friendly and helpful with where we were to get off despite speaking no English. On the way back, both the online schedule and the hotel said that there should be a bus at 4:30am. Alas, there was not, so we had to wait around the cold hotel lobby for 3 hours and almost miss our train out of the country. In conclusion, it can be nice and tidy but be prepared for possible mess ups in the schedule.