Krka or Piltvice from Split??? Help?!?!

I haven’t been to Krka, but Plitvice was amazing! I would go there, if possible. Arrive early, so the wooden walkways aren’t busy or crowded.

Plitvice as a day trip from Split is a long day.

It's about 3 hours one way between the two. So it depends on how long you would
want to spend there. If you did a tour, I would want to have 5-6 hours to see the park.

Many others will advise against this schedule as you will be there during peak hours and
the crowds may detract from your enjoyment of the park. Instead, the recommendation
is to spend the night at Plitvice and do part of the park in the late afternoon and the rest
in the morning before the tour buses arrive.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is considered by many to be Europe’s “most beautiful national park.” Because of this, tour companies in Croatia’s two most-populated cities—-Zagreb and Split— take thousands of visitors daily to Plitvice Lakes during the season. ( From Split. It’s about a 3.5-hour bus ride to Plitvice Lakes). By 11am, the park gets mobbed by visitors trying to see what they are able to see during their 4-hour stop at Plitvice Lakes NP, which is open 7am-7pm during summer.
If you see it as a daytrip, you’ll be there during the overcrowded hours.
If you overnight at the park, you can buy a “Two-Day” ticket you can use for entrance to the park on day 1 when you arrive and again on Day 2.
That means you can visit the park from 3-7pm after the mobs from the tour groups have left, and again beginning at 7am the next morning—-before the tour buses begin arriving,
That is the best way to see Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Everyone enjoys different things so there is no definitive answer. You will note very little said about Krka and that might be a good thing. I can’t help, never been there. It is closer to Split which is good.

Is Plitvice worth it? If you google the most beautiful national park in Europe the Google AI generated response will be Plitvice; so, must be unquestionably true. Personally, I would prefer the time in the Durmitor National Park in Montenegro (just to pick a good one nearby).

The best way to see it or anything when on holiday is always to try and get the most enjoyment out of the entire holiday. You are looking at spending 7% to 15% of your time at this stop. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. Earlier this year I spent 4 days on trains for a 3-day visit; and I am 1000% happy with the decision, last week over two hours of travel time for a 30-minute airplane joyride, so I can’t begin to judge. If my budget didnt allow for that, I would skip it.

For a day trip to the park, you will spend one entire complete day for the purpose of walking past water for 3 hours; and many find it an incredibly rewarding experience. If you spend the night, then you have spent the better part of two full days of your holiday walking past water for maybe 8 hours. That special dinner on the waterfront in Split will become something quite different (my way of saying, think about what you are giving up to see the water) and you might want to check on the cost of a room near the park. Might surprise you.

Ohhhh, and no one asked how you were going to do this. If you have a car and are driving or have a private transfer, then I think city to gate to city including parking time, etc will be about 6 hours. If you drive yourslelf throw in another hour for being lost and finding parking. Otherwise, if you are at the mercy of a daytrip group, what ever they say. Krka is about an hour closer and that might be enough to help make the decision.

How crowded is crowded? I had to check a few of your posts, and I am guessing you are going this month. Yea, not the worst statistically, but not the best time either. The park suggests that you come on a weekday as it’s a little less crowded. The park has timed tickets now (maybe always but I don’t remember that when I was there a few years ago). That might help a little. The peak time is 1pm so if you do a day trip might be best you be heading for the exit at 1pm and that sort of works as its generally one direction walking trails. This is the one I did (see the arrows): https://np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/en/plan-your-visit/istrazite-jezera/activities/lake-tour-programmes/ So when that hoard hit the gate at 1pm they were two hours behind me. That might be why I didn’t see them.

How much is real and how much is internet panic? I bet it’s 50/50. I went in July. I arrived about 11am and I don’t remember but I assume it was a weekday. It wasn’t crowded at 11am. When I was heading out at about 2pm it was thick in the parking lot (fortunately I had a driver). That’s just 3 hours, but at my age 3 hours of hiking to look at water was enough. Oh, to be fair, it was quite beautiful. My daughter loved it and that is really the most important part of the trip.

Now, it wasn’t a wasted trip with 5 hours of driving for 3 hours of walking because it was a stop from Zagreb to Split so it worked fine. Everyone tells me that my experience, that is a lack of crowds at 11am, was a fluke and they might be correct, I have no idea I have yet to talk with someone else that was there mid-week, July at 11am.

EDIT: Bottome line, for me, I would go. But as a day trip, middle of the week. Its a 3 hour drive (more or less) door to door (with a driver or transfer) so I would leave Split at 8am. That will get me there before the crunch. Do the three hour walk and be back in Split for dinner.

Apparently foreign tourism in Croatia is down 16% vs last year. That might make Plitvice a little less crowded: https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/croatia-tourism-faces-setback-foreign-arrivals-drops-16/

I've been to Plitvice three times. The first two times it was in Yugoslavia, so that was a long time ago. It was beautiful and very lightly visited. My most recent visit was the summer of 2015. I think it goes without saying that there are more people visiting Croatia in 2025 than were there ten years ago. I arrived at 10 AM and spent an hour in the ticket line. The park was grotesquely crowded, with people practically treading on the heels of the folks in front of them and the (over-water, usually without railings) walkways packed from edge to edge. I cannot recommend the park under the conditions I experienced. Decades ago, a day trip to Plitvice from Zagreb (which is closer than Split) was a totally workable way to enjoy the park. That is no longer the case.

The best way to visit Plitvice now is to arrive around mid-afternoon, see part of the park in the late afternoon, spend the night nearby and see more of the park early the next morning. Word has it the hotels inside the park will validate a one-day ticket so their clients can return to the park the next morning at no extra charge. I cannot personally vouch for that, but I believe it is true. However, the hotels in the park are reportedly neither great nor inexpensive. There might be nice places to stay just outside the park that would be a better value, in conjunction with a two-day park pass.

I think most folks would be satisfied with 3 to 6 hours in the park under good conditions.

I got curious and looked at the tickets. They tell you how many are still available at any given admission time on any given date at each of the two entrances. For the dates i checked, the times with the fewest number of tickets still available at the gaes are 9 am and 10am, which I presume means the busiest times of the day. At Entrance 1, 57 tickets are available at 9 am and 45 at 10 am. Entrance 2 seems less busy than entrance 1. 7am and 3pm appear to be the the least busy. If I did spend the night, I promise I wouldn't be at the gate at 7 am. I would get stuck in the 9 am rush. But one thing is obvious, buy your ticket online and in advance.

I looked at getyourguide for prices and schedule. About $150, starts at 7:30, 4 hours up (including a 30 min stop), 4 hours there which includes a skip the line ticket, and then 4 hours back.

Still comes down to what's it worth to you? Im still in the mid week day tripper catagory.

Some detail about my Plitvice experience in 2023:

I was with the RS Best of Adriatic tour, so there was no fumbling with what to do, where to go, what time, etc. - a HUGE advantage!

Our guide walked us through the map in the hotel lobby the day before, so we knew the plan & the time to meet. We started at the second gate, not the first, and we were literally the first people in line when they opened - on purpose. We rode a chunky bus to our entrance, and we were off.

As we walked, our group naturally separated into little clusters per our walking & pausing gait. I noticed that some of the conversation was masking the sounds of nature, so I purposely held back to be walking completely solo. Wow, it became such an amazing experience! Such a beautiful setting, and only the sound of waterfalls, birds & leaves & grasses moving - perfect! After awhile, others were catching up, so I enjoyed the rest of the park with its beauty, along with other people. But, I was never in a crowded situation that I’ve heard about so much. Note: I did skip the lower falls, because I hate open heights. Our guide pointed a handful of us to a different exit.

I wouldn’t go if you will be there later in the morning, walking among a crowd of people. And yes, a lot of the wooden walkway has no railing on either side.