Looking for advice on Plitvice park

We visited Plitvice September of 2018 and I would highly recommend going in the morning. We got to the park between 7:30-7:45 and told the person at the desk what we wanted to do, however no one told us that the bus does not start running until 8am. We ended up hiking up and taking the bus down. Was wonderful and we ran into less than 10 people. However when we left a few hours later it was packed.

The walkways are not very wide and from what previous travelers told us, it gets so crowded that it makes it difficult.

Hi Nancy,

Just returned from Croatia in May and hopefully brought back some tips to answer your questions:

1. Absolutely make reservations. In fact, that is the only way to enter the park as of this year. On the website, you will indicate which entrance you prefer and the time slot you like. Once a slot fills up with the amount of tickets per slot, it will disappear. We took the first entrance slot available, which was 8:00 am through entrance 1. If you can get the first slot as the park opens, take it. We had the big magnificent waterfall all to ourselves before the large tour groups arrived and took the best pictures. The early wakeup call will be worth it, trust me!

2. Your plan for breakfast sounds perfect. Consider packing a lunch or snacks too if possible.

3. We entered through entrance 1. The parking lot is just across the road (make sure you pick up your tickets on that side of the road in the kiosk in the parking lot) and if you take the earliest time slot, you will have no trouble finding parking. Entrance 1 takes you immediately to Veliki Slap, the large famous waterfall as well as most of the interesting boardwalks. We hiked along past entrance 2 and there weren't too many magnificent views near that entrance, though if you plan on taking the tram or boats connections are quite close.

4. Not sure.

5. If you enter through entrance 1, the morning light on the waterfalls is excellent for photos. It seemed like it got crowded by 9:45 am, so try to get all your good shots before then if you want to avoid crowds. We attempted to to trail K, which takes you all along the entire lake system. However we were there in the spring after heavy rains and the trail was flooded in sections and we couldn't complete it. You might have better luck in September. I'm sure the shots at entrance 1 would be fantastic in the afternoon as well. We left by 3 pm so I can't speak to that. Make sure you bring a tripod and consider getting a ND filter (if you're using a DSLR camera) to get those awesome waterfall photos.

Have the best time!! This is such a magical place and I hope it is an enjoyable experience for you :-)

Thanks to Jenn for confirming that Plitvice can still be magical--even in August--with an early start.

Thanks a lot for all of the information!

Question #4. Friends of ours visited Plitvice in April. They told us the policy is that you have to enter through the same entrance that is on your ticket both days. They didn't know this so on the second day they went to the other entrance; they felt they didn't have time to return to the original entrance on their ticket, so they actually spent the money to buy a new ticket for the second day.

We have tickets for Entrance 2 in September. So my plan is to enter through Entrance 2 on the afternoon of our first day, and visit the Upper Lakes. Then the next morning we will enter through Entrance 2 again, and take the longer boat ride (about 20 minutes, I think) to the Lower Lakes.

I hope this helps.

Thanks - that's my basic plan too. We switched our hotel to Bellevue so we will be able to walk to Entrance 2.