Plitvice Lakes - How much time to spend?

Why the expensive transfer with this international company? The bus service is very good with modern coaches and is regular. If you must book a transfer, please use a Croatian company.

Full information on Croatia bus schedules is on the Croatia Bus website. Click on the UK flag for English. You can pre-book online, but if you buy on arrival at Plitvice you will be sure of a numbered seat, The number is usually down low on the seat frame. Check before you sit in the wrong place. You typically pay the drivers a small cash fee for luggage under the bus, but can wedge a small daypack above or between seats. The various bus companies in Croatia are how the locals travel there. I love them. In a pinch, your hosts can probably find you a local to drive you to Split.

I can't say anything about the best way to get from place to place where you are going, but we did use Daytrip for a transfer from Vienna to Budapest and then another from Budapest to Krakow, and they were great. The drivers were very nice, they were locals and both liked working for that company. The company was good at communicating and 24 hours before our trip we were emailed a confirmation with a photo of our driver so we would know who to look for. We used them instead of taking trains because we wanted to stop at a few places along the way and it was easier with a driver, we could just leave our luggage in the car.

Thanks everyone

The main reason we are considering DayTrip - they are willing to stop at Krka National Park and we don't really have time to stay in the Krka area. If we do the bus we would have to skip Krka.

Anyone have feedback on how long it should take to hike Plitvice so I can arrange transportation?

Thanks

I would get into the park at 7am when they open if you can. It gets very crowded by mid-morning (unless you are visiting in the winter I suppose). You can get a good gist of the park in 5-7 hours.

I agree with Andrew. Many of the popular walks include narrow trails on slopes, with some boardwalk sections, and you don't have the option to pass by slower guests. Of course there are wide open places as well. But the most interesting views are crowded with people. There are some longer walks between attractive sites. Spend as much time as you can. We had lunch at the special trout restaurant but that is hard to reserve and too slow for your schedule. You'll need a sandwich from a food pavillion.

Thanks for the comments

I don't remember exact details, but on a massively crowded day in 2015, I took the second-longest marked walk, and I finished it quite a bit faster than the indicated time. I took very few photos, which helped, but I was toddling along on a recently-sprained ankle. And the crowds were a major factor since I day-tripped in.