Hello- I will be in Zagreb towards the end of November on business and will have a free day. I would like to do a day tour to Plitvice Lake. As a solo female travel, I would prefer a tour, does anyone have any suggestions? My google searching has not been that productive.
Thank you
Danielle
I would just wait until you are in country, and look for a local tourist office. It will be weather dependent and they may not run all year.
The weather in late November might not be conducive to spending 4+ hours walking in the woods, so I agree that waiting is a very good strategy. If the weather's poor and you have already had enough time to do the key sights in Zagreb, you could take the train or bus to Ljubljana for the day. Round-trip will be 4 or 5 hours, but you'll be in a city where you can easily pop in and out of restaurants, shops and museums if you need a break from the fall weather.
I am influenced by having had a pretty miserable day in Zagreb on October 11, 2015. It poured rain all day and was quite chilly. It was a holiday and nothing much was open, so I basically holed up in my hotel room. I can't imagine enjoying Plitvice under those conditions, and you will be traveling 6 weeks later than I did.
If you're lucky with the weather and can't find a tour, taking a bus will probably be workable. Just check carefully about return buses and don't plan to take the last one back to Zagreb. In this situation (very off-season, going to a rural location), I'd recommend getting an early start so you have maximum options for the return trip.
In case it does not work out, another option might be Samobor. I never made it on my two visits, but it was always on my list. It's very close and has famous pastries! Varazdin also sounds interesting, and it's something you could do independently.
Also, I googled for some day tours and they both listed the end of October as the last trips for the season, so hopefully you can return one day. Otherwise, if you got a gorgeous day you could pay extra for a private tour. I might be hesitant to do it by bus in case there was a complication getting back.
https://freespirittours.eu/plitvice-lakes-day-trip-zagreb/
http://www.zagrebdaytrips.com/en/tours/national-park-plitvice-and-rastoke-village-season-2018-5
In season there are many, many buses running back and forth between Zagreb and Plitvice (for all that it's a bad idea to visit the park that way during peak periods), but I have no idea how sharply that tails off during the fall. You'd definitely want reliable schedule information, and I'd want to get that by going to the bus station in person.
You can do it yourself by bus - find the schedules and buy tickets here (though I would wait to buy them til near the last minute weather-permitting):
I wouldn't worry about the mobs of tourists so much mid-day in November. If you get a nice day but it has been raining recently, the falls should be really nice - heavy water makes them flow more dramatically.
I would contact tourist information in Zagreb. All spoke English (very common in Croatia). They can give you specific information about travel to and from PL. Buses in Croatia are a very good approach to get around.
If the bus is not running, I would consider a private car. Often this is not an expensive way to travel in the FRY. If you could find another person in your party to travel with, you could split costs.
It's quite an easy day trip by car, if you just want to rent one for the day, assuming no snow to deal with. But I can't imagine why the public buses wouldn't be running.
I suggest staying at hostels. Hostels offer numerous programs and you can meet travel buddy.
