This European country is often famed for its links to Game of Thrones – but it also has another truly amazing feature to it.
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, for its stunningly beautiful landscape of picturesque lakes, caves and connected waterfalls, the Plitvice Lakes National Park attracts over one million visitors a year. This makes it the most popular tourist attraction in Croatia.
It is also one of the oldest in Croatia, founded in 1949 and is in the mountainous karst area in the centre of the country, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The park is most famous for its interconnected cascade lakes, 16 of which can be seen from the surface.
The system has formed as a result of a millennia of ongoing geological and biochemical processes, creating natural dams known as tufa barriers. They formed from the confluence of several small rivers and subterranean kast rivers.
They are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of 636 to 503 metres over a distance of about five miles. In total, the water body area is about 0.77 square miles, with the two largest (and deepest) lakes, Prošćansko jezero and Kozjak covering about 80 percent of this area.
They are renowned for their picturesque green, blue and grey colours, which change constantly depending on the quality of minerals, the organisms present in the water or the angle of sunlight, so no two visits are the same.
The upper lakes predominantly consist of dolomite rock, enclosed by thick forests, while the smaller, shallower and lower lakes largely consist of limestone rock. The former is flighty harder than the latter. From above, one can see the difference between the two sections, with several of the upper lakes forming parallel to each other, while the lower lakes are much larger and drill their path through the rock.
Of the 90 onsite, the highest waterfalls are the Large Waterfall at the end of the lower lakes, with a height of 78 metres, over which the Plitvica river falls and Veliki Prštavac at the upper lakes at 28 metres.
The site is also filled with green meadows and dense forests, as well as being home to lynx, brown bears, grey wolves, eagle owl and European wildcat and a broad range of plant, flower and tree species including beach, spruce and fir trees as well as 55 different species of orchid. 75 species of plants are endemic, meaning they were first defined and classified in this area of the world, or nearby.
During the summer months of July and August, temperatures rise to 17.4C, with an average relative air humidity of 81.8 percent. Meanwhile, in the winter, the hotspot becomes a snowy wonderland.
The Plitvice Lakes are about two hours from Zagreb and three from Split, with the nearest airports being Zadar, Zagreb and Rijeka. Using public transport, the lakes can easily be accessed via direct bus lines from Zagreb, Karlovac, Zadar or Split. Guided tours are available from the main cities in Croatia.
Worryingly, however, because of high tourism and illegal construction around the lakes, faecal waste has flowed down to surrounding woods and lakes without any treatment, so the water in the lakes is unfortunately polluted and no longer drinkable. As a result, in its current state UNESCO has threatened to remove the park’s status.
On Tripadvisor, the Plitvice Lakes has over 16,300 reviews, averaging at 4.5 out of five. One said: “Beautiful national park. Worth getting the coach from Zadar.”
Another added: “Absolutely stunning and well worth a visit,” while a third said “Amazing natural beauty and breathtaking views. Totally worth the trip.”