Plitvice Lakes National Park during COVID-19

Croatia should be on everyone’s travel bucket list. During our family trip around the world, we prioritized a trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park during COVID. This was an easy drive from Piran, Slovenia. There are public transportation options to arrive at Plitvice Lakes, but it is better to drive yourself. Rental cars are cheap in Croatia. However, a Croatian rental car typically cannot be returned back in Slovenia. Therefore, we picked up and returned our rental car to Slovenia. It cost around $40 to add the Croatian border crossing. You can read about top tips (learning from all of Jon’s mistakes) for driving a rental car in Europe here (coming soon).

We arrived in Croatia without any difficulties at the border. Our CDC vaccination cards continue to work without problems, and our kids did not require testing. We drove straight to entrance 1 of Plitvice Lakes. Parking is easy and well-marked but is not free. You can see all of our costs broken down below.

If you look at pictures online, the park is stunning. However, it can also get VERY crowded. By traveling to Plitvice Lakes National Park during COVID, we enjoyed all of the beauty with VERY few people. We also went in late October when the summer crowds had left and the autumn colors were stunning! To get the most of these amazing surroundings, plan to do a lot of hiking. We only planned 1 day in the park, so walked about 10 miles over 6 hours in our attempt to see everything. This was much easier because there weren’t crowds blocking the walkways.

Entrance tickets to the park include the use of 2 types of shuttles: by boat and by panoramic tram. We used each of these once. The trails are well marked within the park (one exception, see below), and you can pick a suitable route based on total distance. Pro tip: the boat and tram do not replace the experience of walking the paths. Plan and prepare to walk as much as possible. The main routes on the walkways are flat and easy, so only use the shuttles where necessary.

Off the Marked Trail

When you look at the map, it appears as if a trail takes you to the top of the biggest waterfall. There are stairs at the bottom, but during our visit, the steps were marked for descending only. Therefore, you need to use an alternate route up to the top. This requires hiking up alongside the road from P3 (well marked) for about 10 minutes. When you see paths to your right continuing up the hill, join the hiking paths. They arrive at several overlooks of Plitvice Lakes, with the final 2 giving amazing views of Veliki Slap, the biggest waterfall. This is absolutely worth doing. We also hiked around the waterfall to view it from the opposite side, where there are 2 more viewpoints. Then, return back to the spot we marked on the picture to climb the stairs back down to the base of the waterfall.

Cost breakdown for an overnight visit to Plitvice Lakes National Park

• We did not use any kuna during our 2 days in Croatia – everything we did accepted card payments, which isn’t the case in many parts of Europe. This saved us from needing to withdraw a small amount of kuna and was very convenient.
• $14 – total toll cost for driving in Croatia.
• $65 – entrance to Plitvice Lakes
• $25 – 2 cappucinos, 2 muffins, 1 large sandwich, 1 order french fries at the P3 restaurant
• $5 – second round of cappucinos
• $14 – parking at entrance 1
• $44 – wonderful Crotian dinner at Gurman Restaurant
• $148 – rental car for 2 days with pick-up and return in Slovenia
• $60 – fuel cost for driving (7 hours total in the car)
• $52 – 1 night at this wonderful Airbnb

The entire cost of the trip was $427. That is definitely more expensive than our typical 2-day budget but is definitely worth the detour if you are within a few hours of Plitvice Lakes. We would rate this area as one of the most naturally beautiful places in the world that we’ve had the privilege of visiting!

Croatia was one of our stops during a year-long trip around the world!  To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for traveling to Plitvice Lakes, let us know!