Plitvice was our big day trip from Split. It was almost a three hour drive away and we had pre-booked our time-slot of 8am a few days earlier (it was the only slot remaining) so we set our alarms for 4.45am!

It was an easy drive (although long) and we arrived at Entrance 1 to the park. We went straight in (being the first time slot of the day meant it wasn’t too busy). There was a big sign saying first available ‘on the door’ tickets were at 1.45pm and there were lots of people who didn’t have tickets who were going to have a long wait.

Having spent the last week in temperatures of over 30 degrees it hadn’t occurred to us it wouldn’t be hot at Plitvice and we were all in shorts and t-shirts. Luckily Tom had a hoody in the car and I gave mine to Izzy to wear.

Once through the entrance it is a very short distance to a viewing platform which gave us the first views of the lakes.

^{Views of the Lower Lakes from just inside Entrance 1}

We were heading to the boats at P3 (as we wanted to explore the lower and higher lakes) so made our way down the path to the bottom. Although at this point Izzy said she didn’t feel very well – we realised it was because she’d just got out of the car from the long drive and then gobbled her lunch at 8am! We slowed down for a few minutes but then she was fine again.

We walked across wooden paths over the water and watched the fish swim. At one point we also saw some cray fish walking along the bottom of the lake. It wasn’t long before we were at the first waterfall, Veliki Slap or Big Waterfall!

We followed the path round the lower lakes. All the lakes were connected with little waterfalls and there were so many photo opportunities. It was also relatively quiet (especially compared to the crowds at Krka) but it was 8.30am!

^{Walking around the lower lakes}

We arrived at P3 where you can take a boat across Jezero Kozjac (the largest lake) to the Upper Lakes and P2. We had heard the queues for the boats could be long and although we didn’t get on the first boat it was perhaps a 10 minute wait for the next. We got seats right at the front which made Tom happy.

From P2 we followed the trail around the Upper Lakes to ST3 where we knew there was a cafe. It was much more busy here, so at times you were in a large group of people especially when we got caught up in one of the numerous coach tours.

^{Upper Lakes}

The waterfalls seemed larger in the Upper Lakes but I preferred the Lower Lakes as the water was so blue. It took quite a while to hike to ST3 and Izzy needed the bathroom so we had to walk quickly!

From ST3 you can hike back to Entrance 1 but we decided to take the shuttle train – kids had had enough of lakes and waterfalls by this point!!!

We visited the gift shop and the kids stocked up on crisps and chocolate for the 3 hour journey home. It was only about 1pm and the people who were waiting for tickets when we arrived would still have been waiting to get in – definitely book tickets in advance for Plitvice!

It had been a very long day with all the driving so for our final day in Croatia we decided to go to our local beach and let the kids use the waterpark and then hire some SUP boards.