Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 9.
8/8 Day 9: Walked route K on Plitvice Lakes National Park. Arrived at entrance 2. Took bus from Station 2 to Station 1. Walked to P2. Took boat from P2 to P1 to use toilet. Took boat back to P2. Continued on route K to see Vidikovac viewpoint. Walked back to Station 3. Took bus from Station 3 to Station 2. Spent 7.5 hours.
Cost
(1) Parking fee Plitvice Lakes National Park EUR2 per hour - 8 hours for EUR16
Food
(1) Lunch Bistro Vucnina EUR12,17 - Shared 2 pizzas, 4-cheese pizza EUR14, salami pizza EUR12. Schweppes 250ml EUR3,50
(2) Dinner Vila Velebita EUR23,33 - shared bread EUR3, shared grilled vegetables EUR4, grilled sausages with fried potatoes EUR17, Twist lemon 500ml EUR4.
The Story
09082025: Today, we continue our walk in Plitvice Lakes National Park on route K to see the Lower Lakes and the great waterfall. Yesterday, we did route E and a bit of route B. We reflected on how well-maintained and marked the trail is, how great that there is a boat and bus to shorten the walk and how easy the walk is. We thought that there was lack of excitement in the walk. Yes, we are in the nature but it was nicely curated. Every angle and corner became similar and the novelty of seeing the blue lakes wore off. Also, we know that they want to attract tourists and make it accessible for everyone so the simple and managed trails were good. It also explains the high ticket price - it is expected for the trail to be maintained and clean as well as the availability of bus and boat.
Back to today's story. Breakfast was compiled by us. We got similar food (yoghurt, bread, cream cheese, sliced ham, juice) as served in the accommodation's hotel, except egg and croissant. Cheaper for us by preparing our own. EUR4,63 vs EUR10. I brought coffee sachets during the trip so we could have our coffee.
We left the accommodation at 8am, found a parking spot and did a leisure walk to entrance 2, as we knew how long it will take us. No hurry this time as this is our second day. So, we can enter the national park at any time and at any entrance, according to a staff. It was not stated in the website though, on the rules for 2-day ticket. We did not want to take any chances and arrived before 9am at entrance 2. Our ticket is the 8am ticket and entrance 2. One has a one-hour period to arrive. Today, we will do route K to see the Lower Lakes and the great waterfall.
To get to route K starting point, we took a bus in front of entrance 2. We are at Station 2 and headed for Station 1. It does not state route K on the signboard but we know route K goes from Station 1 too as we saw in the map. There was no timetable on when the bus is supposed to arrive. We waited for about 35 minutes.
Station 1 is close to entrance 1 where one can park there too. It would have been easier to choose entrance 1 as starting point and go on route K.
Here, I can see the upper and lower lakes. A sign in the national park explained about upper and lower lakes.
The lake system of Plitvice Lakes consists of 16 larger and named lakes, and a large number of smaller and unnamed lakes. The lakes are separated by tufa barriers and cascade in a series of waterfalls into a unique water system. The length of the water line from the first to the last lake is 9km, the height difference is 133m and the total volume of all lakes is about 30 million m3.
The Upper Lakes are made up of 12 lakes separated by tufa barriers. The lakes have mild and indented shores and lay atop watertight dolomite bedrock from the Triassic period. The difference in altitude between the 2 largest lakes, Proscansko and Kozjak, is about 100m.
And you wonder what is a tufa barrier.. me too. Read on.
Tufa is a hollow, porous rock created from the deposition of dissolved calcium carbonate in the water by plants, algae and mosses. The water of the Plitvice Lakes is oversaturated with dissolved calcium carbonate in the form of calcium bicarbonate. The process of tufa formation dates way back into the geological past, but only during periods with a warm and wet climate, similar to the climate today. Each barrier has its own growth dynamics, some grow faster, other slower. In some cases the downstream barrier grows faster than the upstream barrier, submerging the upstream barrier, and making two previously separated lakes into one. Today, the tufa barriers are actively growing, and this biodynamic structure is constantly changing the appearance of the lakes and the waterfalls.
So, the lakes we see today can change in a hundred years later depending on the barrier growth or fall (if a barrier break).
About half an hour later, we reached the Great Waterfall and joined a large crowd of tourists taking photos of the waterfall. I did too. The waterfall has a height of 62m and 87m when measured down to Korana river. You can see from the signboard in the photo that the waterfall is not at its peak performance. There is much more water during high water season. I stood on a large rock to get the photo, otherwise I would have blended in with the crowd.
I enjoyed standing with the reeds. I saw workers in the park repairing the boardwalk. I was impressed with their handiwork. The boardwalk is sturdy and flat to walk on.
We arrived at P3 where there is a boat stop too. The boat from P3 brings the passengers to P2. There was a very long queue for the boat. Some spots were not shady so it was a very hot wait for some tourists. We were headed for P2 too but we did not take the boat from P3 as we wanted to walk on the trail so that we can say that we have walked and experienced the national park. It is our thing - to 'experience'. To get an idea of the distance, you can refer to photo 41 of the national park map in this post. Or you can go into the national park's website.
We used the toilet here and I took the opportunity to take a photo of the price of food and drink served in the bistro. It is so hot that there was no one sitting outside. Everyone was in the shade.
A 500ml bottle of radler, beer or Hidra carbonated drink costs EUR4,10. Not extremely expensive. My most expensive Hidra was on Sumartin island (outside of Makarska) for EUR4,30. My cheapest Hidra was EUR3 in a small village on our drive from Makarska to Plitvice. I saw some tourists getting food here. Well, one can be really hungry from the long walk.
Happy that we were walking among the trees. There were not many walkers here since there is the option to take the boat from P3 to P2 and to P1. From P1, it is a short walk to entrance 2.
After 1 hour and 20 minutes, we reached the boat stop P2. We took the boat to P1 so that we can use the toilet and have our lunch. We had nuts and bread.
After our lunch break, we took the boat from P1 to P2.
We continued on route K towards Vidikovac sightseeing point. This route is not child-friendly and not for those with walking difficulties. It is an upwards trail. There are not many walkers here.
Some information about the viewpoint which I took at Station 3 yesterday.
We arrived at the sightseeing point 1 hour and 15 minutes later. I was so happy as I did not need to walk uphill anymore.
It was scorching hot when we reached. There is no shade at the viewpoint. I saw two couples who found a small shade to rest and eat.
Time to go down. We walked towards Station 3 and took the bus to Station 2 where we walked back to the parking lot.
45 minutes later, we reached Station 3. We waited for the next bus. A very long queue was there when we arrived.
Today's parking fees are for 8 hours. The fees are by hours and no minutes are counted.
We had pizza for lunch. We were so hungry and tired. Big mistake of having two pizzas because it was close to dinner time (it was already 3.40pm) and we were not too hungry for dinner so I could not enjoy my dinner.
For dinner, we drove to a nearby restaurant and I tried to look for the smallest portion. Mistake in ordering bread. The waiter gave us two portions of bread although we told him that we wanted one portion. We could not finish the bread. It was 7pm and we were not fully hungry. Maybe the exhaustion did not give us any appetite too, not to mention that it was only 3 hours 20 minutes since our lunch.
I was very tired of fried potatoes by now.
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