Croatia - Plitvice Lakes

If you could only do one thing in Croatia, I would say that it has to be Plitvice Lakes. I have not seen anything to equal it in astonishing beauty + easy access. 

If Tolkien created Rivendell after visiting Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, then there is no telling what he would have imagined after visiting this gorgeous land of lakes and waterfalls. 

We have seen a fair number of waterfalls over the last 7 months of our world travels: Milford Sound in New Zealand, Tiger Leaping Gorge in China, Pipiwai Trail in Hawaii, and then, most recently the valley of 72 waterfalls in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Heck, I think Crab Tree Falls in Virginia is pretty stunning. 

But, at the moment, Plitvice Lakes tops them all. 

We stayed in nearby Rakovica so we could get an early start the next day. Our Airbnb in the country was most noted by the kids as having a cat. 

The kids were more excited about the cat than he was of them...

The tickets were in Croatian and the site to book them was confusing, but with a little online sleuthing we settled on booking Entrance 1 and planned to hike section C. There also was mention that we would also be taking a boat and a shuttle bus at some point, but it’s always a bit of a mystery how easy this will go. 

Fortunately, Plitvice Lakes was well marked and well organized. Once we arrived, it was very easy to figure things out. It’s a good thing too because there was a lot of people. 

However, once we got going the tour groups spread out, and we had lots of time and space to enjoy things. 

This following section was just above one of the main groupings of waterfalls.

Here is a video showing how many tiny waterfalls are intertwined with the bigger ones.

And despite the force of the water, the lakes were so clear and so blue. I've never wanted to jump in a body of water so much before. Alas, swimming isn't allowed.

The lakes just spilled over into yet more waterfalls into other lakes

At one point we took the boat to another section where there were still more waterfalls.

Towards the end, we saw the falls from a higher elevation and then entered the woods with shades and streams.

The paths were pretty and well-maintained. Some of them went just a foot or two right over rushing water. There weren't many handrails and with how beautiful it all was, I don't know how people weren't falling into the water.

This is definitely a return visit and would likely be stunning in any season.