Plitvice Lakes & Krka National Park

Stairs up to the top of Roski Slap….

River Rocks at Krka National Park

Krka Falls

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Romper: Express (sold out) | Shoes: Converse | Straw Bag: Athleta (50% off!) | Bikini: Tori Praver for Target (top/bottom)

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Our next stop after Zagreb was Plitvice Lakes National Park. If you have the time you absolutely need to go to Plitvice Lakes! The park is located about 2.5 hours from Zagreb and Split and acts as a great mid-way point between the two cities.

Plitvice Lakes is a sprawling national park with 16 sapphire blue lakes and countless waterfalls. You’ll walk along a winding, narrow pathways hovering just inches above the crystal clear water and alongside stunning waterfalls.

I’ve never seen water so clear in my entire life! I mean wow. The surface of the water looked like a sheet of glass-  you could easily see every twig on a fallen tree at the bottom of the water.

Krka National Park is a similar setting, but a different experience. Unlike Plitvice, you can swim! It’s also a much smaller park and only about an hour from Split. We followed a 30-minute wooded trail that led to the base of the largest waterfall in Krka. Once we got there we took a quick swim in the cool clear water. There is a bit of a challenge to overcome before you can actually swim though… (scroll down to my pro-tips to see what I’m talking about!).

**In hindsight I would have spaced out our trip to Krka and Plitvice. This sounds so jaded, but after a day of seeing gorgeous waterfalls, you become jaded to seeing equally as beautiful sights the next day.**

About a 30-minute drive from the main entrance of Krka is a spot called Roski Slap. We took a short stop here for lunch at a small family restaurant where we ate a buffet of fresh prosciutto, cheese, bread and tomatoes.

After eating we had the option of taking a dip in the Krka River or climbing 564 stairs to the top of a surrounding mountain. We opted for the climb. The stairs lead to a stunning panoramic view of the Krka River. It was quite a trek but totally worth the view! There is also an ancient cave located at the very top of the stairs.

On our way back to Split, we made a short stop in the town of Sibenik (located about an hour from Split). Sibenik was one of the main locations where Game of Thrones was filmed! We only spent about an hour here and were so exhausted from swimming and hiking once we arrived so we didn’t really get a chance to explore this little city. Instead we helped ourselves to a cappuccino at a cafe located next to small botanical garden.

Pro-tips for getting the most out of your trip to Krka National Park & Plitvice Lakes

• Get to Plitvice as early as you possibly can! I mentioned in my last post, but Plitvice can see up to 20k visitors per day. One, it can be extremely hard to walk around. Two, you won’t get the pictures you’re hoping for with hundreds of other tourists in the background. Three, this is a physical day of activity so try to beat the the afternoon heat.
• If you want to swim at Krka National Park, go the opposite direction of the signs. Krka is set up in a circular trail that ends at the shore of the largest waterfall. We only wanted to swim and see the waterfall, but following the direction of the set path took us forever to get there (about 30 minutes). When you arrive walk the opposite direction of the “Walk this Way” signs and you will be at the swim spot in 5 minutes!
• Bring water-shoes!! Oh, you didn’t know water-shoes are the hottest shoe of summer? Well, in Croatia they are! Krka was only the first instance where I found myself wishing for some rubber water shoes. To actually enter the water, be prepared for a challenge. You have to jump from a 4 foot bank into about a foot of water and then climb across 3 yards of slick river rock to finally get to a deep enough point to swim. **If you aren’t interested in swimming and need a good laugh, spend some time people watching on the bridge overhead. Watching everyone slowly scale the river rock like baby deer was absolutely hilarious!
• Bring a waterproof camera or GoPro. You won’t have to worry about a small slip or misstep when your camera is waterproof. You’ll also be able to get some amazing pictures of the falls!
• Bring a lock. Krka is more than just a tourist destination, but also a local swim spot. There were lots of people and while everyone seems to just leave their stuff on the bank of the water, you do eventually lose sight of your stuff. If you have valuables (like your passport, cameras, wallets, etc.) bring something to lock your stuff to a tree. I felt fine leaving our things without it, but it did offer peace of mind and having a passport potentially stolen in another country is just not worth it.

After a very full day of hiking through Plitvice Lakes we arrived in Split on Saturday evening. Our Airbnb was located just 5 minutes away from the bus drop off point and the Riva. I’ll be talking about 10 things to do in Split in my next post!

Wearing Tori Praver for Target in the last photo! I am a huge fan or Tori Praver swimwear, but it is a little out of my price range. I was so thrilled to see her line, Seafoam, at Target! I linked some of the other pieces from the line below (all under $50!).

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I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! Jordan unfortunately had to go back to school on Sunday so I had myself a very low key holiday weekend.

I’ve been making some updates to the site and just added a cleverly named ‘Shop My Look‘ section! Check it out to shop all of the looks you see on my Instagram.

Thanks for reading everyone 🙂

*Melissa