One of our main reasons for visiting Croatia in 2018 was for their truly fantastic national parks. You've likely seen photos of the mesmerizing aqua blue water cascading down vegetated slopes at Plitvice National Park. It truly is a magical place, even on a gloomy spring day when the vegetation is more brown than green.
The eight Croatian National Parks are (get ready for some major letter salads with few vowels): Brijuni, Kornati, Krka, Mljet, Paklenica, Plitvice Lakes, Risnjak, and North Velebit. We visited two on our Croatian trip, Krka and Plitvice Lakes.
From our home base on the central Dalmatian coast in Zadar, we traveled an hour southeast to Krka National Park for a day trip. It was the Monday after Easter, which is a Croatian holiday, so the park was very crowded. There are several entries and different areas of the park and we inadvertently navigated to the Roski slap waterfall area. This was a less busy part of the park, but there were several interesting sites. The Roski slap consists of numerous cascades and travertine islands. The series of connected waterfalls is called the Necklaces by locals.
The thing that makes both Krka and Plitvice special is the travertine, a form of limestone that is deposited by mineral springs. This phenomenon makes the water appear a brilliant green that changes intensity and color based on the sun and sky conditions.
Skradinski Buk waterfall is the best-known waterfall on the Krka river. The wooden paths bring you out over rapids and grassy areas where water seems to be flowing everywhere. The Skradinski Buk waterfall is the stunning conclusion to this loop walk. Water was really crashing over the falls on the day we were there. In the summer the pool at the base of the waterfall is full of people. On our visit, we got wet even 300 meters away from the falls.
We had a quick stop in a lovely city, Sibenik, which is fairly close to Krka National Park. (See here for post on Zadar and Sibenik)
An hour and a half northeast of Zadar is the most well-known park in Croatia (and some say Europe) - Plitvice Lakes National Park. Plitvice is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The geological process that created this natural wonder is still at work today. Waters flow over the limestone and chalk and deposit travertine barriers, creating dams that have resulted in sixteen beautiful lakes, caves, and waterfalls. It’s really quite magical.
When we arrived, the parking lot had some significant snowbanks and the Upper Lakes portion of the park was closed due to ice. We traveled in the Lower Lakes portion of the park, which began with a 20-minute boat ride across the lake to the hiking trails.
The trails and wooden paths were very crowded (which can be painful for us), but the waterfalls were amazing. Even with the grey day, we felt the power of this place and its enormous beauty.
There is a reason this is the most visited place in Croatia!
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