Plitvice Lakes Guided Group Tour from Split, Trogir or Omis

Departing from Split, Trogir or Omis

This Plitvice Lakes day trip collects travellers from three points on the Dalmatian coast. Split, Croatia's second city, is the main departure at 07:00; Trogir, the walled medieval island town west of Split, follows at 07:30; and Omis, the small town at the mouth of the Cetina River gorge to the south, starts earliest at 06:05. Choose the option nearest to where you stay, so you can sleep a little longer and avoid a trip into Split.

Ticket check-in is thirty minutes before departure, when you also pay the park entrance in cash in euros. The drive to Plitvice takes about three hours, climbing from the coast through the stony Dalmatian hinterland into the forested Lika region, with a café break of about thirty minutes on the way. The vehicle is air-conditioned with WiFi, which makes the long road easy.

The Lower Lakes and the canyon viewpoints

Your guide begins the walk in the Lower Lakes, the four lakes that lie in a deep limestone canyon at the northern end of the park. The first highlight is the view from the canyon rim: from here the lakes appear as a staircase of vivid blue and green pools, linked by white cascades and edged by wooden boardwalks. This is the classic picture of Plitvice Lakes, so take your time with photos.

The path then zig-zags down to the water and follows boardwalks right over the lakes, past caves in the cliffs and small falls. The water is so clear that you can see fish and fallen trees coated in pale travertine on the lake bed. Starting here, in the most spectacular part of the park, means you see the highlights while you are fresh, before the gentler walk through the forest.

The Great Waterfall and Sastavci

At the end of the Lower Lakes canyon stands the Great Waterfall, Veliki slap, where the Plitvica stream drops 78 metres from the plateau into the gorge. It is the highest waterfall in Croatia and is at its most powerful in spring, when snowmelt swells the stream; in late summer it becomes a delicate veil of white water. A short path leads close to its base, where you feel the spray.

Just below, at Sastavci, the waters of all the lakes pour together in a series of cascades and become the Korana River, which flows on towards central Croatia. Your guide explains how the travertine barriers formed and why the park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, protects every metre of shoreline. Swimming is forbidden, and visitors stay on the paths to protect this living landscape.

Lake Kozjak boat ride

From the Lower Lakes, the route continues to Lake Kozjak, the largest lake in Plitvice, which separates the two halves of the park. Here you board a quiet electric boat for the one-way sightseeing ride included in this tour. The crossing takes around twenty minutes and lets you rest your legs while enjoying views of forested hillsides rising straight from the green water.

Kozjak is also the deepest lake in the park, and its colour changes from jade to deep blue as clouds move over it. In autumn the beech woods around it turn copper and gold, one reason many travellers say the best time to visit Plitvice is September or October. The boat lands near the start of the Upper Lakes, where the second part of the walk begins.

The Upper Lakes and the panoramic train

The Upper Lakes are twelve lakes stepped gently through the forest, separated by moss-covered travertine barriers over which countless small waterfalls spill. The boardwalks here run just above the water, past reeds, wild ducks and trout in the shallows. The atmosphere is softer and greener than in the canyon, and the sound of water is constant all around you.

To finish the day, you ride the park's panoramic train, open-sided carriages that run along a forest road above the lakes and bring you back towards the exit with glimpses of the water between the trees. Combining walking trails, a boat ride and a train ride lets you see more of Plitvice Lakes National Park in four hours than most visitors manage alone. The group then returns to the coast in the evening.