Plitvice Lake with a Dog

Plitvice Lake with a dog is a great day out. We hired a car from Split and decided to stay the evening in the area so that we could make the most of the National Park without having to rush back to drop the car off.

Car Hire

We hired the car from Oryx. We found they were the cheapest and they allowed a pick up in the town. Our Air BnB was only a 10 minute walk from the office so it was pretty convenient. We picked up the car at 9am, although it opens at 8am. We chose a VW Polo but when we got to the office they said they didn’t have any left so gave us a free upgrade. So we ended up with a Kia Exceed and it was brand new with only 1,700km on the clock! It cost us €116.56 with the most basic insurance. That meant if we had an accident we would be liable to pay for the full amount.

The car itself was perfect for what we needed. It was brand new, so we covered all the seats with my blankets and towels so we didn’t get any hairs everywhere. We did check the T&C’s and it didn’t mention anything about no pets (which some hire car companies have in their small print) but even still we didn’t want to get hit with an extra cleaning fee. It’s a good job we did that as I had a little puke accident for some reason on the journey. So thankfully the towels saved the day!

The Journey There

We arrived at Plitvice Lake at about midday. So in total the journey took about 2.5 hours as we actually set off at about 9:30am. It took a bit of getting used to in the car as it was a manual and we were driving on the opposite side of the road as what we are used to. So we took it quite slowly and steadily whilst daddy got used to it.

We followed Google maps which took us on the toll road. It was quite expensive actually for a toll. It cost 84kuna, which is about €11! But what we have found amazing with Croatia is that everything is so well kept. So the roads are in excellent condition. Only cash is accepted and they ask you to have small change, so be prepared.

Parking & Tickets

There are 2 entrances where you can park, originally named entrance 1 and entrance 2. We chose entrance 2 as it was the first one was came to. This was the best choice in our opinion. The parking is quite far from the actual entrance to the park though, maybe a 10-15 minute walk. At the parking you can buy food and drinks. It’s also where you buy the tickets for the park. The tickets themselves are 300 kuna per person (approx €40) so it’s probably the most expensive National Park we’ve ever been too. It’s cheaper out of season. It was free for dogs.

You can also buy a 2 day ticket for 450 kuna if you wanted to come back the next day. But from our experience we did everything we wanted within the 1 day so couldn’t imagine coming back the next day.

You also had to pay for parking. Which I think is a bit cheeky when you are paying so much for the park itself. The parking was 60 kuna (approx €8) so also quite expensive. That was for 6 hours of parking so I guess it’s 10 kuna per hour. The parking area is very well kept and there’s space for lots of cars as well as lots of camper vans.

The Routes

There are a number of different routes that you can take in the park depending on how much you want to walk. A lot of the routes include a boat trip along the length of the lake. This takes out a huge chunk of the walking, and I guess is the route most people take. The queues for the boats were pretty big. You can then walk the short distance to the big waterfall. You would also have the option to walk back to the parking from here too. There’s also an option if you walk to the smaler waterfalls you can then take a bus back to the entrance 2 parking.

Our Route

We didn’t really do any research or even look at the map before setting off so we played it by ear. From entrance 2, you walk about 10 minutes downhill and it takes you straight to the boat terminal. We thought this took you around the lake but it simply takes you across the lake to the other boat terminal for the boat ride. It took literally 2 minutes to cross. It seems to wait until the boat is full though so you might wait a while out of season.

When we got to the other side the queue for the big boat trip was huge so we just started walking. We turned right which ended up being the route to take if you want to walk the whole way. Thankfully that was what we wanted to do, but could have been a big mistake if we were out for a leisurely stroll!

Had we turned left (which we did at the end of our big walk) it’s a much shorter, leisurely route. This was actually a really lovely park of the lake and had some smaller waterfalls. I’m glad we left that bit to the end as it was not really sheltered. So had we done that earlier, we would have been sweating and got burnt.

It turns out we pretty much did the longest route possible with a slight variation. We didn’t walk up to the bus stop at the end. However, we walked the whole way around the main lake to the main boat stop. We then carried on further up to the big waterfall and back.

Then walked all the way back to the boat stop at entrance 2. That was when we went back across on the boat and did the last little bit.

In total we walked 15.9km! It was certainly a good workout. I didn’t manage to walk the whole way but I got into my trusty K9 Sports Sack and still enjoyed the scenery from up top.

The National Park

The Plitvice National Park may be the most expensive park we’ve been to but it was amazing. It was actually well worth the money we paid. The whole place is so stunning. Even more amazing was that we didn’t see one piece of rubbish at all. We did pass 2 litter pickers en route but they didn’t even have anything in their bags. Also amazing was that the toilets were really well kept. They were clean, smelled nice and had plenty of toilet paper.

Of course the biggest attraction is the lake and the waterfalls and they were so stunning. The colour of the lake is incredible. The pictures really do not do it justice. You totally need to go here to see it for yourself.

We finally left the park about 6.30pm and it closes at 8pm. Our Air BnB was about a 15 minute drive away so we headed straight there to check in. It was a lovely little apartment.

Evening

A storm approached so we quickly headed out to grab some dinner. There were plenty of restaurants within walking distance to choose from. The first place we found allowed dogs and allowed us to sit inside! Unfortunately they had no main dishes left so we had to leave. Next door we found a pizza place and they also let us sit inside! Wow how amazing.

I got a window seat which was great. The food was pretty good too. We got a pizza and a spaghetti to share. The portions were HUGE! There was no way we could have eaten it all so we had to begrudgingly leave quite a lot.

The Journey Home

On the way back we decided to take the scenic route. Instead of taking the motorway, we headed towards Zadar. It took about an hour and a half to drive there. In Zadar we got out and took a walk around the town there. It was another Old Town and it was really pretty. Unfortunately it was super hot so we didn’t get to walk too far. We had a lovely lunch though.

We then drove down the coast back to Split. The scenery the whole way was stunning. It took us a lot longer going this way but it was definitely worth it. It took about 2.5 hours to get back to Split. We definitely recommend doing this too.

We had an amazing time at Plitvice Lake. I strongly recommend taking the trip to Plitvice Lake with your dog. It’s such an amazing day out. It’s also definitely worth spending the night if you can so you can make the most out of it. Given it’s quite expensive, it’s worth spending as much time as possible there. I feel that those who did a day trip from Split with a tour wouldn’t experience anywhere near enough time there.

Hope you get to go there one day. Check out what else I got up to on my trip around Europe on my main page.

Woof woof, Wylie x

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