Croatia's National Parks: Krka vs Plitvice Lakes (Which One Is Right for You?)

If you're planning a trip to Croatia and wondering whether to visit Krka National Park or Plitvice Lakes National Park, this episode is for you. We've been to both and they are not the same experience at all.

Krka is an hour from Split, manageable in half a day and a genuinely beautiful introduction to Croatia's waterfall parks. Plitvice is Croatia's oldest national park, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the most extraordinary places either of us has ever been. Sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls, turquoise water so vivid it looks unreal and wooden boardwalks that put you right in the middle of it.

We talk through what each park is actually like, how long to spend there, the best time to visit and which one to do first if you're doing both. We also cover what it's like to visit with a dog and the Rex swimming incident at Krka.

Find full show notes and photos at thegetawayz.com.

Transcript

Lisa and Erin 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Aaron. And this is the Getaways Podcast. This is we continue in spring. Actually, we've had a couple of good days.

lisa 0:12

We have. It was supposed to rain, but it did not. So something's coming up for us that we haven't really talked about, and that is we are moving.

Erin 0:19

We are moving.

Speaker 1 0:20

And staying in the Netherlands, but moving to another part of the Nether Netherlands.

Erin 0:24

My son got into a really good engineering school in Eindhoven.

lisa 0:30

Yeah. So next month we will be moving. So we will have different things to explore and different things to talk about. We'll also be a lot closer to Belgium and Germany. Yep. So I would imagine that, yeah, in Luxembourg. So I would imagine that we will be covering them in a little bit greater depth in the coming months and years.

Erin 0:47

And for all you people that are like lining up to come visit Eindhoven, we will we will get you covered.

lisa 0:52

But there is interesting stuff, and it's very close to Denbosch, which has interesting like the parade, like a weird parade. The flower parades are there this weekend. Like there's there's events that go on, even though it's a smaller city. A lot of expats too, because people are coming in for work there.

Erin 1:08

Lisa went to a new hairdresser the other day. And did you bring it up first?

Speaker 1 1:14

Yeah, I guess so.

Speaker 1:15

Oh I must have. And he lived there for what? I don't think it's for the young well, it is for the young kids.

Speaker 1 1:20

Well he lived there for 21 days. He's like, not that I was counting, I was counting.

Speaker 1:25

Oh, but it is for the young kids because there's a lot of universities there. So it's gonna be good for Dylan. It's gonna be good. We got a great house.

Speaker 1 1:33

Yeah, so we will we will be sounding a little bit different too, because we will be recording in a different place.

Speaker 1:38

Yes, we will have our new recording studio. So be on the lookout in one month.

Speaker 1 1:44

But today we are going back to one of I know I feel like I say this about everywhere, but one of the coolest places I think that we've been, and that's in Croatia.

Speaker 1:54

Lisa's homeland.

Speaker 1 1:55

My homeland. But to the waterfall parks to I'm gonna let you throw down the names.

Speaker 2:01

Okay. So the first one we went to was Okay, it's spelled K-R-K-A, and it's pronounced no, I can't roll my R, so you're just gonna have to forgive me. Kerka.

Speaker 1 2:13

Yeah. And Kerka is how an American would say it.

Speaker 2:16

Kerka. And then the other one, which is how we even found out about these national parks through Instagram posts. Right. Because I had never even heard of it, is when we went, we were living in Italy, so we thought we called it Plevit Pl Plevice, Plevice because uh but it's not, it's plitvitze. Plitvitze, it's P-L-I-T-V-I-C-E. So um as an American, we would have said plitvice. Right. But that's not what it is.

Speaker 1 2:47

But both are pretty extraordinary, but they have differences, and they're you know, I don't think that many people go to Croatia more than once besides us. So it's something that's very much a part of the country and something that you should experience, but you probably won't be able to do both of them unless you're there for quite an extended period of time. Yeah. So we were gonna kind of just spend today like running through the differences and maybe helping, if you're there, helping you kind of understand or describe what they both are so that you know what you're looking for and which one makes more sense for your trip.

Speaker 3:20

Yes. Now, from either Zagreb or Split, there's probably tours.

Speaker 1 3:26

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. You can do like a whole bus situation. Even if you drive yourself to the national to either national park, there's also guided tours. Yeah. And there's like boat situations that you can do. Like there's all kinds of crazy options on like get your guide and and Viator and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 3:44

Was it Kierka that we still had to park and take the bus? Yeah, yeah. When we get to that, beating my pants a little bit. I didn't really, but I it was scary to me.

Speaker 1 3:53

It was scary?

Speaker 3:53

Yeah, remember it was like the bus, and we were going down like cliffs, going like getting getting down to the canyon. You're gonna scare people. It was totally fun. Oh no, we're alive and it was great, and there was no danger. But in my head, we're on a cliff in a bus with somebody else driving. I have I have control issues.

Speaker 1 4:11

But okay, so yes, but that one we had to park then for Plitz A. Polit Plitz Vide? Plitzvitze. You can park like very, very close to the entrance. Yes and walk in. And both places you can buy tickets at the door. You can do it ahead, but I don't think it saves you any money either. No. And it's no more than like 15, the conversion of like 15 euros either place to get in.

Speaker 4:40

Now I don't know, and I should have probably researched this before this. I don't know if Plit Plitvice if they cap it in the summer, because we did not go in the summer. Yeah. Because you can't fit too many people in there.

Speaker 1 4:51

No, you can't. So okay, so here's the setup of both parks. They are a series of waterfalls and lakes that are all sort of connected. And the the way that guests and visitors see it is through wooden plank walkways that are very organic to nature. Like they cut they go right into you go right over the water, you go right over the meadows or the foliage, but you're you're very much in it without being obtrusive, I feel like.

Speaker 5:25

Correct, correct.

Speaker 1 5:26

So both but both of those have that element of the the uh incredible waterfalls, all the water being connected, lakes, all of it, and they all have they both have surfaces, they both have places where you can stop and eat, but you'll sp you'll spend a different amount of time in one from the other. But all right, so now with that setup.

Speaker 5:48

Should we start with what we did first?

Speaker 1 5:50

Yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 5:50

So we did Kierka first. We were staying in Split or an island right off of Split. And so it's about an hour drive from Split. It's a it's the smaller park, it's definitely the smaller. And there's less waterfalls at this one. There's there's a few very powerful ones, but when we get to Blitz Vista, that that's just it's a whole nother world.

Speaker 1 6:15

It's a whole nother world.

Speaker 6:16

But so Kirka, like I said, we we drove for an hour from Split, which was easy and beautiful, and we parked, and then we had you then you take a bus that takes you from the top down into the gorge, I guess, kind of is what it is. It's famous for the Skdensky Book waterfalls. I think that was that really super big one, yeah. And they used to allow swimming, which we were really excited about, but once we got there, they don't swim.

Speaker 1 6:45

And I will say that we were there in summer and it was quite crowded. I mean, it was manageable, but it was quite crowded. And the bus was, we had Rex with us. And the which speaking of swimming, he went swimming.

Speaker 6:58

He went swimming. He wasn't supposed to, but he enjoyed a dip in the lakes.

Speaker 1 7:01

Yeah, he kind of, and we had no way, it was so funny because he we were walking on the wooden plank, and then he sort of just took his own little way and he jumped into the water and it was warm. Yeah, so I don't blame him because I would have too. But what he didn't realize, and what we didn't realize is that it was deep.

Speaker 7:17

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:17

Because he then kind of disappeared and came back up and was actually swimming because I thought he was just gonna walk through the water and then oh no, he was doing the and we didn't get in trouble. No, no, no, no. Well, I I'm not entirely sure that he even meant to. I think it was like he was walking and all of a sudden he was like, Oh yeah, I'm in the water. Yeah, that's what I tell people at least. But it was disappointing that you couldn't swim, but yeah, there was a lot of people, so it probably is a pollution situation.

Speaker 7:42

Yeah, and honestly, yes, a pollution situation. And honestly, like it would take away from the moment. I feel like if you're walking and enjoying the beauty, and then you hear a bunch of cannibal, yeah. Like, no, thank you. Yeah, I didn't see fish. Did you see fish? There's gotta be fish. I don't remember, but so like I said, there used to be swimming, not not anymore. Along your journey at Kirka is there's monasteries, there's a lot of viewpoints. We've got a lot of pictures. I was gonna post something this week, and a lot of rivers.

Speaker 1 8:12

A lot of rivers, yeah.

Speaker 8:14

And yeah, it was a really nice introduction.

Speaker 1 8:17

Yeah. And so for there, like I said, there's services, so you can stop and get lunch or ice cream or a cold drink or whatever you want. But I would say a couple hours to allow for to go there.

Speaker 8:30

At least. But not more than three.

Speaker 1 8:32

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it it's like a it's a half day, yeah, including your drive, but certainly worth it. I mean, it's beautiful.

Speaker 8:40

Now, what they did have that I don't I don't remember Plavitzi Plavitse having is like they had a lot of like souvenir shops and cantinas. Like it was, it was touristy.

Speaker 1 8:54

Well, it's a little bit closer to civilization too. So it's I think it is the one that's easier to go to, and and so they have a lot more of you know, sort of the touristy stuff.

Speaker 9:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1 9:08

That is also not a World Heritage site, and the other one is. Correct. So I think that it probably gets a little bit more prestige with because there was that one shop, right? When you go in, remember we got the playing cards there.

Speaker 9:20

Yeah.

Speaker 1 9:21

Um but it's not there's nothing along the way in movies.

Speaker 9:24

And then towards the end, there were like places where you could eat, and then like that weird-looking saloon thing that had the mannequin out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, like so it was it, it felt it it definitely catered to tourism, and probably because it is closer to civilization, you're right about that.

Speaker 1 9:39

Yeah.

Speaker 9:39

Like I said, it's an hour from split, and if you're going to Croatia, you you need to see Split anyway. So they're both super popular, but the Kierka, it you feel like you have a little bit more space. And we'll get to it with Plavitsky because you're on in Plavitsky. I don't forgive me for how we're trying. Um you're on the boardwalk a lot.

Speaker 1 10:02

Right.

Speaker 10:03

A lot, and it's it's narrow.

Speaker 1 10:06

Right.

Speaker 10:06

So you're not like passing people.

Speaker 1 10:09

I think that's kind of all I have to say about Kirk, though. Do you have something else about it?

Speaker 10:11

Yeah, it's it's easy, it's it's flexible, it's shorter than the other, it's connected to civilization.

Speaker 1 10:18

Yeah. So then we can now start talking about Plit Visa, which is Croatia's oldest and largest national park. It was the the first national park declared, and then like I said, it's also a World Heritage site.

Speaker 10:33

Since 1979.

Speaker 1 10:35

Yeah. It is also a bit of a trek. It is right on the Bosnia and Herzegovania border, and it is it is not a it is not a bustering metropolis near it. No. It's it's very rural, it's very, you know, like there are places to stay, but they're all either Airbnbs, BBs, tiny little hotels. There are some restaurants, but they're pretty few in Far B Sway.

Speaker 11:00

We stayed at an Airbnb, what, within a 10-minute drive of the park? Yeah. And like we had to cook in that night because there's nowhere to eat, really.

Speaker 1 11:08

Yeah. There were the grocery store was close. And there was like, you know, a couple like, you know, mom and poppy neighborhood restaurants, but a lot of them were connected with hotels, the hotels too. But you know, when I say hotels, I'm talking about like motel, 10 rooms, tops. Like most most are, you know, converted houses that run out room kind of things as Airbnbs or or you know, just rooms for rent.

Speaker 11:33

We stayed in a really it was nice. Yeah.

Speaker 1 11:36

And we had an enormous, enormous property.

Speaker 11:39

It was huge. The owners lived on top of the top floor. Yeah. But it wasn't, it didn't feel weird. But I was I remember being very scared of bears when I would take wrecks out at night.

Speaker 1 11:49

Well, it's super rural. And dark. I mean, it's you're out there. Yeah.

Speaker 11:53

Are there bears in Slovenia? I mean in Croatia.

Speaker 1 11:56

I have no idea.

Speaker 11:57

There's probably not, but in my head, there's bears everywhere.

Speaker 1 11:59

But it's the kind of thing where if you come, if you go there to visit, you go there to visit, and then you'd probably want to spend the night somewhere, but it's not like you're going to like you're seeing rural countryside Croatia. You are not in any kind of city or any kind of like, you know, it's it's a bit it it's a two-hour drive from Zagreb. So that makes for a long day because you want to spend the whole day at the time. The bus, right?

Speaker 12:26

You do the tours, but it is it's a two-hour drive. So you can base out of Zagreb if you want to.

Speaker 1 12:31

Right.

Speaker 12:32

But we we went there first for we spent two nights there.

Speaker 1 12:37

Yeah.

Speaker 12:38

And then then we went to Zagreb for Easter. Yeah. But it's worth, I mean, it is so beautiful.

Speaker 1 12:45

It is. It is. I mean, I don't use this word very often, but it is breathtaking.

Speaker 12:50

I mean, well, when we saw it on Instagram, right when we moved to Europe, we started getting more Europe-based travel posts coming up on our 40 page. And Lisa kept sending it and going, look at this, look at this. And I was like, Oh, we gotta go there. Yeah. And so we decided to do it, and I'm not sad.

Speaker 1 13:08

Well, and we had booked another place before we had tried to go before, and then the big C19 shut us down. Remember? We rented another house. Oh, yeah, we did. And um, and we were gonna go do it during the day. And then COVID, COVID had other plans. But the water is just like this ridiculous turquoisey blue-green. The waterfalls are enormous. I mean, like ridiculously large and loud and powerful, and you know, you can you can watch them forever, but there's so much to see. It's it's it's scope is enormous.

Speaker 13:47

Yeah, and there are so many waterfalls because what it is, it's 16 terraced lakes, not ponds, lakes that are terraced. So from the top, you've got waterfalls, then they're coming all the way down.

Speaker 1 13:59

I mean, it is so they're all the those lakes are connected by the waterfalls, and they are I mean, everywhere you turn, it's like, oh, oh, wait, I gotta take a picture that way. I gotta take a picture of that way. I mean, it literally is it's incredible. I mean, and and you are right in it on these wood planks. Yeah. I mean, you are you are literally getting like the breath of the waterfall in your face. Yes.

Speaker 14:27

And again, we went in and spring, so we wouldn't have wanted to anyway, but there's no swimming. There's no swimming. I don't think there's been swimming here for years and years and years.

Speaker 1 14:36

No, and I would imagine that it gets boiling hot in the summer.

Speaker 14:40

So and packed. I've seen videos where people, it's just like you're waiting in line at an amusement park. Like you have to step with the people in front of you. So go in spring or in winter.

Speaker 1 14:50

Even fall is probably lovely.

Speaker 14:52

Go like not and peek out because it was perfect.

Speaker 1 14:55

Like I don't know that I'd go in winter because it would freeze on that thing. So I would go fall, spring.

Speaker 15:01

But there was like, I don't know, less than a hundred people there when we were there.

Speaker 1 15:05

I mean, it was crazy. That's why it's hard for me to think that like there is gets more crowded or more difficult because it was so not our experience. You know, Kerka was there were a lot of people there. And there was, I mean, we could we could tell you, oh, there's the girl in the red coat because you kept seeing the the same people over and over again. If you know, if you were on the same path. But there's also tons of ways that you can walk and explore, and it's just the scope, like I said, is just enormous. So you could spend an entire day there, which we did.

Speaker 15:38

Yeah, we did.

Speaker 1 15:40

And we did have Rex with us that time too. And he, I mean, the crowd situation would be a problem with a dog if it was crowded.

Speaker 15:47

Yes.

Speaker 1 15:48

But but he had a fantastic job. He did.

Speaker 15:50

The only place that I got like where my muscles clenched was when we you have to take a boat from one place to the other side of a lake together. He did great though. He did, but it there were people, there were it wasn't crowded boat, but there were people enough that we were surrounded a little bit.

Speaker 1 16:07

Yeah, but you did a great job at the end.

Speaker 16:08

We did. He was pretty new to us then, though, too, wasn't he?

Speaker 1 16:12

Yeah. But yeah, again, the same thing. Like there's a place where you can grab lunch or you can pack in. I think we had hamburgers there, then. Yeah.

Speaker 16:19

Oh no, we had sandwiches like at a cabin outside.

Speaker 1 16:21

Yeah, and sat at like picnic tables.

Speaker 16:23

Yeah. Which is why I know there are bears because they had bear trash cans there.

Speaker 1 16:27

Oh, okay. Thank you. And there's that little tram, too, that you can take.

Speaker 16:32

That takes you to the different parking lots.

Speaker 1 16:34

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 16:34

From the like when you get to the far end, it'll take you back to all the different parking lots along the lake, which we took.

Speaker 1 16:40

Yeah. But like we said before, the parking lots are not terribly far. It's just the park is so big that if you are at one end and you decide that you're done, so that you have an option to get back.

Speaker 16:52

And I might be incorrect, but I do believe parking was free there.

Speaker 1 16:56

I think it was like two, the equivalent of two euro or something, if it was anything. It wasn't, it wasn't expensive. And like I said, getting in was I think 15 a person. So not an expensive day, and it is a full day.

Speaker 17:10

Yeah. I can't say enough about it.

Speaker 1 17:12

No, I know.

Speaker 17:13

Now I want to go back.

Speaker 1 17:14

But if you're going to either, you need shoes with grip because the the walkways can get a little bit slippery, and you're walking for a very long time on uneven surfaces.

Speaker 17:26

You're walking for and some sometimes you're on the actual rock.

Speaker 1 17:30

Right.

Speaker 17:30

And then sometimes you're on the walkways. But yes, it can get a little slippery. You are walking for hours.

Speaker 1 17:38

For hours and hours. So I would bring water, even if you're there in not hot weather. I would bring some sort of rain protection in case if you're in the room. Yeah. Yeah. And then, like I said, there are tours that can take you to specific places and have, you know, like we just kind of meandered at both places.

Speaker 17:58

Which is what I would do.

Speaker 1 17:59

I would recommend. Yeah. But if you're, like you said, if you're going from Zagreb and I mean, because that is a long day. Yeah. And you're taking the bus, like, you know, you'll you'll get the highlights with those people if you're limited on time.

Speaker 18:11

Yeah. Did we miss anything? I don't think we did.

Speaker 1 18:14

Like, yeah. But yeah, it's it is. It's, you know, and a lot of people go to Croatia and just think about like the Dalmatian coast and the islands and Dubrovnik, yeah, and like all of that. But inside the country, there is so much to offer. I mean, we took we already talked about Zagreb quite a bit, but these two places are a hundred percent like unique to anywhere else I've ever been. I've never seen any like that amount of and that kind of waterfall. It's a weird thing to say, but yeah, they're very specific.

Speaker 18:48

Yeah.

Speaker 1 18:48

And the lakes and the how sort of integrated and organic the walkways are, it just it's just a really, a really cool experience. So if you're in Croatia, plan half a day or a day to do either one of these, whichever you think suits you better. But if if I were giving advice on which to do, I would say plitzi.

Speaker 19:10

Yeah. Plavit.

Speaker 1 19:12

But if you if there's any chance you were gonna do both, you have to do karka first.

Speaker 19:16

Yes. Yeah, because if you do plice first, then karka's gonna be like I mean it's still lovely, yes, but it's it's nowhere near the grandeur of Plavice. All right, so that's our that's our two cents, man. Yeah, so if you're in Croatia and you're up in the northern area, I would definitely try to plan somewhere one of the two. Yep. Do it. Yep, all right. Well, thanks for listening. We'll see you next week. Check out the website www.thegetawayswithaze.com. And yeah, thanks. Thanks, guys. Thanks, everybody. Bye.