If you're heading to continental Croatia, making your way from the coast to Zagreb... Why not stop off at the incredible Plitvice Lakes while it isn't too crowded?
It seems as if everyone is talking about the rather strange and slow tourist season of 2019. While Croatia is usually sizzling under the beating sun and the streets are completely thronged with foreign tourists, this year appears a little different indeed.
It seems, at least according to some sources, that it isn't just Croatia that is suffering a considerable drop on tourists and likely tourism revenue this summer, and that thanks to the return of Mediterranean rivals such as Turkey and even Egypt, even the likes of Greece and Spain have recorded a drop in figures.
One of Croatia's top continental attractions is the absolutely stunning Plitvice Lakes, and according to Poslovni Dnevnik/Radmila Kovacevic/VL on the 17th of July, 2019, there appears to be no overcrowding in Croatia's most famous national park this year. A somewhat unusual situation for this time of year.
During the first half of this year, Plitvice Lakes sold 625,000 tickets, and difference this year is that tickets are sold in advance, and can be purchased online. Those aforementioned 625,000 tickets which have been sold are at the same level as they were last year. As stated, the only real difference is that you can now purchase them online, and the tickts state the exact time that the guest intends to enter the national park. All of that is an attempt to avoid crowds and long waiting times.
The director of Plitvice Lakes National Park, Tomislav Kovačević, has stated that waiting times at the park have been drastically cut when compared to how things used to be. He stated that now a wait is about 15 to 20 minutes, and that is when waiting to board a boat.
He also says that without pre-purchased tickets from online, it's best to avoid the period between 09:00 and 13:00, because at those times things are usually closed for guests who come without having purchased online tickets beforehand.
During the most frequented days at NP Plitvice Lakes, there can be as many as 14,300 visitors. The same as last year, when the number of daily visitors exceeded 14,000 in one week.
Follow our dedicated travel page for much more.
