Plitvice National Park- Croatia

We planned a bit of a spontaneous trip to Europe back in April. Erik found out about two weeks before that he would be attending a conference in England for work. We'd been dreaming of visiting Croatia and Slovenia and flights were pretty reasonable so we decided to go spend the week prior to his conference traveling. We booked tickets and a week later we had arrived!

I took so many photos and after downloading following the trip found that my camera was apparently in need of some cleaning. There are some spots in the photos but oh well. My posts from the trip will still be mostly pictures.

We had a direct flight from Salt Lake to Paris and a short layover before landing in Croatia. We had rented a car and after we landed that evening we headed toward Plitvice National Park about 2 1/2 hours away. We wanted to  be able to be able to spend the whole next day enjoying the park.

We used a GPS app on one of the tablets to navigate which was very handy. It seemed like we were driving all over the countryside this way and that. At one point we stopped in a little village for some snacks and to confirm that we were indeed headed in the right direction.

Driving through the countryside, taking in the scenery, and listening to the radio got us even more excited about this trip.

One of the many sights during our drive.

 And now on to Plitvice. The weather felt nice but surprisingly, the leaves were still budding so there wasn't much greenery. But we gladly accepted that since we got to avoid the massive crowds that come with a visit during the peak summer season. The water was still vibrant blue and turquoise.

There were boardwalks all over the place and we spent the day hiking through it all. 

Some of the spring flowers in bloom.

There were too many waterfalls to count.

These lakes and falls just kept on going. 

I thought this little path made from trees was so cute.

Water seemed to be flowing all around.

A view from above when we hiked back through the woods looking down on the lakes. 

I think this picture might best capture the vibrant and beautiful color of the water in the park.

The boardwalks were so fun and I knew the kids would have loved it but I was also a little relieved to enjoy the park and lots of hiking without worrying about a little one falling in. Maybe one day we can go back.

Here's a map of the park. We did most all of the regular hiking trails plus a ferry ride across one of the longer lakes.

There was even a path leading through a little cave down to the water.

I'd definitely recommend a visit. Do yourself a favor and google some images to see what it looks like with greenery. It's a beautiful place!