I'm sure many of you are shocked to see that Brett and I did more than just eat on our Babymoon this summer. Yes, the first half of our trip was definitely focused more on exploring cities and enjoying delicious food, but the second half of our trip had a lot more nature and adventure aspects. Brett was the one who chose to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and I'm so glad he did the research and included this park in our trip. After many days of walking through cities and eating everything in sight, it was a wonderful change to be out in nature and live off of simple meals made in our hotel room.
For those of you who don't know (just like me before I went), Plitvice Lakes is a national park located in central Croatia. The park is made up of 16 terraced lakes which are connected by waterfalls. There are lots of different walking/hiking trails and wooden walkways over clear, teal water. You can choose to walk shorter distances or take longer routes around large lakes or through the woods to see the lakes and waterfalls from higher angles.
To get to Plitvice Lakes, we had to take two buses from Budapest and we didn't arrive until well after dark. Thankfully the bus stop where we finished our journey was only a short walk away from our cute airbnb. We just had to be careful on the poorly lit, windy road as we pulled our luggage up some gravel hills to find our accommodations.
One of the main things that stood out to me from our short time in Plitvice Lakes was how friendly and helpful our Croatian hosts were. We arrived late at night and they had stayed up to welcome us and helped us get settled into our room. Then early the next morning their son offered to drive us to the park entrance so that we didn't have to walk the 2 km to get there.
After a good night sleep, Brett and I woke up early the next day in order to get to the park before it opened. We wanted to wait in line so we could enter the park right at 7 AM. The air was so crisp and cool that morning and it smelled like snow. It was so refreshing to be out in the mountains amidst beautiful trees after spending so much time walking around different crowded cities.
Getting into the park was easy and we enjoyed having a less crowded park to explore early in the morning. It's best to get to the park as early as possible, because lunch time is the most crowded part of the day. I ended up barely taking any photos during our long adventure in the park, so most of these photos were taken by Brett on his iPhone!
We decided to take the longest walking route in order to see as much of the park as possible. I'm so glad we did, because we were able to see the lakes as well as some beautiful waterfalls from a higher view. Even though I was 3 months pregnant, I thankfully felt so good the entire day and Brett and I ended up walking 13 miles total throughout the park.
One thing I will mention is that the national park feels like it's located in a food dessert. Thankfully I had packed some snacks, but it was hard to find a grocery store or restaurant to eat at once we left the park. Thankfully we eventually found both. Throughout the park there are little cafes where you can stop for sandwiches, burgers, pastries and coffee, but there aren't many, or any, vegan/healthy options. Definitely take lots of snacks to help fuel all of your walking!
Okay, I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking!
We ended up having to walk 2-3 kilometers after leaving the park in order to find a grocery store and a restaurant and then the get back to our airbnb. I was exhausted by the time we made it back to our room and ended up sitting in bed watching movies the rest of the day.
It was a wonderful day of activity and exploring and Brett and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together!
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