Krka waterfalls in Croatia are the main draw of the park

Croatia’s Waterfall Parks: Krka National Park

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National Park Krka fallsIf you have not been to any of the national parks in Croatia, you are missing out. Holy fairytale land! We thought Island Hvar was beautiful, and it was, but the two parks we visited, Krka National Park and Plitvice National Park are so lovely in a totally different way.

In this first post I am going to share our experience at Krka National Park.

Scroll down for info on planning your own trip to Krka National Park in Croatia and the video!

Henry and I had seen photos of the famous Krka waterfalls on Instagram and knew we had to see them before leaving Croatia. We cut our month on Hvar short by a week to road trip to Zagreb, stopping along the way to get a dose of Vitamin N.

Since we visited Krka in December, there was practically no one else there. Iโ€™ve seen photos of the boardwalks so full of people that you canโ€™t pass โ€“ not my favorite way of seeing a place. It looks beautiful in warm, sunny weather, but we thought the mist added a little mystique. We were smitten.


Krka National Park skradinski buk

hiking Krka trails

Krka waterfall from skradinski buk

Visiting Krka National Park

We spent most of one day in the park, but didnโ€™t get to see everything. We took our time wandering over the boardwalks in the Skradinski buk (Lozovac entrance) section of the park. This is where you see the waterfalls and walkways that populate Instagram and give Krka its reputation for being a waterfall park.

A visit to the waterfall parks of Croatia could be squeezed into a longer Croatia road trip, although we just visited these two parks, Zadar, and Zagreb.
National Park Krka is filled with boardwalks
skradinski buk waterfalls

We then went around the south end of the park, stopping in Skradin for food supplies, and north to Roลกki slap. There we walked up river to some cascades and down river to the waterfall.

Sidenote: โ€œSlapโ€ is Croatian for โ€œwaterfallโ€ and every time someone said it, Henry made a slapping sound. Heโ€™d even try to trick us into saying it more often so he could make the sound. We have taken two words from Croatia; waterfalls will always be called slaps, and peanuts are forever known as kiki riki.

The Krka River flows through a karst topography, a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble limestone. It’s a region with sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns. The water dissolves the limestone and deposits some of that material into travertine ledges and other formations. Algae and moss also help encrust the crystals of calcium carbonate and play and important role in building travertine.

The travertine ledges form the seven waterfalls in Krka: Biluลกiฤ‡a buk, Brljan, Manojlovac slap, Roลกnjak, Miljacka slap, Roลกki slap and Skradinski buk.
Krka Park

Roลกki slap waterfallThere are also 20 archaeological sites in the park, but we were focused on the natural wonders. Anders and I did hike up over 500 steps to Oziฤ‘ana peฤ‡ina cave above Roลกki slap only to find out it was closed.Oziฤ‘ana peฤ‡ina cave above Roลกki slap

Stay Near Krka National Park

There are plenty of hotels, apartments, rooms, and other accommodations near Krka National Park. We stayed just outside Krka  Park in Lozovac. We used Airbnb to make our reservations, but Booking.com has a lot of rentals, too.

Our favorite site for vacation rentals is VRBO and there are a bunch in Croatia.

First-time Airbnb users can get $35 off with this link.


Getting To Krka National Park

We rented a car, but you could easily do a trip to either park on the bus. Once you are there, there are frequent busses and boats to move you around the park. Bus and boat rides are included in your park admission and many places you canโ€™t access via a car anyway.

Caveat: In winter there are no boat rides in Krka, but the busses were still running and you can drive directly to more areas.

We drove and made Krka part of a bigger road trip around Croatia, I’m already dreaming of other must-see places in Croatia.


Entrance Fees for 2017prices for Krka National Park fees

Note: Prices are in kuna, use a currency converter to figure out what this means to you.


Resources

Lonely Planet: Croatia Travel GuideLonely Planet: Croatia Travel Guide Krka National Park guidebook

A Guide to the River Krka and Krka National ParkA Guide to the River Krka and Krka National Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read About Our Time in Croatia

Krka National Park, Croatia: Where to go, what to see and do, where to stay.

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22 thoughts on “Croatia’s Waterfall Parks: Krka National Park”

  1. nicki coble

    I loved your article, it gave an enticing picture of a most beautiful place. Melynda I really do hope to visit it someday, I am always so impressed by the interesting and amazing place on our blue dot.

  2. Maria Gotta

    What a great capture of an amazing place! I like Anders’ comment after taking about dinosaurs trying to eat them – “but we still got an eye on the landscape” – love it!
    Thanks for sharing your year away with us!

    1. Yes, that sums him up pretty well. He knows what I want, he knows what he wants, and he assures me that he can make both happen ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Stunning. I love how the whole place is maintained as a forest with minimal external things as possible without looking like its manually landscaped! The wooden plank walkway is perfection!

  4. Beautiful waterfalls and trees! Good to know about the Slap, I would be making that joke constantly, too. Such a lovely park to explore with family.

  5. I love love love this place and I visited here two years ago for my birthday. Your pictures and post took me right back there. Great pictures and some good information, wish this was out before I went because I would have definitely noted it.

    1. So fun to remember past trips, isn’t it? I already love reminiscing about out time in Krka ๐Ÿ˜‰

  6. Great post and really helpful, thorough info. I went to Croatia last summer and was even in Split but didn’t make it here ๐Ÿ™ I can’t believe you spent most of a day there and still didn’t see everything… That’s exactly why we couldn’t find the time to go. It looks amazing though, I’ll have to visit next time! Croatia is such an amazing place.

    1. There are so many places to see in Croatia, that it’s hard to do them all. It’s such a tiny, but rich, country.

  7. It looks so beautiful at this park. I only visited Plitvice when I was in Croatia. I would love to go back and visit this one too as it looks stunning ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. We went to Plitvice after this trip to Krka. Plitvice is bigger, with more waterfalls, but Krka was such a nice spot to start our explorations.

  8. The Krka National Park looks really ethereal. A great place to be one with nature. The waterfalls look really magical. I am sure it was a wonderful experience walking through the Park.Your pictures have captured the sublime beauty of the place very vividly.

  9. I LOVE waterfalls so this is totally my type of place! It seems that the pathway to the waterfalls is mostly flat and easily accessible. That makes it a great spot for family adventure!

    1. It is very easy walking, and pretty short, so it is accessible for just about anyone.

  10. Ahh, such stunning photos. So lovely that you did this as a family and get to share these memories with each other. I plan on visiting Croatia in September and I cannot wait, it looks like a stunning country with so much natural beauty. Thanks for all these great tips, I will be sure to bookmark this post!

  11. Those photos are gorgeous! Krka national park looks amazing, and I’d love to go there when visiting Croatia in the future (the country is on my bucketlist). The waterfalls are incredible!!

    1. It was one of our favorite places in Croatia. We were so glad we made the effort to get there.

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