Up to date: January 2020
Krka Nationwide Park is one among Croatia’s best-known sights, and the naturally colourful swimming pools right here present a spectacular backdrop to loosen up with mates and to swim within the pristine waters.
Whereas I used to be planning my journey to Europe in summer season 2014, which included operating with the bulls in Pamplona, lounging on the stunning seashores of Mykonos and exploring the traditional Acropolis in Athens, there was a possibility to go crusing to the southern islands of Croatia with The Yacht Week.
I had seen pictures of Plitvice Lakes and Krka Nationwide Park on Pinterest and so they had been a few of essentially the most serene pure wonders I had ever seen. There have been a whole lot of waterfalls pouring into small swimming pools that had been as inexperienced as emeralds.
It seemed like one thing out of Peter Pan’s By no means By no means Land. I believed to myself, “I’ve seen some fairly beautiful locations in my life, however there’s no manner this place is actual.” However Krka does exist, and it’s prettier than any image does it justice.
Right here’s my expertise visiting Krka Nationwide Park in Croatia!
Attending to Krka Nationwide Park
On my solution to The Yacht Week, I flew into Break up, Croatia and allowed for just a few days of sightseeing earlier than setting sail. I walked round city to perform a little research with native tour operators and I got here to search out out that Plitvice was a 12-hour day journey from Break up.
*Coronary heart crushed*
BUT, I then was instructed that Krka Nationwide Park was a lot nearer, and so I determined to do a day journey to Krka Nationwide Park with Adriatic4You that included a tour of the historic city of Šibenik (say the Š like shh, so it’s pronounced Shi-beh-nick).
Should you’d prefer to make the journey to Krka by yourself, you possibly can seize a each day bus from the Break up Airport or the Break up Bus Station to Sibenik—the journey will take you about 1 hour and 40 minutes—and from Sibenik, you possibly can then take a bus to Skradin, a city simply outdoors the park.
At Skradin, you possibly can embark on one of many ferry excursions of the Park.
Should you’re arriving from different elements of Croatia, you’ll wish to make your solution to Sibenik after which journey on to Skradin and Krka Nationwide Park from there.
Visiting Krka Nationwide Park
We left vibrant and early within the morning and I used to be pleasantly shocked to be spending the tour with an superior information named Darijo. Alongside our drive to Šibenik, he stuffed us in on the entire locations we had been passing by, like the town of Trogir, and gave us a wealth of data on the historical past of Croatia and Dalmatia—the area of Croatia we had been through which is on the japanese coast of the Adriatic Sea.
We arrived at Šibenik (a UNESCO World Heritage web site) and toured the Cathedral of St. James. The cathedral is exclusive in that it’s a fusion of each Renaissance and Gothic artwork. Šibenik was additionally one of many first cities to have electrical avenue lights—even earlier than main cities like London, Paris, Munich, and Barcelona!
After spending a short while in Šibenik, we drove about 20km to our remaining vacation spot, Krka Nationwide Park. Arriving on the park was a bit unremarkable as a result of it merely seemed like another nature reserve, however that every one modified as soon as we started our hike.
Even earlier than attending to the most important waterfalls, the attractive water was flowing throughout us.
We had been guided by Darijo by way of one of many many trails within the park the place we discovered concerning the magic and surprise of the unbelievable pure phenomena Krka and Plitvice. Whereas Plitvice is extra well-known and is a extra standard vacationer vacation spot, there’s little distinction between the 2 aside from in dimension.
What’s so fascinating about these lakes, caves, and waterfalls (except for unbelievable pure magnificence) is that they’re fashioned from calcium carbonate, or limestone, which turns into travertine which solely grows about 1 cm annually.
You possibly can think about simply how lengthy these beauties have been fairly actually rising!
As soon as we reached a reasonably excessive vantage level, Darijo stepped apart to disclose the unbelievable Scradinski Buk Waterfall. Far down beneath, there was a footbridge that crossed the lake the place folks had been swimming on the base of the waterfall! It was one of the spectacular sights I’ve ever seen.
I used to be mildly distracted from the remainder of the tour on the hike.
I couldn’t wait to leap in that spectacular inexperienced and blue-colored water! We completed the tour after studying that there are over 860 species of flora and plenty of endemic, uncommon, and endangered species of fauna at Krka Nationwide Park.
We had loads of free time to discover additional trails and take a dip on the base of the Scradinski Buk waterfall. I used to be stripped right down to my bikini and splashing round earlier than I even had time to consider my iPhone in my hand.
Word:
I obtained a reader observe in July 2021 that mentioned they’re now not permitting swimmers by the Scradinski Buk Waterfall. So maintain that in thoughts!
So right here’s your reminder to pack a water-proof cellphone case… wink wink.
Different Useful Ideas
So, for sure, Krka Nationwide Park didn’t disappoint. I discovered some essential classes because of this pure surprise:
