Our Day Trip from Split to Krka National Park

Croatia is known for two incredible waterfall parks: Plitvice Lakes National Park and Krka National Park. Plitvice is the bigger of the two and has 16 interconnected lakes with multiple walking trails. Krka National Park is smaller, but it still has 7 waterfalls. You can also swim in front of the largest waterfall at Krka National Parks. From Split, it’s 1-hour drive to Krka vs 3-hours to Plitvice. 

After checking out a few local tour agencies, we decided to join a bus tour to Krka National Park. It’s closer to Split, less expensive, and we can swim near the waterfall.

The meetup point was at the Golden Gate/Gregory of Nin at 8:30 AM. We woke up a little earlier to grab some breakfast from Bobis Dobar Tek. This bakery opened in 1949 and is open 24/7. We got our favorite beef burek and another pastry for breakfast. 

The bus dropped us off in Skradin where we took a 25-minutes ferry to Skradinski Buk waterfall (the largest waterfall in Krka). From there, it’s a 5-minutes walk to the waterfall.

Once you reached the waterfalls, you’ll understand why there are over 700K visitors each year. We got there early so the water was still cold so we decided to walk around first. The walk around the whole park is about 1.5-2 hours long. Bring your cameras, there are a lot of instagram worthy pictures here.

Throughout the trail, you will see a few vendors selling local snacks. You must try the sugared almonds. It sounds very simple but it was extremely tasty. I can’t remember how much it was but we found out later that it was a traditional Croatian sweet that is often served during celebrations. We also saw them at the airport for much more and wished we brought more then. You can also make them at home with this recipe I found online .

As we finished the walk around the park, we saw small group of people in the water and we jumped in with them (FYI there are no changing rooms). There are no swimming signs or lifeguards around so we kept a safe distance from the waterfalls. It was truly magical to be able to swim in the crystal clear water that close to a waterfall. After we took a bunch of pictures, we headed back to the ferry to make our way back to Skradin.

Overall, I’m happy that we decided on going with Krka National Park. It was a perfect day trip because it’s a quick bus ride from Split. This park only has one easy trail with views of multiple waterfalls. The fact that we were able to get in the water made it perfect.

Tips:

• There are two free toilets: one at the Lozovac entrance, and the second near the ethno village at Skradinski buk
• Swimming is only permitted in specially marked areas
• The ferry only runs from April to October. There is also another option to hike or bike along the 3.5km (2.2 miles) path from Skradin to Skradinski Buk waterfall.