What many people don't know is the national park goes beyond the lakes, in fact, the park is just under 30,000 hectares and has numerous cycle trails throughout the park making it a great way to couple cycling with exploring Croatia's oldest national park.
Plitvice Lakes National Parks has cycle trails suitable for bikers of all levels of experience, and the trails will take you to lesser known hidden gem's within the park, that the vast majority of visitors will never see. Take the Plitvice Road route for example, where you'll start in the historic town of Korenica and head to the upper region of the park and ride along and cross both the black and white rivers, which feed the Plitvice lakes. This 46 km route will have you 882m above sea level at its highest point and will physically challenge you, however, all that work will be rewarded with views of the best Plitvice Lakes has to offer.
It's also possible to circumnavigate the lakes along a paved track which is fairly easy riding. On this route, you'll be awestruck by the beauty of the lakes as you pass Prošcansko lake, the highest of all the lakes and from where the waterfalls cascade into the 15 other lakes, passing by all the lakes until you get to Kozjak lake, the largest, where you can take a break before continuing your journey.
These routes will take you through vivid green forests, meadows, up and down many hills and along rivers. Be sure to bring your camera along because you won't see anything like this again.
For more information on cycle routes you can go to the Lika-Senj active tourism site.
