Milanovac

Directions

Milanovac is the largest of the Lower Lakes of Plitvice, in Plitvice Lakes National Park in central Croatia. The lakes of Plitvice are arranged in cascades and joined by waterfalls, and their colours range from azure to green, grey or blue.

How it formed

The four Lower Lakes lie in a canyon cut into permeable limestone, with steep cliffs on both sides, and are held back by barriers of tufa that the water itself builds as it flows. They end at the Sastavci waterfalls, where the Korana river emerges. Milanovac, the first of them, receives the water of Kozjak and is ringed by cliffs more than 20 m high; at its lower end the water pours over the Milka Trnina waterfalls into Gavanovac.

History

The lake is named after Mile Perišić, a shepherd who kept a mill here and was swept into the lake by a sudden torrent and drowned. The waterfalls below it remember the opera singer Milka Trnina, who in 1898 gave the whole proceeds of a performance in Zagreb to the society that protected the lakes.

Visit

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

A viewing path runs along the eastern shore, and a walkway passes beside the Milka Trnina waterfalls on the way down to Gavanovac.

The lakes lie in Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia’s first, proclaimed in 1949 and on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979. Swimming is strictly prohibited, as are feeding animals, picking plants and leaving the marked paths and boardwalks. Spring and autumn, when the forests change colour, are the loveliest and quieter seasons.