Photo: Whitepixels · CC0
Veliko Plivsko Jezero, or Great Pliva Lake, is a natural lake on the Pliva river in central Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the municipality of Jajce. It is the largest of the three lakes on the Pliva, which lie one after another upstream of the town of Jajce, and like the others it was formed by tufa barriers that the river itself has built.
The lakes on the Pliva are barrier lakes: the river deposits tufa, a kind of limestone, and the deposits build natural dams. Veliko Plivsko Jezero is the largest in the series of lakes, ponds, rapids and waterfalls made this way, and the Jajce waterfall at the end of the Pliva is the largest of them. The river flows into the lake near the village of Jezero, then into the smaller Malo Plivsko Jezero and Okruglo lake before reaching Jajce, where it meets the Vrbas.
For hundreds of years this region was the last stronghold of the Bosnian Kingdom, and Jajce was the permanent seat of its last kings. The natural and the built heritage of the Pliva valley are closely linked, most of all in Jajce itself.
The most famous sight is the cluster of the Mlinčići, wooden watermills said to be more than 400 years old, built on the cascade between the Great and Small Pliva Lakes. About 20 mills of different sizes stand there, and only six are known to work today. They were damaged in the 1990s, some were restored in 2005, and the lakes and mills were declared a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009. From the air they look like a fairy-tale village.
The Pliva has crystal-clear, oxygen-rich water, and its fish are trout and grayling.
Allowed
Allowed
Allowed
Allowed
The lake is in the municipality of Jajce, and the town of Jajce, with its waterfall, lies downstream where the Pliva meets the Vrbas. The valley is known for its quiet, forested mountains and for its many bodies of water.
The mills are about 6 km from Jajce, a few minutes from the Pliva waterfall and the fortress, and they are lit at night. Paths join the Great and Small Pliva Lakes, and cafés and restaurants stand near the mills, with a beach bar at the Most ljubavi (Lovers' Bridge). People swim and take pedal boats, and children can rent bikes or electric boats.
Fishing on the lake and downstream to the Vrbas is managed by local fishing societies from Jajce and Jezero, so ask them for the rules. The lake hosted the 16th FIPS-Mouche European Fly Fishing Championship. From Jajce there are loop routes of roughly 22 to 27 km for walkers and cyclists.
Map unavailable. The list keeps working.
Pinch to zoom. Pan with two fingers.
Ctrl+scroll to zoom (Cmd+scroll on Mac)
Sight
A cluster of old watermills on the Pliva at Jajce, between the two tufa lakes of the river, built over the water and the best-known sight of the Pliva lakes. Visiting the mills The Mlinčići are about 20 wooden watermills…
Missing a beach, viewpoint or trail?
Bosnia and Herzegovina · Central Bosnia
Karst · natural
Photo: Предраг Божић · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: ASVITIC · CC BY-SA 4.0Suggest a beach, viewpoint, trail or amenity, or tell us if something has changed. We read every message.
Thank you. We read every suggestion.
