Green Destinations Top 100 Stories is a program that recognizes and rewards destinations that demonstrate excellent results in terms of responsible and sustainable tourism practices. Destinations from all over the world – towns, municipalities, cities, regions, counties or protected areas – can participate. Only the most successful examples of sustainable tourism practices are included in the TOP 100 stories, and Plitvice Lakes is among them.
This year even Six Croatian representatives made it to the prestigious TOP 100 list, and Plitvice Lakes National Park was included with the story “A ticket that opens the doors of the Lika destination – a branding initiative for the development of sustainable tourism”.
While Plitvice Lakes National Park is visited annually by more than a million tourists, with an increased number of visitors in the peak season, the Lika destination has many other unexplored and lesser-known natural specialties.
Joint ticket for Lika destination
In collaboration with the Lika Destination Cluster and nine attractive locations within the Lika destination, since 2018 it has been created joint ticket to Lika destination, organized and with the marketing support of the Plitvice Lakes National Park. The visibility of the tourist offer of lesser-known locations is gradually increasing, which presents guests with numerous opportunities to extend their stay in the destination. In mountainous Croatia, where karst and water create fantastic scenes, where the tallest trees in Croatia grow, and forest habitats are home to wolves and bears, the destination Lika is located.
Traveling to this destination, you will have the opportunity to experience a unique combination of contrasts in just 30 minutes of driving because here, in an area of only 6796 square kilometers, there are three types of climate: Mediterranean, continental and mountain. Rich in natural phenomena of all levels of protection, the Lika destination is located in the NATURA 2000 ecological network, which covers almost 60% of the area. However, many of its natural treasures are still being discovered by world travelers, especially those who want to experience peace far from the stress of urban environments, enjoy local food and witness the tradition preserved by one of the most sparsely populated areas of Croatia.
The difficult living conditions of the old Lika people led many of them to migrate around the world, "eating for bread", leaving an area with only 11 inhabitants per square kilometer. The economic underdevelopment is slowly being alleviated by tourism, which many see as a way of survival for themselves and their children, who are often separated from the rural environment by their education in cities.
In addition to the Plitvice Lakes National Park, one of the most beautiful national parks in Europe and the world, this area is home to two other national parks, a nature park and three tourist cave sites, making the Lika destination a place of great wealth of geomorphological phenomena, biological diversity and attractive untouched nature.
