Plitvice Lakes National Park (Croatian: Plitvička jezera) is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia.
The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage register among the first natural sites worldwide.
The national park is world famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Currently, 16 lakes can be seen from the surface. The sixteen lakes are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains.
The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colors, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colors change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.
