One frequently asked question about the Plitvice Lakes is how far they are from Budapest. Of course, if you are visiting this beautiful region from elsewhere, the journey may be shorter or longer for you, but the distance from Budapest to the Plitvice Lakes region can be a good starting point for everyone.
Budapest Plitvice Distance
- Budapest city center – Plitvice Lakes distance: 477 km
- Budapest international airport (BUD) – Plitvice Lakes distance: 504 km
- It is about a 5 hours drive to get from Budapest to the Plitvice lakes region, excluding stops (usually you need 1 or 2 stops)
Notes
We calculated the driving distance between Budapest and Plitvice Lakes National Park entrance 1. Entrance 2 is 3.5 km further.
This is the shortest route between Budapest and Plitvice Lakes, which includes toll motorways in both Hungary and Croatia. In Hungary, a motorway vignette is required for the M7 motorway, in Croatia both the A4 (Hungarian border – Zagreb) and the A1 (Zagreb – Karlovac) motorways are toll roads, with on-the-spot payment.
As Croatia became a member of the Schengen area from January 1st 2023, fortunately you don’t need to stop and wait anymore at the Hungarian-Croatian border.
If you don’t want to avoid toll roads, you can go via Pécs (Hungary), but that will add about 40 kilometers to the distance and the journey will take a good 3 hours longer.
