Sastavci Waterfalls

Sastavci is a group of cascades at the outlet of the Lower Lakes, where water from Novakovića Brod meets the Plitvica stream to form the Korana River. The nearby Veliki Slap, or Great Waterfall, is a separate feature, so keep the two names straight as you follow the park’s Lower Lakes route.

If you’re already exploring the Lower Lakes, pause here. The falls are a good place to see the park’s water system turn from a chain of lakes into a river.

Visitors describe both a high view across the waterfalls and a lower boardwalk that gets close to the water. From above, you can take in the pools and the whole cascade complex; down by the boardwalk, the separate drops and tufa ledges are easier to pick out.

For a photo, start from the high viewpoint: include the upper pools and a stretch of boardwalk with the cascades below. Then try the lower boardwalk for a closer view of water spilling over the ledges.

The park’s Entrance 1 B Program includes Sastavci on a 4-kilometre circuit that takes about three to four hours overall. That total covers the whole outing, including Lower Lakes walking, an electric-boat crossing on Kozjak, a panoramic vehicle ride and the return walk along the canyon rim. It is the circuit’s timing, not a stay at the waterfalls.

At Sastavci, water leaving the last lake meets the Plitvica stream at the foot of the exit barrier. That junction forms the Korana’s source. From here the river runs 134 kilometres to Karlovac, where it joins the Kupa and continues through the Danube system toward the Black Sea.

Tufa barriers build up and erode, shifting the channels and waterfalls over time. The park notes that some barriers now outside the waterways are 250,000 to 300,000 years old. The falls are part of a landscape still being reshaped by the water that made it.