Mljet has one of the eight national parks in Croatia known for its lush vegetation, pine forest salt water and mud lakes. It is an absolutely beautiful quiet island, with coves with turquoise waters and fishing villages around each corner and the national park itself.
If you arrived on a foot ferry do yourself a favour and rent an e-bike. The e-bike enables you to visit all the beautiful villages and they are allowed on the trails around the salt water lakes within the park. We paid 150 Kuna per day which, based on some signs is what some places charge for a regular bike . Trails around the lakes are flat but the roads between villages are steep and hilly. As other bikers melted miserably whilst walking their bikes up at 10% gradient hills I cruised by on my e-bike.
The National Park has an entrance fee of approximately £15 per adult/£8.50 per child (0-7 years old).The park itself covers 5,375 hectares but the popular areas are the paths around the lakes, great for walking and cycling. There is a nice easy fairly flat 8 km loop around the big lake, with plenty of spots for swimming in the crystal clear waters or renting kayaks.
It’s not a cheap day out but it was fantastic and we loved the freedom of being on the bikes, stopping where we wanted, eating in wonderful fishing villages and visiting the park. The day went far too fast and we look forward to that time we can return and maybe have an overnight stay in one of the taverna’s and explore the island further.
Basically to reach the island you will need to take a ferry either from the Dubrovnik ferry terminal or you can drive to Prapratno near Ston and take the ferry. There are also day excursions on offer along the coast which might your day seamless but possibly more expensive. If you are looking to do take this option please look for one that goes directly by boat from the port, otherwise you will end up driving round hotels while the driver picks up other guests.
Please look at the directions for further information on travel and ferry information.