Adventure Weekend in Split

Split is a popular destination for a relaxing stop on the Croatian Coast, but it's also the perfect starting point for an action-packed break in the sun

Featured April 10 Words by Jane Foster
PHOTOS � GETTY
Adventure Weekend in Split

FRIDAY

From the airport, take the 30-minute bus ride into Split, where you'll be dropped off at the palm-lined seafront promenade. Check in to B&B Hotel Villa Kastel 1700 (from �88, book at www.hotels.easyJet.com). It's in the pedestrian-only Old Town, which lies within the sturdy Roman walls of Diocletian's Palace, dating from 295 AD and today a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Begin your stay with a late-afternoon swim at Bac˘vice Bay, just a 10-minute walk east of the centre. There's a small sand-and-pebble beach and a bathing area with easy access to the water, plus showers. Join locals in a round of picigin, a bizarre ball game unique to Split. Five or six players stand in a circle in knee-high water and strike a ball from one to another, in random order. The aim of the game is not to catch the ball, but to keep it from falling into the sea.

For dinner, try Restoran Jugo (12 Tonciceva, tel: +385 (0)21 398 900) above the ACI Marina, and feast on risot sa skampima (shrimp risotto) and a bottle of local vugava white wine. Afterwards you might like a nightcap at Ghetto Club (10 Dosud), an arty bar with outdoor seating in a lovely candlelit courtyard garden, just a stone's throw from your hotel.

SATURDAY

After breakfast, pack a swimming costume, a towel, and an extra set of dry clothes into a rucksack and set off for Omi˘s (25 km southeast of Split) at the mouth of the River Cetina. Cutting a high-sided canyon between two mountains and flowing over a series of light-to-moderate rapids, the Cetina is a popular venue for rafting, which can be arranged through Adventure Dalmatia (tel: +385 (0)21 540 642, www.adventuredalmatia.com). Upon arrival you'll be given an oar, lifejacket and helmet, and allocated a raft carrying up to eight persons under the auspices of an experienced guide. The three-hour trip runs twice a day at 9am and 2pm and costs HRK200 (�27). End your trip with lunch at Radmanove Mlinice (tel: +385 (0)21 862 073), a 19th-century watermill serving fresh trout and spit-roast lamb at wooden tables under the trees by the river.

If you're still up for a challenge, return to Omi˘s on the coast and spend the remainder of the afternoon windsurfing with Active Holidays (tel: +385 (0)21 861 829, www.activeholidays-croatia.com). Or, if you feel like chilling out with a few hours of peaceful swimming and sunbathing, head for Ruskamen (7km southeast of Omi˘s), where you'll find a lovely pebble beach backed by pines, with a section for nudists.

In the early evening, transfer to the pretty coastal village of Bas˘ka Voda (33 km southeast of Omi˘s), where you can dine at the highly regarded Restaurant King (tel: +385 (0)21 620 640) indulging in fresh fish and another bottle of Dalmatian wine.

SUNDAY

Rise bright and early and head down the coast to Makarska, 9km southeast of Bas˘ka Voda. This cheerful seaside resort is backed by the awe-inspiring rocky heights of Biokovo Mountain. Biokovo Active Holidays (tel: +385 (0)21 679 655, www.biokovo.net) arrange hiking trips for HRK310 (�42) up the mountain's sunny seaward slopes.

As you make the four-hour ascent to Vosac (1,422m), the karst landscape becomes increasingly barren, with bare limestone rocks and scanty pastures supporting chamois goats and mouflon sheep. From Vosac, you'll be transported to the highest peak, Sveti Jure (1,760m), where you'll have a picnic lunch with panoramic views - on a clear day it's possible to see across the Adriatic Sea to Italy, and inland to the mountains of Bosnia Herzegovina.

Travel back up the coast to Split. Here, head for Fife (11 Trumbiceva Obala, tel: +385 (0)21 345 223) and join an eclectic mix of local fishermen and visitors for a drink or supper overlooking Matejuska Harbour. It's down-to-earth and serves hearty Dalmatian favourites such as pas˘ticada s njokima (beef stewed in sweet wine, with gnocchi), which goes down a treat with the red house wine, plavac. Just don't miss the plane home!