Bolted limestone routes on Marjan's south face, fifteen minutes from the old town, with the sea directly below. Guided beginner sessions run all year; the rock faces south so winter is often better than summer.
By Ana Kovač
Marjan has around forty bolted routes from grade 4 to 7a on solid, well-featured limestone. It is a genuine local crag, not a tourist attraction — you will be sharing it with people from the Split climbing club on weekday evenings. The rock faces south over the sea, which means it is climbable year-round and best in spring, autumn and winter, when the sun is lower and the stone is not too hot to touch.
The crag is on Marjan Hill, the pine-covered park on the city's western edge.
Guided beginner half-days include all equipment and cost around €45. Bring closed shoes and water; there is no shade on the wall and the afternoon sun is unforgiving in July. The guide will set up top ropes on the easier routes, which means you do not need to know how to lead climb or to belay, though you will learn the basics during the session.
Cool off afterwards at Kašjuni, the beach on Marjan's south side.
Bring your shoes and a harness; rope and quickdraws are needed for the bolted routes. The crag is a fifteen-minute walk from Varoš, and the approach is steep but short. The best routes are in the 5a–6a range, well-bolted and on good rock. Avoid midday in summer — the wall is in full sun and the rock is too hot.
The approach starts from Varoš, the old stepped quarter below the hill.
Get out there
Guided trips that include this stop, with live availability.
Boat trips
A full day on a fast twelve-seat boat: the Blue Cave on Biševo, the Monk Seal cave, Stiniva's famous cove, lunch on Vis and a swim off Budikovac's turquoise lagoon, finishing with a stop at Hvar town. Ten and a half hours, small group, no coach transfer.
Within a short walk.
Culture
The villa Ivan Meštrović built for himself on Marjan's south slope, now the best museum in Split. Sculpture inside, a garden of bronzes with a sea view outside, and the Kaštelet chapel with his wooden reliefs five minutes down the road.
Adventure
Three hours paddling the cliffs and hidden coves along Marjan's south shore, with two swim stops and a cave you can only reach by water. The best way to see Split from the side it was built to face, and easy enough for a complete beginner.
Adventure
The pine-covered hill on Split's western edge, a fifteen-minute walk from the Riva and the reason the city feels liveable in August. Free, open always, with viewpoints, hermit chapels, swimming coves at the bottom and a proper trail network on top.
Adventure
Board hire from Kašjuni and Bene for about €15 an hour, or a guided paddle along the Marjan cliffs. Flat water most mornings and a shoreline with no boat traffic close in — one of the easier places to learn.
Beaches
The best beach within reach of the city: white pebbles, clear deep water and pine shade on the south side of Marjan. A beach club at one end, empty rock at the other, and a sunset that faces exactly the right way.
History
A thirteenth-century chapel on the Marjan staircase, halfway between Varoš and the ridge. Small, usually locked, and the terrace in front of it is the quietest good view in Split — most people walk straight past on the way to Vidilica.
Adventure
Two hours on a board lit from underneath, pushing off Stobreč as the sun goes and paddling into the river mouth in the dark. The LEDs light the bottom through three metres of water, which is the whole point: you can see what is down there.
Adventure
An hour and a half up the marked path from Strožanac to the chapel of St George, topping out around 441 metres with Split, Kozjak, Mosor and the islands all in view. It is free, it starts at a supermarket, and locals walk it before work.
Adventure
Around eleven kilometres of the Cetina through its canyon below Omiš, on grade II–III water in summer. Three to four hours on the river, most of it drifting between short rapids, with swimming stops and a cliff to jump off if you want one.
Adventure
Eight steel wires strung across the Cetina canyon about three kilometres from Omiš, 2,100 metres of cable in total. The longest single run is 700 metres, 150 metres above the canyon floor, and takes well under a minute.
Boat trips
A skippered yacht for the day, out to Šolta or Brač and back on the afternoon wind. Slower than the fast boats, quieter than all of them, and the only way to see this coast the way it has always actually been travelled.
Adventure
Walking, swimming and abseiling down the Cetina where the canyon narrows above Omiš. The extreme version drops you 53 metres beside the Velika Gubavica waterfall and 25 metres again near the canyon exit; the ordinary one keeps its feet closer to the water.