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.
By Ana Kovač
You launch from the Stobreč side of the bay in the last of the light, paddle out over the shallows while the sun is still doing something to the sky, and turn into the river mouth once it is properly dark. The boards carry LED panels on the underside, so each one sits in its own circle of lit water — in three metres of clear sea you can see the bottom, the weed and whatever is moving through it. The way back runs under the low white cliffs Stobreč is built on, which look considerably more dramatic lit from the water than they do from the road.
The sea half is pretty. The river half is the reason to go. Fresh water meets salt at the mouth, the surface goes glassy and silent, and the lights pick out fish that are entirely unbothered by you. It is also completely sheltered, so this is the one paddle around Split that is not at the mercy of the afternoon maestral.
For a daytime paddle with a sea cave and two swim stops, try sea kayaking along Marjan.
Not hard. Paddling in the dark sounds intimidating and is not: the water is flat, the boards are wide beginner boards, and you are never more than a hundred metres from a shore you can stand on. Guides take people who have never been on a board. You will very likely fall in at least once, which in a warm sea in August is the good part.
To find your feet in daylight first, paddleboard hire at Kašjuni and Bene costs about €15 an hour.
From about €44 a head for the two-hour tour including board, paddle, buoyancy aid and the lights. Most operators meet outside Hotel Briig near Bačvice and drive you out, or you can meet them at Camping Stobreč if you have your own car — there is free parking just before the campsite gate. It runs through the season and into the shoulder months; from October you want a long-sleeved top, because the sea holds its heat far longer than the air does.
The meeting point is near Bačvice, Split's beach neighbourhood east of the palace.
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.
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
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
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.
Family
The south side of Marjan drops straight into clear water over rock rather than sand, which is exactly what you want and exactly what the city beaches are not. Bring a mask, walk in off the stones at Kašjuni or Bene, and it costs nothing.
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.