THE BLOG: [ Ссылка ]
But if you’ve ever thought about riding your bike along the beautiful coastline between Split and Makarska then you might find it valuable (I could find absolutely nothing on this ride on the internet).
Last summer we shipped all our belongings from Canada to Croatia, including my 35 year old bike. Since then I’d been looking forward to doing a long distance bike ride. When I mentioned going to Makarska to my friend Vedran he jumped on board with the idea.
Makarska is 65 km down the coast from Split. We really didn’t know how long the ride would take to Makarska but figured on 4 hours.
We started off at 6:30 in the morning, following Split’s coastline past Znjan beach and onto Sentaliste Pape Ivana Pavla II. This road continues along the shoreline before turning inland and up a steep hill. It becomes Put Builova and, passing the Hotel Zagreb, continues steeply uphill. Put Builova eventually flattens out and intersects the highway. Note however: about 100 meters before the junction with the highway is Put Orišca. If you turn right here and follow this small street you’ll save yourself a lot of stress and grief over the next 1.5 km (at the bottom of this post I’ve included a map).
We didn’t know about this alternative way at the time however and got on the highway with our bikes. Even at 7 am in the morning there was traffic. Four lanes of fast moving traffic that included trucks and buses. It is a particularly dangerous stretch of highway because you’ll get cars aggressively crossing lanes to access some of the large convenience stores on the side of the road. And of course there’s no shoulder on the side of the road. Not ideal for bikes.
But once you get to the municipality of Stobreč, the road becomes a two lane road (one going each way) and the traffic becomes less aggressive. You’re now on the coastal road. Following it will lead you down the coast of Croatia.
Once you’ve passed the municipality of Podstrana the road gets quiet and the views better. You’ll go through some small towns but the riding is easy here and for most of the route you’ll be riding right next to the shoreline.
It was around 8:30 am (two hours since leaving Split) that we arrived in Omis. Omis is 26km from Split. I’ve previously written about Omis and how it’s one of my favorite towns. We stopped here and had a coffee in the main square.
The geography gets more dramatic after Omis, with the mountains coming right up to the coast. It also means that the ride gets more rugged. There are more uphills (and downhills), you’ll go through a couple of tunnels, you’ll also find yourself cycling on cliffs high above the sea below.
The highlight of the entire ride in my opinion is the coastal indentation right after the town of Pisak – from there you have views looking down the coast with the Biokovo massif looming above, some of its highest peaks hidden by mist.
The remaining 20 km to Makarska is almost equally as scenic, the route marked with great views of mountains and coast. There are plenty of ups and downs, but the last 5 kilometers is mostly downhill which is a relief (we both understand now why professional bikers wear shorts that are well padded).
RUNNING OUT OF ROOM HERE. Go to the blog if you want to read about this great bike ride: [ Ссылка ]
#split #makarska #cycling #croatia
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