UKC

Has anyone been? I'm going in the summer on a mostly non climbing trip but 2 of us want to do climbing also is there anywhere good? In terms of the city, renting an appartment seems to be the way forward, the old city seems to be the cheapest, is there anything wrong with it or is it all nice. We're looking at either old centre, new centre or beach area to stay. Any recommendations on things to do?

In reply to dsh: http://www.climb-europe.com/croatia/split.htm

In reply to dsh:

There is lots of climbing up in Paklenica NP near Zadar.

http://www.paklenica.hr/paklenica_en/index_en.html

Flights direct to Zadar.

A great area, but We were not there for the climbing.

Sorry don't know much about Split

In reply to dsh: We had a day in Split when waiting for a flight back to the UK after climbing at Paklenika. The town centre is very interesting with a lot of Roman buildings still standing or being used. There is also a beach (no sand) close by which was very busy and used by the locals after work. Close by is the town of Trogir which is a World Heritage Site and worth a visit.

Both these places have cliffs close by, although I didn't climb there. Apart from the overall climbing guide, there are local guides on this site:

http://dalmatiaclimbing.com/index.html

In reply to dsh: Split is a great place to go for climbing.

A few years ago I went. You can get to lots of crags without the need of a car.

Omis (~ 20km) some good roadside cragging in a gorge. There is excellent white water rafting here which I recommend.
Susptipans Deep water solo http://dalmatiaclimbing.com/dws.html - This is withing walking distance from Split town center. Its a cracking spot with great views and frequented by psychotic children that throw themselves of 22m cliffs.
Havar - an hour on the ferry. This has the superb 'cliff base' area run my ex physics boffin Miro. There is loads of sport climbing & DWS. http://www.cliffbase.com/

In reply to dsh: I've been twice and really love it. The Crotia Guidebook (covers all of Croatia apart from Paklencia) covers the crages around there. It will be very hot in the summer, but there are some shady crags. This online guide includes the Omis crags, which - despite being roadside - are really great. If you have any specific questions - fire away.

http://www.climbingomis.com/

Mike
PS I'd take a diving mask and snorkel - the sea is beautiful and it'll be too hot to climb in the day sun anyway.

In reply to mike1979:

+1

In reply to dsh:

Croatia is a very beautiful country, and split is an equally beautiful city. Make sure you explore Diocletian's palace. It is amazing!

On the issue of climbing, the whole dalmatian coast line has a vast array of stunning cliffs, so I am sure there must be some high quality stuff there.

In reply to dsh:

This is all great stuff, cheers! Before I buy the guides what are the grades like for sport and dws in the area? I haven't climbed much recently will probs be ok upto 6a+ after a few weeks back at the wall and need some easier stuff too for my mate.

It really looks fantastic I wish I was doing a proper climbing holiday there aswell as this one.

In reply to dsh:

Omis actually looks great, do you need double ropes to abseil off the multi pitch routes?

In reply to mike1979:

Well since you said to fire away ...

Mike where did you stay? Is it easy to get to the crags with public transport especially the omis crags? If we were to hire a car do you have any reccomendations? Where's the good snorkelling spots? Finally how easy is it to get form the islands (especially Hvar) to the mainland, we're going for nearly two weeks and were thinking of maybe staying there for half.

In reply to dsh: No Worries:
We stayed in a lovely little campsite just outside Brela, but you'd need a car to get around if you stayed there (and of course a tent). Otherwise the guidebook author advertises that he has an apartment and give his email address ([email protected]). If you stayed in Brela itself you wouldn't really need a car. The crags would all be walkable from the centre. As far as getting to the islands goes there are ferries leaving from Split every hour or two, i think. We went to Hvar for a week, but I wouldn't recommend it myself. There is no shade and climbing in the sun in late September was still pretty unbearable. Otherwise a great island and absolutely beautiful. We always went snorkelling from the campsite - which has a private beach! Lots of lovely fish to see and crystal clear water. Great place.
Mike

In reply to mike1979:

Cheers for the advice. Only 2 out of 6 of us are climbers so I can't base too much where we stay on the climbing available! Probably will get an appartment in spit and maybe something on hvar too as we're going for 2 weeks. Just booked my flights! Cheers for the advice I'm sure I will have more questions when I have had a chance to properly look at the climbing areas. Do you need doubles for the abseils though?

In reply to dsh:

Climbed on Hvar in September a couple of times and it was hot but climbable in the shade. Velika Stiniva (in the Croatia guidebook) might be a good spot for you for a day or two of climbing. There a nice beach with a cafe so can drop your non climbing friends at the beach. Just up the road from the beach is a very short crag (only about 10m high) with loads of 5s, you can tick them all in day. Closer to the sea is a better and bigger (approx 20 meter) wall with routes from around 6b upwards, mostly 7s. Both crags are in shade most of the day.
There are several other good climbing areas on Hvar island, cliffbase is probably the best and also the busiest.
We stayed in Jelsa which was very nice with loads of apartments and a couple of camp sites. Preferred staying on Havar to Split but that's down to personal preference. You really need a car to get around on the island.
There are frequent ferries from Split to Havar. The beaches are all pebbles rather than sand, with lots of nice spots to lay out on the rocks. Lovely.

In reply to dsh: I think that all the climbing on Hvar is single pitch, and for the climbing in/near Omis you might need double ropes for some but there are also routes that you can climb on a (70m?) single. When I was there I stuck to the single pitch stuff, so I can't really comment on that.

In reply to dsh: Sounds like we did the holiday you are planning last summer as a family holiday (2 climbers out of 4)so needed a balance of activity's
Will agree with most of what has been already posted, especially that it is very hot in the summer!!
We spent 4 days in Split which we thought was brilliant, stayed in a city centre apartemnt and climbed at Sustipan (DWS) and Marjan. You can hire bikes and cycle to Marjan right along the sea front (lots of beach bars on way back to rehydrate)
We then headed to Hvar,which is even better than Split, easy ferry from centre of Split to Hvar Town (by far the best place to stay). We had an apartement in the Podstine area of Hvar town,which by luck was 5 mins from the crag at Podstine which was excellent for evening climbing.To get to Cliff Base (best crag) you really need a car which can be hired easily and cheaply from Hvar
During the day you can hire small boats and climb on the seacliff end of Podstine crag, lots of unclimbed rock, my son put up several new DWS routes on a crag only accessable by boat. Lots of excellent bars on the islands opposite Hvar to visit. If you want some accomadation, snorkelling and crag info pm me
Rob

In reply to dsh: There's a crag within a short bus ride from Split - Marjan, has some really good climbs and is easy to get to. Sara is an awesome 6a, 30 metres, steep with massive holds. Been a while since I was there but I have only good memories.

In reply to robsail:

Cheers Rob I have sent you a pm

In reply to Gilles:

Sounds good if you can get there by bus.

In reply to dsh:
Sound place, their ice hockey team the Beavers are great...

In reply to dsh:
Hey people, this stuff is solid gold, give me a break