By bike from Split through Kaštela and the Dalmatian hinterland to Klis

From the Adriatic coast into the karst hills. A bicycle loop of about 105 km from Split, once a Roman palace city, west along the coast past Kaštela, north-west over the Kozjak hills into the Dalmatian hinterland (up to about 500 m), and back east through the village of Konjsko and under the Klis Fortress to Split. About 1,200 m of climbing in all.

The route. Split – Solin – Kaštela – Radošić – Bogdanovići – Lećevica – Konjsko – Klis – Split.

On the way. Split’s centre is Diocletian’s Palace, built about AD 300 for the Roman emperor and now a UNESCO World Heritage site with shops, houses and cafés inside its walls. Salona, near Solin, was the Roman capital of the province of Dalmatia. Kaštela is a string of seven old fortified villages (kaštel means castle) on the bay. The hills behind the coast are Dalmatian karst: dry-stone walls, olive groves and scrub, with the Dalmatian Hinterland beyond. The Fortress of Klis, on a ridge above the pass between the coast and the interior, was fought over for centuries and is today one of the best viewpoints of the region.

Good to know. In summer it is very hot from midday: start early and take two litres of water. The roads in the hinterland are quiet; the coast road is busy in July and August. The music is a Croatian folk song of 1922.

Picture: The Fortress of Klis above Split, Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.