When you wish to rest your body and fill your soul with beauty, let the road take you to the green Dalmatian Hinterland. The area is full of a magical atmosphere in the tame villages and small towns. They have not stopped pulsing with life, preserving the authenticity of the Central Dalmatian hinterland. Split Hinterland is the continental part of Central Dalmatia and is only a 40 minutes’ drive from Split.
Great things to do in Split hinterland
Klis
Klis is located just fifteen minutes drive from the city of Split, on a pass reaching 340 meters above sea level. It separates the coastal part of Central Dalmatia and the Dalmatian hinterland. This former guardian of Dalmatian cities is the cradle of Croatian history with its famous fortress, one of the most important and architecturally beautiful fortified buildings in Croatia.
The fortress is 304 meters long from east to west and 53 meters wide in the north-south direction. The oldest part of Klis, at the foot of the fortress, houses a parish church, a three-aisled centuries old basilica of monumental proportions, richly decorated with frescoes depicting biblical and historical motifs from national and Klis history.
The fortress offers a beautiful view of the city of Split. It is well known as one of the stages on which a popular and award-winning American medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones was filmed.
Ethno village Stella Croatica
The ethno-agro park “Stella Croatica” is located in the region of Dalmatia in a Croatian town Klis.
Many traditional tools and utilitarian objects tell stories from the old times. Stories of people who lived simply and with respect to the nature around them. Here you can relax and go back in history by participating in the life of the village. From the preparation of bread baked in the old-fashioned cooking bronzins, taste dry fig salami and arancini, prepare candied almonds, pick herbs, berries and seasonal fruits and vegetables.
The agro-ethno village is divid into two parts. In one section there is a trade and interpretation center of Stella’s production. Visitors really like listening to the stories about olive and almond growing, the process of making oil, oranges, and figs. In the second part is for relaxation, walking, enjoying and learning. Here is a botanical collection in several parts, and it is the only private botanical collection in Croatia.
Something new and magnificent at Stella Croatica estate: Olive Museum – Growing and processing olives was the key to the survival of the family. For centuries, olives brought food to the table, served as a cure and meant survival for the families.
Follow the historical path of the olive tree from ancient Mesopotamia to modern times. Experience the traditional way of olive harvesting and processing and storing olive oil.
Their tavern offers a family atmosphere and local Dalmatian dishes served in a beautiful courtyard of the estate’s central square you can’t miss!
Dugopolje
Vranjača cave
This cave is the most beautifully arranged cave for tourist purposes in Dalmatia, with unique natural sculptures created by water over the course of thousands of years. It is located in the village of Kotlenice, 10 m i n u t e s ’ drive from Dugopolje. Vranjača cave is one of the gems of nature of the karst area and a protected geomorphological natural monument.
The cave was open to the public in 1929. The entry hall leads into the second hall through a small natural passage. The second hall consists of 9 smaller parts, each with a different name and filled with stalactites and stalagmites, columns and arcades of different shapes. Some halls in fact seem supernatural with their blue and green colors, while others shimmer due to a large number of natural crystals.
Visitor Centre “Hidden Dalmatia”
The visitors centre is a new attraction located in Dugopolje, at the entrance to the Split-Dalmatia county. Within the center there is foreseen presentation of all attractions of Split-Dalmatia county, allowing a new multimedia experience of the most important places.
The archetypical cube element, present in Croatian recognizable visual appearance, consistently interpreted through different dimensions, structures and phenomena of the same material. Materialization of the complex in white concrete is proposed as a modern interpretation of Mediterranean stone.
Visitor Centre “Hidden Dalmatia” will open in the beginning of 2023, just one kilometer from the motorway, offering a one-stop shop of the region’s tourism offers and experiences. Be sure to drop by once open, and learn more about this extremely welcoming and diverse region, and discover some of its many cultural and natural treasures away from the beach.
Sinj
The city of Sinj is the centre of the Cetina region and a pearl in the heart of the Dalmatian hinterland in which life on the rocky hill started in the 1st century BC. It borders with a fertile Sinj Field that is surround by mountain peaks of Kamešnica, Svilaja and Dinara. The remains of Stari Grad (Old Town) fortress watch over the city even today, a fortress which had defended Sinj inhabitants for centuries and kept them safe.
Sinj inhabitants proudly mention the year 1715 when they defended the city against Turkish Ottoman forces and in the memory of that great victory. The inhabitants to this day organise a chivalric game called Alka. It is played on every first Sunday in August for more than three hundred years.
Church of the Miraculous Lady od Sinj
is a magnificent work of religious architecture and one of the largest Marian shrines in Croatia. Inside the church is a painting of Our Lady, a most precious art treasure, brought by the faithful from Rama who were running from the Ottoman Turks. The painting is highlighted by a golden crown given to the Lady by Sinj defenders as a sign of gratitude. On the feast of the Assumption, August 15th, pilgrims arrive to participate in the solemn Eucharistic celebration and the procession, carrying Our Lady’s image.
The museum of the Cetinska Krajina region
Sinj is the central place of research and presentation of the rich cultural and historical heritage of Sinj and the Cetinska Krajina region. Founded in 1956, it represents the central place of both research and exhibition of splendid cultural and historical heritage of the Cetinska Krajina Region.
The Museum includes the following collections: archaeological, numismatic, cultural-historical, ethnographic and natural-science collection, but also the collection of arms, orders, medals and medallions, photographs and photographic equipment, documents, postcards and posters as well as an art collection in which artists from the Cetinska Krajina Region are included for the most part.
Archaeological Collection of the Sinj Franciscan Monastery
It is considered to be one of the oldest and most valuable collections in Croatia. Founded in 1860 by diligent and ardent Father Ante Konstantin Matas, a great humanist and reformer, the headmaster of the Franciscan Grammar School in Sinj. The Collection’s foundation prompt by the find of the head of Heracles at Čitluk, ant. Aequum, an exceptionally rich archaeological site.
The Collection mostly comprises the finds from Sinj environs. Moreover, there are other valuable exhibits: the statue of goddess Diana Lucifera, 172 cm in height including the pedestal, numerous epitaphs and memorial inscriptions, altar, remnants of the statue of goddess Diana from Gardun, the Medusa relief, the Diana and Bacchus relief, Roman clay pottery, Roman sestertii, the extraordinary statue of goddess Hecate, a large marble inscription M. VALERIVS.F…, three epitaphs of members of the NAEVIVS (NAEVIENUS) family, who made notable officers in Aequum, the DIIS MANIBUS altar.
Stari Grad (Old Town)
A fortress that protected the people of Sinj against enemy invasions; today it is a beautiful vantage point with its votive church. A path that leads from the foot of the church towards the fortress contains 14 Stations of the Cross. Each station is the work of one of the most famous Croatian artists.
Kamičak Fort
One of the most scenic and memorable symbols of Sinj, located in the very town center. Kamičak is a star-shaped fort, built in 1712 on the hill of the same name. In the south-west, it is join to the pertaining kvartir (the cavalry barracks), the today’s Alka Knights Court (Alkarski dvori).
A tower that used to serve as an observatory is built in the fort. On the tower there is a clock ringing three minutes before the hour, and ticking on the hour. At the top of the tower there is a bronze bell cast in the foundry of the famous Italian family Colbachini.
There is an inscription reading. A fulgore et tempestate libera nos Domine (From the thunder and evil times, deliver us, Lord). It probably has the origin in folklore, saying that ringing of bells or mortar fire chases away the clouds and hail. The Kamičak Fort is cultural property under protection of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.
Museum Alka of Sinj within Alka Palace
A permanent exhibition of Alka costumes, equipment, documentation and written records of the three-hundred-year-old history of Alka and Sinj. Each visitor is able to experience the greatness of Alka all year round, culminating in August. From the lavishly decorated original alkars’ and alkar’s squiers’ uniforms, valuable equipment and weaponry, 300-year-old historical objects, to a special attraction – a life-sized display of the Alka procession.
Gaius Laberius
Ancient tombstone of a seven-yearold Roman boy Gaius Laberius from the 2nd century holding a sphere decorated with crosslinked hexagons. It is almost identical to the one used in football game today. Stella is build into the facade of a stone house in Vrlika Street. It was found at the Tilurium archaeological site near Trilj.
Alka
The Alka is a knightly tournament which is unique in Europe. It is held in Sinj every year in August. It is run in memory of the glorious battle of 1715, the Siege of Sinj. The people of Sinj valiantly resisted Ottoman conquerors from the 7th to the 15th of August. In honor of Our Lady of Sinj who, prevented the town from falling into enemy hands.
