Adriatic Highway South

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Split

   Split began as a retirement home. The Roman emperor Diocletian, born nearby, built a vast fortified palace on this peninsula around the year 300 and retired here after abdicating, to grow cabbages, so the story goes. After the Roman world fell apart, refugees from the nearby city of Salona sheltered inside its walls, and over the centuries the palace turned into a town. Today you walk through the Golden Gate, the Peristyle and the old cellars, and find cafés, shops, apartments and washing lines inside what is, effectively, a Roman building, with the emperor's mausoleum converted into a cathedral. UNESCO lists the palace and the historic centre.

   Read the complete Split write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Split sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Makarska.

2. 2. Makarska

   Makarska sits under a wall of grey limestone, with the Biokovo mountains rising almost straight out of the sea behind the town. The highest peak, Sveti Jure, stands at about 1,762 metres, and the ridge runs for thirty kilometres along the coast, so the town and its neighbours, Tučepi and Baška Voda, are squeezed into a narrow strip between mountain and water. This is the Makarska Riviera, one of the most scenic stretches of the Dalmatian coast, and the old Adriatic Highway runs right along it, with views over the sea to the islands of Brač and Hvar.

   Read the complete Makarska write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Makarska comes up 56 km in. Next is Ston.

3. 3. Ston

   Ston is a tiny town with a huge wall. Where the Pelješac peninsula narrows to a thread, the old Republic of Ragusa, Dubrovnik's city-state, built a line of fortifications that climbs a steep hill and runs for several kilometres, more than five by most accounts, joining Ston to its twin Mali Ston on the other side of the isthmus. Construction began in the fourteenth century, and the wall is often called the European Great Wall. Walk it if you have the legs, because from the top you see the salt pans, the oyster beds and the narrow channel of Mali Ston Bay opening on each side.

   Read the complete Ston write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least 127 km in you reach Ston. Next is Dubrovnik.

4. 4. Dubrovnik

   Dubrovnik was once an independent republic, called Ragusa, and it lasted for centuries by being clever. It was a small city-state that paid tribute to bigger powers, traded with everyone, banned slavery early, and kept a splendid ring of walls that still surrounds the old town. Walking the walls, about two kilometres of stone with towers and bastions, takes an hour or two, and offers views over terracotta roofs and a glittering sea. In 1991 and 1992 the city was shelled during the Yugoslav war, and the damage has been repaired, though a few signs remain. UNESCO added it to its list in 1979.

   Read the complete Dubrovnik write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Dubrovnik, late in the day.

Recorded source links

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