Omis Zipline over the Cetina Canyon

Omiš, the meeting point at the river mouth

The session starts in the centre of Omiš, the small fortified town where the Cetina River reaches the sea between Split and Makarska. Its stone lanes are squeezed beneath a cliff crowned by the Mirabela fortress, with the Starigrad fortress higher on the ridge, and its history as the stronghold of the medieval pirates of the Cetina gives the town a swagger that suits an adrenaline activity. You meet our team on Josipa Pupačića street in the town centre, a short walk from the river mouth and the bus stops, with your passport or ID card, water and sports shoes.

Omiš is easy to reach by bus or car in about forty minutes from Split and a similar time from Makarska, which is why the Omiš zipline features in so many lists of things to do near Split. The included transfer leaves from the meeting point at your chosen session time.

The transfer into the Cetina Canyon

From Omiš the included transfer climbs the road that follows the Cetina upstream, winding above the river between the limestone walls of the canyon. The Cetina is a karst river about a hundred kilometres long that rises near the Dinara mountains and ends its course in this gorge, whose cliffs drop several hundred metres to the water. In the fifteen-minute drive you pass the rafting put-ins, the old mills and the viewpoints where the canyon narrows, and get your first sense of the scale of the drop you are about to cross.

The transfer ends at the zipline base, a clearing on the canyon rim with the equipment store and the training ground. Visitors wondering how to get to the Cetina Canyon zipline do not need their own car: the transfer there and back is part of the experience.

Equipment and training on the practice wires

At the base the instructors fit each participant with a harness, helmet and gloves and check every connection. Then comes the part that turns beginners into confident flyers: two short practice wires of about twenty-five metres, where you learn how to sit in the harness, how to keep your body straight, how to brake with the glove and how to land on the platform. The instructors give tips and tricks and let everyone repeat the run until it feels natural, which takes around twenty minutes.

From the training ground a short hike leads to the first platform, from where you have a wonderful view down the gorge to the river. The minimum age is seven and the weight range is thirty to one hundred and fifty kilograms; the group is limited to ten people so every participant gets personal attention at each start and landing point.

Eight wires across the gorge

The course consists of eight wires with a combined length of 2,100 metres, crossing the canyon several times and descending gradually towards the river. The early lines are shorter and build confidence; the longer runs, the biggest of them around seven hundred metres, send you across the full width of the gorge at speed, with the river glinting far below, rafts the size of toys and eagles sometimes riding the thermals at your own height. The highest wire hangs some one hundred and fifty metres above the water, the moment most people remember longest.

An instructor is waiting at every start and finish platform, clipping you on and off, so there is nothing to operate yourself beyond the braking you practised. The eight wires take up to two hours depending on the size of the group, with short walks between the platforms on rocky paths.

The Cetina River and the return to Omiš

The last wires bring you down close to the river, where the canyon is at its greenest and the water runs cold and clear over gravel between reeds and willows. The Cetina here is the same stretch that rafters and kayakers paddle down to Omiš, and from the final platform you can watch them pass. After handing back the equipment the transfer returns you to the centre of Omiš, about two and a half hours after you set off.

The best time to visit the Cetina Canyon for the zipline is spring and autumn, when the air is cool and the light sharp; in summer the 10:00 session is the most comfortable. Back in town the sandy beach across the river mouth and the lanes of the old town are the natural way to wind down.