December the 13th, 2025 – If you happen to find yourself bored or just tired of the hustle and bustle of the city in off-season Split, why not hop in a proverbial time machine by spending time in Vrlika?
As Putni kofer writes, the imposing Dinara and Svilaja, the freezing Cetina and Lake Peruća, and a series of beautiful meadows… In the midst of all this beauty, you’ll find one ancient settlement – Vrlika, a town at the foot of a cliff that has been watched over for centuries by a fortress. It’s not far from Split, and it’s home to an abundance of fascinating history from throughout the ages.
from the stone age to the present day
Vrlika is located at 470 metres above sea level, on the edge of Vrličko polje (Vrlika plain), which is in turn part of the wider, fertile Cetina region. It is only 60 kilometres from Split, and it’s absolutely worth making a journey there. It isn’t a large place packed with things to do, but it is a wide area teeming with beautiful sights and attractions that make you want to hang around just that bit longer. It’s an astonishingly beautiful area which induces a sense of zen to all.
Before getting too far ahead of ourselves, it’s worth delving into a bit about this old town itself. The entire Vrlika area was inhabited long before everything we know of in the area today emerged. Humans lived here during the Stone Age. Throughout history, Vrlika was actually much larger, it experienced many things, and for centuries, since the Ottoman invasions, the main witness of that turbulent past has been vigilantly watching over it: the Prozor fortress.
the prozor fortress – a window into a tumultuous history
The Prozor fortress exudes dominance over the entire Vrlika area. The inhabitants of the area sought shelter from the marauding Ottoman forces in it, and later a settlement where life played out for centuries was born beneath it. It was constructed at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, and is characterised by an irregular rectangular shape. Its eastern part was guarded by a tower, while its heart, the residential part, was strongly fortified. Its renovation was initiated only in 1988, and it is considered one of the most significant fortresses in the entire wider Dalmatian region.
the home of a beloved opera
In addition to the Prozor fortress, Vrlika is also known for the famous Vrlika Fountain, or the birthplace of the famous opera Ero s onoga svijeta. Česma is a nineteenth-century park where one of the Cetina’s tributaries springs to the surface from the depths below. You can reach this spring, where the water flows from six spouts in a stone wall, by descending the old stone steps. This place was the very heart of local gatherings and socialising for centuries, which ultimately inspired Milan Begović, a Vrlika resident, for the libretto of the famous opera. It is still performed there today, on its original stage.
healing air and the “most beautiful lake in europe”
Vrlika is also known for its micro-climate. They say that in Vrlika, the sub-Mediterranean and continental mountain climates merge, making it ideal for people dealing with all sorts of troublesome respiratory ailments.
The area around Vrlika is also full of yet more interesting things. For example, there’s the old Sv Spasa Church (St Saviour) near the source of the mighty Cetina River, one of the oldest in Croatia. It is special for its stećak tombstones and old graves surrounding it, the first being from 700, and the latter being from 1150. Also interesting is the Balečki Most (Bridge), constructed back in 1907, the surroundings of which are an entire archaeological site in and of themselves.
It is definitely also worth seeing the Pločasti Most, built of tombstones, which is located near the aforementioned church, while the itinerary also has to include the beautiful Peruća Lake, a reservoir and the third largest lake in Croatia. Even foreign media outlets often refer to it as being the most beautiful in Europe.
