Biokovo Skywalk: EUR 10-15 Ticket, Glass Deck at 1,228 m

The Biokovo Skywalk is a horseshoe of glass floor cantilevered out over a cliff at 1,228 m, high on the Biokovo massif above the Makarska Riviera. It opened in 2020 as the first skywalk in Croatia, and on a clear day you look straight down almost 1,200 m to the coast and out across the Adriatic to Brač, Hvar and, on the sharpest days, Italy. It is the headline of Biokovo Nature Park, and the one thing to sort before you go is a booked car slot: the mountain road lets in only about 20 vehicles an hour, and in summer those slots are gone by mid-morning.

Standing on the glass takes about two minutes. The mountain around it is what fills a morning: a 23 km single-lane road of hairpins, the 1,762 m summit of Sveti Jure, a botanical garden pinned to the slope, and air that can sit a good 10°C cooler than the beach you left an hour earlier. Most people drive up for the glass and turn straight back, which misses the point, because the drive and the peaks are the reason the trip is worth a whole half-day.

The Skywalk: standing on glass at 1,228 m

The platform is a semicircular deck 8.5 m across that pushes about 11 m out beyond the edge of the cliff, its floor made entirely of glass over a pre-stressed concrete base and a steel frame. You walk out onto clear panels with nothing but air and the drop beneath your feet - which is exactly the point, and exactly why some people get halfway and freeze. There is no shame in hugging the solid rim; plenty do.

Two rules shape the visit. You get a 10-minute limit on the glass, and only 30 people are allowed on at once, so in July and August expect a short queue and a ranger keeping it moving. That is plenty of time for photos and a good stare down, but it is not somewhere to linger for an hour. Bikes and cycling shoes are not allowed on the deck.

The view is best in the morning, when the light falls onto the coast and the sea, or in the last hour before the road closes, when the crowds thin and the shadows lengthen down the massif. Midday is the busiest and the haziest. If the summit is in cloud - and it often is by afternoon in summer - the whole trip loses its point, so check the mountain, not just the beach forecast, before you commit.

Booking the road, and why it catches people out

The Skywalk is easy; the road is the part to plan. The main entrance sits 6 km south of Makarska, and from the ticket booth a single-lane asphalt road climbs 23 km to the high plateau, with lay-bys roughly every 300 m so cars can squeeze past each other. Because it is one lane shared in both directions, the park caps entry at about 20 vehicles per hour and sells timed slots online. Turn up on spec in high season and you may simply be turned away.

So the drill is: book your vehicle slot in advance on the park website, pick a time, and arrive for it. The road is steep, narrow and winding, and it demands a car you trust and a driver who is comfortable reversing into a passing bay. Drive it slowly, keep your side, use low gears on the way down to save your brakes, and do not attempt it in fog. If any of that sounds like a bad holiday, take an organised Skywalk tour or one of the small-group tuk-tuk trips from the coast instead - they handle the driving and the slot, and you keep your nerves for the glass. As a rule of thumb: self-drive if you are at ease on narrow mountain roads and want time to linger at the summit; take the tour if the hairpins, the exposure or the timed booking put you off.

Tickets, seasons and what your ticket covers

The road and park are open roughly from April to late November and close for winter, when snow shuts the top. For 2026 a single ticket covers the road and the Skywalk together, and the price moves with the season:

Children under 7 go free, and there are reduced rates (roughly EUR 7-10) for registered mountaineers, war veterans, people with disabilities and cyclists. If you plan to come back, three-day and seven-day passes exist (around EUR 30 and EUR 70). Prices, the exact opening dates and the booking system change year to year, so treat these as a guide and confirm the current details on the park’s own site before you drive up.

Beyond the glass: Sveti Jure and the high peaks

Keep going past the Skywalk and the road climbs to the roof of the mountain. Sveti Jure, at 1,762 m, is the highest peak of Biokovo and one of the highest summits in Croatia - the country’s second-tallest range after Dinara. You can drive almost to the top; the summit itself carries a small chapel and a large transmitter mast, and the panorama on a clear day runs from the islands offshore to the mountains of Bosnia and Herzegovina inland.

For walkers, the classic outing is the brutal, beautiful climb from sea level. From Makarska a marked trail grinds up to Vošac (about 1,421 m), where the Aleksandrov mountain hut sits on the rim with the whole coast dropping away beneath it, and stronger hikers push on to Sveti Jure. It is a serious day - well over 1,400 m of ascent on exposed karst with little shade or water - so start at dawn, carry plenty to drink, and check the hut and trail status first. Many people happily drive up and walk only the short, gentler stretches near the top.

The park itself: karst, endemic plants and a hillside garden

Biokovo was proclaimed a nature park in 1981, and it protects roughly 196 km² of bare, dramatic karst - limestone and dolomite scoured into ridges, sinkholes and cliffs. For all that it reads as a grey wall from the beach, it holds over 1,500 plant and animal species, some found nowhere else. This is a working mountain of shepherds’ paths, sinkhole snow-pits and hardy endemic flowers, not just a viewpoint with a car park.

Lower down, above the village of Kotišina at around 350-500 m, the Kotišina Botanical Garden uses the raw hillside itself as its beds, a project started by the Franciscan friar and botanist Fra Jure Radić to protect the mountain’s own plants. It is a quiet, half-wild counterpoint to the drama of the summit, and an easy add-on if you are staying on the coast rather than driving the whole road.

How to fit it into a trip

There is no bus up the mountain, so the choice is a car with a booked slot or a tour from the coast. Base yourself on the Makarska Riviera directly below - Makarska, Brela or Baška Voda all put you minutes from the entrance - and give the mountain one clear morning. A good rhythm is a swim at a pebble beach early, then up the road before the midday haze, or the reverse with sunset at the top.

The Riviera and its mountain sit right on the coastal drive between Split and Dubrovnik, so Biokovo slots into a bigger trip with almost no detour; if you are hiring wheels for it, our guide to renting a car in Croatia covers the practical side. For which month to aim for - warm sea, open road and thinner crowds all pull in slightly different directions - see the best time to visit Croatia.

Practical tips

• Book the car slot first. Everything else follows from it. In July and August, reserve days ahead; slots go fast.
• Dress for a different season. It can be 10°C cooler and much windier at the top than on the beach - bring a layer even in August.
• Fuel up and bring water. There are no petrol stations or shops on the mountain, and only basic facilities near the Skywalk.
• Not for vertigo. The glass floor is genuinely unnerving; if heights bother you, the viewpoints beside it give almost the same panorama on solid ground.
• Watch the cloud. The summit clouds over on many summer afternoons - go in the morning, and skip it if the top is socked in.

Ticket prices, opening dates, the road season and the online booking system change each year - confirm current details with pp-biokovo.hr before you travel. Last checked: 21 July 2026.