adventure – content.whygo.com

Adventure travelers have discovered Croatia and they aren’t worried about their sheets’ thread count or mints on their pillows. (Well, some of them are, but we’ve got adventures for them too.) Adventure travel companies have sprung up from the outdoor attractions throughout the country and travelers are flocking to see what sort of stimuli their adrenal gland can find in Croatia.

Here are some of the best outfits offering the most exhilarating and beautiful options for adventure travel, no matter what your sport.

CroChallenge www.crochallenge.com

The folks at Cro Challenge provide and promote adventure and conservation through the action sports they allow travelers and locals to take part in. Cro Challenge attracts tourists, but not exclusively, and hosts an Adventure Cup of Adventure races that is growing every year.

Cro Challenge offers mountain biking, sea kayaking and Adventure races in Paklenica, Middle Dalmatia and Dubrovnik.

Huck-Finn Adventure Travel www.huck-finn.hr/

Huck-Finn Adventure Travel has their fingers in every river in Croatia. They’ve been guiding trips longer than Croatia has been a country and offer some of the best deals on rafting trips in the Balkans. One day trips for $38 and eight day excursions for $550 are some of the most reasonable prices you’re going to find for spending time on water anywhere outside the public pool.

Cliff Base Rock Climbing www.cliffbase.com/

On the island of Hvar, these rock climbing and adventure professionals have the skinny on routes at the reservation-only Cliff Base rock center on the southeast corner of the island. Climb directly out of the sea and hang out over the water on these free climbing routes. Cliff Base also has sea kayaking, mountain biking, windsurfing and trekking available.

Explorer’s Corner www.explorerscorner.com

Explorer’s Corner takes travelers on a sailing excursion around the Adriatic. “So what,” you say? How is that an adventure?

Well, while most sailing excursions treat the boat as a base camp for drinking, Explorer’s Corner drops its travelers in the best kayaking spots along the route each day. The price tag is a little steep at $3,300, but for a ten day trip the average price is about on par with what you might spend living it up on the mainland. This is the trip for paddlers who want to have a place to sleep each night.

Describe Croatia and you might come up with adjectives like relaxing, laid-back, chill, even sedate. A typical Croatian vacation consists of hanging out on the beach or people watching in a cafe. But a significant number of people are now turning toward adding thrills to their vacations, and to paintball as a way to get that adrenaline rush.

Paintball has ridden the wave of popularity of other outdoor sports like river rafting and mountain biking and now several companies split the duties of providing outdoor recreation opportunities to the travelers and locals who want to add them to their vacation itinerary.

Most paintball competition in Croatia is outdoor, in fields or forests with built in obstacles and cover for players. Mediterano offers paintball on Korcula island and provides vests and coveralls to help lessen the sting when you get hit. Mediterano advertises paintball as a team-building activity and says that corporate groups receive a huge benefit from the activity. Cause who doesn’t sometimes want to shoot their coworkers with paint?

There are also paintball clubs in Porec, Kustosija and a few leagues that travel up and down the country to play teams from other cities. Czech travel company Dalmacija Tour offers a trip through Croatia emphasizing action sports and adventures, paintball included.

Recreational paintball for travelers is available near any major city in Croatia, although you may have to travel outside the city into the country to actually play. Jarun Lake, outside of Zagreb, for example, runs paintball games on its huge course everyday from 9am to midnight and sometimes later. Dune buggy’s and quads are also available to facilitate an added adrenaline rush.

If you find playing war games in a country that was fighting for its independence only a decade ago a little unsettling, you’re not alone. But be aware that most paintball clubs treat paintball as a game and emphasize having fun over shooting each other. Most call it “marking” each other and paintball guns are “markers.” It’s a small distinction that may seem smaller when you’re crouching through the brush doing your best Rambo impression, but in the end it is just a game. Paintball in Croatia is a response to the demand created by the ban of the sport in Germany. Croatia hosts many German tourists each year and providing paintball is a way for Croatia to give their guests an experience they can’t get in their home country.