Sinjska Alka

A rider comes down the racecourse at full gallop and has a fraction of a second to put his lance through an iron ring. That is the Sinjska alka, and for one August afternoon the whole town of Sinj is on the benches or in the street to see whether he does.

The Alka remembers the siege of Sinj in 1715, when the town's people held out against the Ottoman army from 7 to 15 August, and it honours Our Lady of Sinj, whose feast day, the Assumption, fell on the last day. It is the only survivor of the knights' tournaments once held in Dalmatian towns such as Zadar, Imotski and Makarska, and it has been on UNESCO's list of intangible heritage since 2010. Riding is traditionally limited to men born in Sinj and the villages around it. They wear costumes modelled on 18th-century warrior dress.

The target has three scoring zones: the centre is worth 3 points, the upper part 2 and each lower part 1. Points decide the winner.

The programme has three days. In 2026 the Bara was run on Friday 7 August at 17:30, the Čoja on Saturday 8 August at 17:30 and the Alka itself on Sunday 9 August at 16:30. The Sunday winner that year was Tino Radanović, and the president of Croatia presented him with a sword and a ring.

How to go. Sinj lies inland from Split, and the Split guide is the natural base. The date is announced on alka.hr each year, so check the site before you plan a trip. Weather matters: in 2025 a storm stopped the Alka on its first Sunday and it was run again a week later, on 10 August. Leave a spare day if you can.