ONLY IF YOU'RE ALREADY THERE

Croatia · Vis · #10 of Croatia's ten by fame

Stiniva

A pebble floor inside a ring of cliffs, with a 16-foot door to the sea.

How we rated it: up one for a sourced find, a cove closed by cliffs but for a 16-foot gap; down one because a source calls the land route treacherous. Photo: dronepicr · CC BY 2.0

The hang

Stiniva is on the south side of Vis, near the village of Žužeca. Sheer rock walls almost close it in; the only gap is a cliff gate about 16 feet wide that opens it to the sea. Most people arrive by boat and swim through. The land route is a steep 30-minute path down that CNN calls somewhat treacherous, not for the young, the clumsy or the sandaled. There is a small bar and nothing else. By late morning it is full of swimmers and snorkellers, so set out early. We measured 45 metres of pebbles.

The real intel

Best months · warmest sea: August (25.2 °C), then July and September. Coolest: February (15.2 °C). One year of data, 2025.
Best months · emptiest: Early, before the boats.
Getting there: On the south side of Vis, near Žužeca: by boat, or a steep path of about 30 minutes. Vis is about 2.5 hours by ferry from Split.
The catch nobody tells you: The path down is somewhat treacherous; most visitors come by boat.

The year at Stiniva

Warmest sea in August. Fewest wet days in June. Pick your fight.

Sea (°C)

15.8

15.2

15.5

16.2

18.8

25.1

25.2

24.6

20.5

18.2

17.4

Air (°C)

12.5

12.1

13.5

15.1

17.9

23.2

24.7

24.5

17.9

15.2

13.7

Sun (h/day)

5.9

8.2

8.8

11.1

13.2

13.3

12.7

10.7

8.9

6.8

Rain (days)

One year of data, 2025, from Open-Meteo at this beach's coordinates. A rain day is 1 mm or more. The red bar is the month to aim for in each row.

The neighbours

6 beaches within 6 km, as the gull flies.

1.2 kmVelo Travna73 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.
2.6 kmMala Srebrna38 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.
2.8 kmSrebrna Beach69 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.
3.2 kmBili bok374 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.
3.3 kmTeplus76 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.
4.8 kmZaglav80 m of beach, measured. Not rated yet.

Straight-line distances from the mapped beach shapes (OpenStreetMap). Roads are longer, and in Bali they are much longer.

The crowd

Full by late morning.

The receipts

A small bar.

The facts · we measured

Length: 45 m
Mean width: 15.1 m
Area: 685 m²
Warmest sea (2025): 25.2 °C in Aug
Coldest sea (2025): 15.2 °C in Feb
Sea by month, °C: Jan 15.8 · Feb 15.2 · Mar 15.5 · Apr 16.2 · May 18.8 · Jun 23.0 · Jul 25.1 · Aug 25.2 · Sep 24.6 · Oct 20.5 · Nov 18.2 · Dec 17.4

Questions people ask

How do you get to Stiniva beach?

Most visitors arrive by boat and swim in through the gap in the cliffs. The land route is a steep path of about 30 minutes from Žužeca, on the south side of Vis.