Be aware: All journey is topic to frequently-changing governmental restrictions—please verify federal, state, and native advisories earlier than scheduling journeys.
Cliff diving isn’t for everybody to aim, however it positive is enjoyable to observe the professionals do it. The death-defying leaps, flips, and twists from towering clifftops and rock ledges belong to one of many oldest excessive sports activities on the earth. In reality, cliff divers are featured in Greek and Etruscan work courting again to the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.
Quick ahead to the twenty first century: Cliff-diving daredevils, often expert locals educated in carrying on this athletic legacy, will be discovered performing for vacationers in places world wide. In the event you’d wish to see it for your self, listed here are a couple of locations the place you may witness these courageous or loopy (take your choose) athletes dive from nice heights which are typically quadruple the peak of the Olympic video games’ tallest diving platform, which is 10 meters excessive.
RELATED: High 10 locations for adrenaline junkies
Highest peak: 135 ft (41 meters)
Elvis helped to make the La Quebrada Cliff Divers well-known. The jumpers have been featured in his 1963 musical, “Enjoyable in Acapulco,” and vacationers have been flocking to see them ever since. They carry out a number of instances every day, scaling the steep rocks of the La Quebrada cliffs with their naked fingers earlier than leaping right into a mere 12 ft of ocean water beneath at a speeds of as much as 55 miles per hour. There’s an statement deck to witness this must-see spectacle, and divers sometimes come to greet guests afterward and obtain ideas. For one of the best vantage level, nonetheless, head to La Perla restaurant on the Resort Mirador Acapulco, which boasts spectacular views.
Test right here for Acapulco lodge offers.
Highest peak: 92 ft (28 meters)
The fjord on this city on the Amalfi Coast gives a pure springboard for cliff-diving athletes. Every July, it hosts a Mediterranean high-diving championship—an occasion finest seen by hiring a ship or becoming a member of a water-based tour. Afterward, you may recount the insane acrobatics over an Italian feast and loads of native limoncello.
Test right here for Furore lodge offers.
Highest peak: 89 ft (27 meters)
Leaping off the Outdated Bridge (Stari Most) in Mostar dates again to no less than 1664. That’s when 16-year-old boys have been inspired to leap from the bridge with no consideration of passage into manhood. In the event you didn’t bounce, your life was predicted to be a failure. (How’s that for motivation?) Right now, members of the Mostar Diving Membership usually bounce from the bridge into the freezing waters beneath. Guests who’re feeling courageous can join with the dive college, which is run by dive specialists who’re thought of the guardians of the bridge. They’ll train you learn how to make the leap safely, at incrementally greater and better heights. Those that full the best dive stroll away with a certificates and a loopy story.
Test right here for Mostar lodge offers.
Highest peak: 85 ft (26 meters)
This Medieval village is understood for greater than its beautiful alpine surroundings and lovely hikes. It’s residence to the World Excessive Diving Federation (WHDF), and its cliffs host the WHDF Cliff Diving World Tour every July. You’ll discover among the finest cliff divers on the earth coaching right here.
Test right here for Brontallo lodge offers.
Highest peak: 50 ft (15 meters)
La Quebrada isn’t the one place in Mexico to search out expert cliff divers. Mazatlan is residence to a cliff at an oceanside park, also referred to as El Clavadista (translation: “the diver”). The park is an simply accessible space to observe expert locals leap elegantly into the waters beneath. It’s been a practice for the reason that mid-Nineteen Fifties, and ideas from spectators are appreciated. Although the peak of the Mazatlan cliff is nowhere close to as intimidating as La Quebrada, the vanity of the water definitely is: It’s solely 6 ft. Divers must carry out with excessive precision to make the leaps right here.
Test right here for Mazatlan lodge offers.
Highest peak: 35 ft (10.5 meters)
With slightly little bit of liquid braveness, you is likely to be impressed to make the leap with locals. Rick’s Cafe in Negril is a must-visit spot at sundown for a couple of drinks and an acrobatic present. Whereas most sun-burned vacationers (fairly hilariously) cannonball dive off the 35-foot cliff upon which this legendary bar is perched, the locals will wow you with extra spectacular acrobatic dives into the Caribbean waters beneath.
Test right here for Negril lodge offers.
Highest peak: 30 ft (9 meters)
The Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa has maintained a practice since its opening in 1963: the ceremonial cliff dive from Pu’u Keka’a, also referred to as Black Rock. The ritual takes place every night time at sundown, accompanied by stay music and guided historic narration. The dramatic lele kawa (cliff diving) honors the legend of the final chief of Maui, who leapt from sacred Pu’u Keka’a into the Pacific. With Hawaiian chanting and torches lighting the best way, a younger diver retraces the chief’s footsteps to the summit earlier than making a breath-taking dive into the ocean beneath.
Test right here for Maui lodge offers.
Highest peak: 60 ft (18 meters)
Cliff diving in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Within the walled metropolis of Dubrovnik, recognizing Sport of Thrones filming places isn’t the one thrill guests will discover. Simply outdoors town’s thirteenth century partitions on the ocean aspect, you’ll discover Buza Bar, a well-liked outside ingesting institution constructed into the aspect of dramatic cliffs. Under the bar is Buza Seashore, which isn’t a lot of a seaside in any respect however somewhat a set of cliffs and small platforms the place locals and vacationers alike check their would possibly by leaping about 60 ft into the Adriatic Sea beneath.
Test right here for Dubrovnik lodge offers.
Go away it to energy-drink model Pink Bull to sponsor the world collection for this high-risk, high-adrenaline excessive sport that makes the Olympic diving platform appear like little one’s play. Competitions are held at cities, cities and villages world wide annually, dazzling spectators who can solely think about what it’s wish to dive from such insane heights. Plan to be one in every of them—one of many spectators, that’s—by checking Pink Bull’s Cliff Diving World Sequence web site for updates on the place competitions will likely be held. Eire, France, Norway, Azerbaijan—these are simply among the international locations which have hosted competitions that sometimes run from June to October.
Tagged: Caribbean, Europe, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Switzerland
Be aware: Orbitz compensates authors for his or her writings showing on this website.
