Croatia · Dalmatia
Split
A fourth-century Roman palace that a whole city moved into and never left, with the Dalmatian islands sailing from its doorstep.
Split grew up inside a Roman emperor's retirement home and never moved out. Diocletian's Palace is not a ruin behind a fence but the living centre of the city, its colonnades and cellars packed with apartments, bars and market stalls, and its cathedral built into the emperor's own mausoleum. Around it spreads a working Dalmatian port with a marble waterfront, a pine hill at one end and the country's busiest ferry harbour at the other. Most people come for the palace and stay because the islands leave from the doorstep.
Suggested stay
2–4 days
Language
Croatian
Currency
EUR
Timezone
UTC+2
Why you'll love Split
The palace Diocletian's retirement villa is still inhabited, so you walk out of imperial substructures into a square where laundry hangs above a cocktail bar
Island gateway catamarans and car ferries leave the town quay for Brac, Hvar, Vis and Korcula, so half of Dalmatia is a morning away
Marjan a pine peninsula rises straight out of the western suburbs, with ridge trails, tiny stone chapels and swimming coves twenty minutes from the Roman core
Riva life the marble waterfront is the city's living room, with coffee stretched over hours, an evening promenade and picigin batted about in the shallows at Bacvice
Best time to visit
Mar-Jun, Sep-Oct
Mild spring · 14-27° days
43.512° N, 16.440° E
UTC+2 · Europe/Zagreb
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Weather & when to go to Split
Month by month: typical highs and lows, rainfall and rain days.
✓ Best Mar-Jun, Sep-Oct
Conditions Jan Cool & wet · Feb Cool · Mar Mild spring · Apr Pleasant · May Warm · Jun Warm & sunny · Jul Hot · Aug Hot & busy · Sep Warm, sea warm · Oct Mild autumn · Nov-Dec Cool & wet
Cards tinted by verified verdict · big number = typical daily high, small = low · hover for conditions
When to avoid Split
July and August are hot, and the palace lanes fill with cruise passengers and island-bound crowds by mid-morning. Winter is mild rather than cold but often wet, and it is the quiet Split: ferry timetables thin right out, the islands largely close, and part of the waterfront shuts until spring. The bura wind can cancel a sailing in any month.
Top things to do in Split
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Diocletian's Palace - the cellars and the Peristyle
history culture arts 👍 PopularThe substructures beneath the palace kept the footprint of the imperial halls that stood above them, and now run as a cavernous parade of vaulted galleries and stalls. Climb out into the Peristyle, the sunken colonnaded court of red Egyptian granite where the emperor showed himself to his subjects and where a bar now puts cushions on the steps.
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Cathedral of St Domnius - climb the bell tower
history 👍 PopularThe oldest building in continuous use as a cathedral anywhere is Diocletian's own octagonal mausoleum, reconsecrated to a Christian martyr he is said to have had killed. The Romanesque campanile beside it is a steep open-sided climb to the best view in the city, straight down over terracotta roofs to the harbour.
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Marjan Hill - pine forest, chapels and swimming coves
nature wildlife scenic ⭐ Highly recommendedA forested peninsula walled off from the suburbs by a long flight of steps up from Varos. Trails run the ridge past hermit chapels and lookout terraces to the tip, with pebble coves at Kasjuni and Bene on the south side for a swim on the way back down.
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Riva and Bacvice - the promenade and the picigin beach
scenic 👍 PopularThe palm-lined marble waterfront is where Split walks at dusk. Ten minutes east, Bacvice is a shallow sandy bay where locals play picigin, a ball game invented here that is played standing in ankle-deep water and involves a great deal of theatrical diving about.
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Green Market and Peskarija - the fruit and fish markets
food ⭐ Highly recommendedThe Pazar spills along the palace's eastern wall with stone fruit, sheep cheese and cured ham. The fish market sits a few streets west under an art-nouveau roof and is famously free of flies, which locals put down to the sulphur spring next door.
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Gregory of Nin - the bronze toe at the Golden Gate
culture arts historyMestrovic's enormous bronze bishop stands outside the palace's northern gate, one toe rubbed gold by the wishes of passers-by. The medieval Croatian cleric he depicts argued for church services in the local tongue rather than Latin, which is why the city adopted him.
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Mestrovic Gallery - the sculptor's villa above the sea
culture artsIvan Mestrovic built this seafront villa on the Marjan road as a home and studio, and it now holds the best collection of his work along with the gardens he laid out. The Kastelet chapel a short walk along the road keeps his walnut Life of Christ reliefs.
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Peka and konoba cooking - eat the Dalmatian way
foodPeka is meat or octopus baked slowly under a domed iron lid buried in embers, and usually needs ordering a day ahead. Otherwise it is grilled fish sold by weight, black risotto dark with cuttlefish ink, and pasticada, beef stewed long in prosek wine and served over gnocchi.
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Archaeological Museum - what came out of Salona
history culture artsCroatia's oldest museum, a walk north of the centre, holds the sarcophagi, mosaics and inscriptions lifted from Salona, the Roman provincial capital up the road that was far larger than the palace and slowly gave up its stone to it.
Best areas to stay in Split
$ Budget $$ Mid-range $$$ Premium
Diocletian's Palace and the old town
First-time visitors $$Roman walls, marble lanes, no cars
Explore hotels in Diocletian's Palace and the old town →
Varos
Quiet & central $$Old fishermen's lanes climbing towards Marjan
Explore hotels in Varos →
Bacvice and Firule
Beach & families $$Beach bays, apartment blocks, late bars
Explore hotels in Bacvice and Firule →
Meje
Quiet & upscale $$$Leafy villas under the Marjan pines
Explore hotels in Meje →
Live nightly prices from Booking.com, Agoda and others, centred on Split
Getting to & around Split
Getting there
Fly into Split (SPU) at Kastela, then a bus or taxi down the coast road into town
Flight
Split Airport (Resnik) (SPU)
The airport sits beside Kastela, about 25 km northwest of the centre on the Trogir road. The airport shuttle runs to the main bus station beside the ferry port in roughly 40 minutes, the local bus takes longer and stops more, and a taxi is about half an hour when the coast road is clear.
Ferry
Split ferry port
The country's busiest passenger port sits alongside the bus and train stations, with car ferries and fast catamarans to Brac, Hvar, Vis and Korcula, the long run south to Dubrovnik, and a seasonal line across to Ancona in Italy
Coach
Split main bus station
Intercity coaches are the workhorse of Croatian travel: several hours up the motorway from Zagreb, along the coast to Dubrovnik, and across the border to Mostar and Sarajevo
Train
Split railway station
A slow, scenic line climbs inland to Zagreb through the Dinaric hinterland; it takes longer than the coach and runs only a couple of times a day
Drive
The A1 motorway runs down from Zagreb and ends just above the city; the old Adriatic coast road, the Magistrala, is slower and far better looking
Getting around
Walking
The centre is compact and pedestrian: palace, Riva, markets and ferry port all sit inside a fifteen-minute walk
Free
City buses
Local buses cover the suburbs, the eastern beaches and the runs out to Solin, Klis and Trogir; useful once you leave the old town
TBC
Ferry
Catamarans and car ferries from the town quay double as day transport out to Brac, Hvar and Vis
TBC
Taxi
Metered taxis wait by the ferry port and the usual ride-hailing apps work; short hops are quick outside the summer crush
TBC
Car hire
Worth it for the hinterland and the coast road only - the old town is closed to cars and parking near it is a genuine ordeal
TBC
Day trips from Split
Krka National Park
Full dayWaterfall park
The Krka river drops through a staircase of travertine barriers, and Skradinski Buk at the bottom is the one everyone photographs, a wide curtain of falls with boardwalks looped around it. Far closer to Split than Plitvice, and quieter.
Getting there
car | bus | tour
1 hr 15 min by car or bus to Skradin or Lozovac
Trogir
Half dayVenetian island town
A tiny walled town on its own islet just past the airport, stacked tight with Romanesque and Venetian stone. The cathedral's west portal, carved by Master Radovan, is the finest medieval sculpture in the country, and the centre takes an hour to walk.
Getting there
bus | car | ferry
40 min by bus, or by boat along the coast
Hvar
Full dayIsland town
The best-known Dalmatian island: a marble square under a hilltop fortress, lavender terraces inland and the wooded Pakleni islets offshore for swimming. It parties hard in season, and it rewards an overnight rather than a rushed last sailing home.
Getting there
ferry
1 hr by catamaran, or 2 hr by car ferry to Stari Grad
Brac and Zlatni Rat
Full dayBeach island
Zlatni Rat, the shingle spit at Bol that shifts its point with the current, is the most photographed beach in Croatia and a serious windsurfing spot when the afternoon maestral blows. The island's interior is white stone quarries, the same stone as the palace.
Getting there
ferry | bus | car
50 min by car ferry to Supetar, then a bus over the island
Klis Fortress and Salona
Half dayFortress and Roman ruins
Klis straddles the pass behind the city and controlled it for centuries; from the ramparts you look straight down over Split to the islands. Below lie the ruins of Salona, Roman capital of Dalmatia and the city Diocletian came from, now a field of basilicas and an amphitheatre.
Getting there
bus | car
30 min by city bus or car inland
Omis and the Cetina gorge
Half dayRiver canyon
A former pirate town wedged where the Cetina cuts out of the mountains into the sea. The gorge behind it is the local adventure playground, with rafting, canyoning and zip lines, and the fortress steps above the roofs give the long view down the coast.
Getting there
bus | car | tour
40 min by bus or car down the coast
A little history of Split
Split begins with a building. Around AD 305 the emperor Diocletian, a Dalmatian soldier who had risen to rule the Roman world and then did the unheard-of thing of retiring from it, moved into a fortified seaside palace built a few kilometres from Salona, the provincial capital he came from. When Salona fell to Avar and Slav raids in the seventh century, its refugees sheltered behind the palace walls and simply stayed, raising a town inside the emperor's rooms.
That town passed through Croatian, Hungarian and then Venetian hands, gaining loggias and bell towers to match, and went to Austria when Venice collapsed. Under Yugoslavia it became the Adriatic's main port and grew concrete suburbs to match its shipyards; the war of the 1990s emptied the coast of visitors for a decade. The palace has been a barracks, a slum and a filming location for Game of Thrones, and it is still, above all, somewhere people live.
Diocletian builds a fortified retirement palace on the bay near Salona
Diocletian abdicates, the only Roman emperor to retire, and moves in
Refugees from sacked Salona shelter inside the palace walls and stay
The Hungarian-Croatian crown takes the city; commune privileges follow
Venice takes Split and holds it for nearly four centuries
Venice falls and Dalmatia passes to Austria, after a French interlude
Split joins the new Yugoslav state and becomes its main Adriatic port
The palace and old town are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list
The Yugoslav navy shells the city during Croatia's war of independence
Know before you go
Payment
Cards & cash mixed
English
Widely spoken
Wifi
Reliable
Power
Type C / F
230 V, 50 Hz
Dialing
+385
Mobile network & SIM card
Get an eSIM before you fly
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FAQs about Split
▸ When is the best time to visit Split?
Late spring and early autumn are the sweet spot: the sea is warm enough by June and still warm through September and October, and the palace is walkable rather than packed. March to May suits the city and the hinterland if you are not counting on swimming. July and August are hot and busy, and that is when the island and nightlife scene runs hardest.
▸ How many days do you need in Split?
Two days covers the palace, Marjan and the markets without rushing. Three or four turns the city into a base: a day out to Krka or Trogir, a day on Brac or Hvar, and time left over for Bacvice. If the islands are the point, sleeping here and sailing out beats a different bed every night.
▸ Is Split expensive?
It is the pricier end of Croatia in summer, when rooms inside the old town climb steeply and the Riva cafes charge for their view. Out of season it drops sharply. The best of the city costs nothing anyway - the palace lanes, the waterfront, Marjan and the swimming - and eating a few streets back from the water is markedly cheaper.
▸ Split or Dubrovnik?
Dubrovnik is the more perfect walled city and knows it. Split is a real one: cheaper, livelier, lived-in, and far better placed for the islands and the hinterland. If you must choose, base yourself in Split and give Dubrovnik a day or two of walls and rooftops.
▸ Can you swim in Split?
Yes, in the city itself. Bacvice is a shallow sandy bay ten minutes' walk from the palace, and the Marjan coves at Kasjuni and Bene are pebbled and clearer. For postcard water you still want a boat: Brac, Hvar and Vis are where the swimming turns remarkable.
▸ How do you get to the islands from Split?
Ferries and catamarans leave the town quay right beside the old town. Car ferries run to Supetar on Brac, Stari Grad on Hvar and Vela Luka on Korcula, with faster passenger catamarans to Hvar town and Vis. Sailings are frequent in summer and thin out sharply in winter.
More in Croatia
Dubrovnik
A complete ring of medieval walls around a car-free stone city, with the seafaring republic that built them still legible in every street.
✓ best Jun-AugHvar
Croatia's sunniest island: a Venetian harbour town under a hilltop fortress, offshore islets by taxi boat, and vineyards and lavender the length of the ridge.
✓ best Mar-OctMakarska
A Dalmatian beach town with a 1,700 metre mountain wall at its back and a glass skywalk on top of it.
✓ best Apr-Oct