Split
Split is a living city built inside a Roman palace, three thousand residents inside Diocletian's walls, and Croatia's ferry hub before it is anything else, with the boats to Hvar, Brač and Vis three minutes from the palace gate. Two nights for the city and three as the island base, June or September, and no car until the day you leave.
Split in a nutshell
Split: what to expect
This is what 109,000+ planned stops in Croatia on Stippl say about Split.
Two nights in Split for the city and three as the base for the islands, and the palace is free. Walking into Diocletian's Palace is the cellars, the Peristyle, the cathedral and the streets above them as one building, the evening on the Riva is the whole city walking the marble, Marjan is a twenty-minute climb for the view back over the palace and the islands, the catamaran makes Hvar or Brač a day trip, and Bačvice is a sandy bay in the middle of the city. Most travellers give Split 2 nights on Stippl.
Split is the hub of the Croatian coast, and the stop with the longest tail. The city sits on 54.85% of the Croatian trips planned on Stippl, more than any other place in the country, 21.2% of its stops run four nights or more, the longest tail on the coast, because the islands are done from here, and 64.9% of stops fall between June and August, the sharpest seasonal curve on the platform, because the coast closes when the season ends rather than when it gets cold.
Sleep in Veli Varoš or inside the palace, sit down for the coffee and stay, ask the weight and the price per kilo before the fish is cooked, and book the ferries ahead in July and August. Skip the old town in swimwear, since the fine is real, and skip planning an island itinerary on summer ferry times after mid-October, because the winter timetable is a fraction.
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Island-hoppers
Split is the ferry hub, every Dalmatian island route starts or changes here, and the port is three minutes from the palace gate.
History travellers
An inhabited Roman palace is not a common thing to be able to walk through, and the free half is most of it.
City beach travellers
Bačvice and the Marjan coves are inside the city, with the shallow bay for the children and the rocks for the swimmers.
Digital nomads
Croatia runs a nomad residence permit and Split is where most of them base, with the coffee culture built for the laptop.
Base-builders
21.2% of Stippl stops here run four nights or more, the longest tail on the coast, because the islands are day trips from the port.
Summer travellers
64.9% of Split stops on Stippl fall between June and August, and the city is built for that season and shut outside it.
Maybe not for you: anyone travelling between November and March, because this is not a quiet-season city but a closed one, with the island ferries on a skeleton timetable and much of the old town's business shuttered.
The best time to visit Split
The season
Late May to early October
Ferries at full frequency, everything open and the prices rising to a July and August peak, with 64.9% of Stippl stops in the three summer months.
The shoulder
May and late September
The same city with a fraction of the crowd, and the answer most travellers actually want, with the sea still swimmable into October.
The closed months
November to March
Mild rather than cold at ten to twelve degrees, and shut: the island ferries drop to a skeleton timetable and much of the old town's business closes.
The festival weeks
Mid-July to mid-August
The Summer Festival stages opera and concerts in the palace itself, and the electronic festival at Poljud fills the city for a weekend.
- Most travellers give Split 2 nights on Stippl, and 21.2% stay four or more. Two for the palace, the Riva and Marjan; three or more when the islands are day trips from the port.
- 64.9% of Split stops on Stippl fall between June and August. The sharpest seasonal curve in the knowledge base, and a planning fact rather than a weather one: the coast closes because the season ends.
- The Summer Festival runs mid-July to mid-August. Opera, theatre and concerts staged in the palace, the city's oldest cultural event, and the Peristyle is a stage rather than a square.
- The Feast of St Domnius is 7 May. The city's patron saint and its own public holiday, with a procession through the palace and the fair along the Riva.
- The electronic festival fills the city in July. A weekend at the Poljud stadium with the yacht weeks around it, and the reason accommodation spikes beyond the normal summer curve.
- The summer is genuinely dry. Twenty-eight millimetres in July against over a hundred in November, because the rain here falls in winter, and the boat days are rarely cancelled.
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Things to do in Split
Walking into the palace
The cellars, the Peristyle, the cathedral and the streets above them are one continuous building, and the free half is most of it.
The evening on the Riva
The whole city walks the marble promenade between about seven and nine, and the coffee is the seat rather than the drink.
Marjan hill at sunset
A twenty-minute climb from Veli Varoš for the view back over the palace and the islands, with the coves below for the morning swim.
A day on Hvar or Brač
The catamaran makes both a genuine day trip, and Zlatni Rat on Brač is the beach on every Croatian postcard.
Swimming at Bačvice
A shallow sandy bay in the middle of the city, and the home of picigin, the local shallow-water ball game played there since 1908.
The Krka waterfalls
An hour and a half inland, and the closer of the two famous waterfall parks, with the boat from Skradin included.
The neighbourhoods of Split
Diocletian's Palace
A Roman palace, inhabited
Everything inside the walls: the cathedral, the cellars, the bars and the noise, with the flats above the shops and three thousand residents with an address inside. For first-timers.
Everything at the door, but the bars run under the bedroom window until late.
Veli Varoš
The stone lanes
The oldest quarter west of the palace, stone lanes climbing the hill, quiet at night and five minutes from the gate. For couples.
Quiet nights five minutes from the palace, though the lanes are steps and the rooms are small.
Bačvice
The city beach
The shallow sandy bay with the nightlife complex behind it, ten minutes east of the port along the waterfront. For nightlife.
The beach and the late bars on foot, and the noise that comes with them.
Meje and Marjan
The leafy hill
Residential and pine-shaded, with the Meštrović gallery, the forest paths and the quiet swimming coves below the park. For longer stays.
The coves and the park at the door, though a walk or a bus to the palace.
Radunica
Everyday Split
A medieval street east of the palace near the ferry and bus terminals, with the guesthouses locals actually rent. For budgets.
Cheaper rooms three minutes from the port, and no view.
The Riva and the port
Arrivals and departures
Where the ferries, the buses and the trains all land in one block by the harbour, and where the promenade runs. For short stops.
The boat at the door, but the Riva prices are not Split prices.
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Where to stay in Split
Croatia's coast runs on private apartments rather than hotels and Split is the clearest case, with the apartment stock far larger than the hotel stock and the palace, Veli Varoš and Radunica the three places to look. Most travellers give Split 2 nights on Stippl, and the August rates double.
Diocletian's Palace
€120–260
Apartments and boutique hotels inside the walls, €80 to €250 a night.
Veli Varoš
€90–180
Stone-house apartments and small guesthouses, €60 to €160 a night.
Bačvice
€90–170
Hostels, apartments and a couple of hotels by the beach, €30 to €140 a night.
Meje and Marjan
€100–200
Villas and apartments on the hill, €70 to €200 a night.
Radunica
€70–140
Guesthouses and budget apartments by the terminals, €25 to €90 a night.
The Riva and the port
Hotels on the harbour front, €90 to €220 a night.
What to eat in Split
Whole fish over coals, sold by the kilo and priced that way
Meat or octopus baked under a bell-shaped iron lid with embers on top
Cuttlefish risotto, black from the ink
Beef marinated in vinegar and prunes, slow-cooked, with gnocchi
A thin chard pie from the Poljica region west of Split, protected as a speciality
Small fried doughnuts with rum and citrus zest
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Split customs and what not to do
Coffee is a sitting
The Croatian coffee habit is an hour on a terrace, and rushing it or ordering takeaway marks you out.
Cover up off the beach
Swimwear in the old town is a fine in several coastal towns and at minimum a local irritation here, and the shirt goes on at the Riva.
Hajduk is an identity
Not a football club: the Torcida supporters' group is the oldest in Europe and the club's shield is on half the walls in the city.
Fjaka is deliberate
The local word for slowness, said with some pride, and the service pace follows it.
The war is recent
The nineties are within living memory for everyone you meet, and the subject is normal but not small talk.
Do
- Sit down for your coffee and stay a while
- Ask the weight and the price per kilo before the fish is cooked
- Book ferries ahead in July and August
- Carry a passport on the Dubrovnik bus; it crosses Bosnia
Don't
- Walk the old town in swimwear
- Plan an island itinerary on summer ferry times after mid-October
- Hire a car for the days you are only in the city
What a Split trip costs
Budget
€45–65
A hostel dorm, a bakery breakfast, one ferry and the free half of the palace.
Mid-range
€80–130
An apartment or a three-star, a restaurant dinner and an island day trip.
High-end
€200+
A boutique hotel in the palace walls, a private boat day and restaurant dinners.
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Fun facts about Split
Diocletian's Palace in Split is the most complete surviving Roman palace anywhere. And the only one that was never abandoned, with about 3,000 residents still holding an address inside the walls.
Picigin was invented at Bačvice in Split in 1908. The shallow-water ball game is protected as Croatian intangible cultural heritage and played there every summer evening.
Torcida, the Hajduk Split supporters' group founded in 1950, is the oldest in Europe. Generally described that way, and the club's shield is on half the walls in the city.
Split's summer is genuinely dry, with 28 millimetres of rain in July. Against more than a hundred in November, because the rain here falls in winter.
Entry to Diocletian's Palace has always been free. It is a quarter of the city rather than a monument, and only the cathedral, the tower, the cellars and the temple are ticketed.
64.9% of stops in Split on Stippl fall between June and August. The sharpest seasonal curve on the platform, because the coast closes when the season ends rather than when it gets cold.
Local tips for Split
The ferry timetable is the trip
The operators publish a summer schedule and a winter one, and the winter one is a fraction of the summer service, so an island plan made on summer times fails in October.
Hvar in an hour by catamaran
The catamaran to Hvar Town runs about fifty to sixty minutes for about twenty euros, and the car ferry to Stari Grad takes two hours from a few euros.
A car is a liability in town
The old town is closed to cars and crossed in fifteen minutes, and the rental starts on the day you leave for the parks or Istria.
Everything lands in one block
The bus station, the ferry port and the train station sit together by the harbour, three minutes from the palace.
Sun and sea are the risks
A low-crime city with petty theft in the summer crowds, and sea urchins on the rocks around Marjan the injury people actually get, so the water shoes go on.
Two nights, or a base
Only 4.9% of Stippl stops here are no night at all and 21.2% run four or more, because the port makes the islands day trips.
Split questions, answered
Two for the city and three if the islands are in the plan: most travellers give Split 2 nights on Stippl and 21.2% of stops run four or more, the longest tail on the coast, because Hvar, Brač and Vis are day trips from the port.
No. The grounds and the streets are free and always have been, because the palace is a quarter of the city rather than a monument, and only the cathedral, the bell tower, the cellars and the temple are ticketed at a few euros each. Several thousand people have addresses inside the walls.
Most people do both: more than half of Split trips on Stippl also carry Dubrovnik, with Split as the base for the islands and Dubrovnik as the walled set piece two and a half hours south. Put Split first into Stippl for the ferries, then ask people in subreddits like r/croatia which order they would do again.
It is mild rather than cold at ten to twelve degrees, and the season is genuinely over: 64.9% of Split stops on Stippl fall between June and August, the island ferries drop to a skeleton timetable from November, and much of the old town's business shuts. Zagreb is the Croatian winter.
Hvar Town by catamaran in about an hour, or Brač for Zlatni Rat, the beach on every Croatian postcard, and both are same-day from the port with the return boat in the evening. Vis is the longer day, and the five-islands boat does the Blue Cave in one go.
At the centre: the city is on 54.85% of the Croatian trips planned on Stippl, more than any other place in the country, and it opens 14.7% of them, because the airport and the port make it the hinge between Zadar, the islands and Dubrovnik.
Every guide is written by the Stippl editors and checked against the trips our travellers actually plan. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
Plan Split in Stippl
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