SPLIT · CROATIA
A Roman palace, and the islands at its door.
Speedboats to the Blue Cave and Hvar, the Krka and Plitvice waterfalls, the old streets inside Diocletian’s walls, and the long days down the coast to Dubrovnik.
Only in Split
Three days you can’t have anywhere else.
Boat trips and pretty old towns turn up all over the Mediterranean. A living Roman palace, a cave that turns the sea to light, and a river you can walk straight across do not.
A living palace
Inside Diocletian’s walls
Most ruins you look at from behind a rope. Split’s Old Town is the ruin. A retired Roman emperor built his seafront palace here in AD 305, and the city never moved out of it. The cellars, the colonnaded Peristyle and the gates are now streets, bars and front doors, seventeen centuries on.
- 1 Split: Old Town and Diocletian Palace Walking Tour
- 2 Walking Tour of Split and Diocletian’s Palace
- 3 Split & Diocletian’s Palace Walking Tour
A cave full of light
The Blue Cave at Biševo
On the far island of Biševo, late-morning sun bounces up through an underwater opening and floods a sea cave with glowing blue light. You slip in by small boat in the one window of the day the colour switches on, then carry on to Vis, Stiniva and Hvar.
- 1 Blue cave, Mamma Mia and Hvar, 5 islands speedboat tour
- 2 Split/Trogir: Blue Cave, Mamma Mia, Hvar and 5 Island Tour
- 3 Blue Cave & 6 Islands Speedboat Tour From Split or Podstrana
A waterfall up close
Across the Krka falls
At Skradinski Buk the river pours over a wide staircase of travertine, and timber boardwalks run you out across the cascades, close enough to feel the spray. The green pools of the national park open out below, an hour up the coast and a world from the city.
- 1 Split: Krka Waterfalls Trip with Boat Cruise and Swimming
- 2 From Split: Krka Waterfalls, Food & Wine Tasting Tour
- 3 From Split: Krka Waterfalls, Food & Wine Tasting Tour
Start with the standout
The single most popular day out of Split.
More travellers plan their trip around this one than anything else on the list.
The classics
Split’s Most Popular Days Out
Krka and Plitvice, the Blue Cave run, the Blue Lagoon swim and the walk through the palace. The days most people come to Split for.
Where to begin
The days a Split trip is built around.
The waterfalls, the island speedboats, the Blue Lagoon swim, the Roman old town and the long runs down the coast. A handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big choice
Which islands day?
Almost everyone takes one boat trip out of the harbour, and they are not the same day. Three ways onto the water, depending on whether you came for the famous cave, the swimming, or the quieter shores.
Diocletian’s Palace
A seventeen-hundred-year-old address.
Diocletian built his retirement palace on this shore in AD 305, and Split grew up inside it rather than around it. Guides take you through the substructure cellars, the colonnaded Peristyle and the cathedral that was once the emperor’s mausoleum, the same stone passages Game of Thrones used for the streets of Meereen.
- 1 Split: Old Town and Diocletian Palace Walking Tour
- 2 Walking Tour of Split and Diocletian’s Palace
- 3 Split & Diocletian’s Palace Walking Tour
The waterfalls question
Krka or Plitvice?
Both are national parks of turquoise lakes and falling water, and most people only have a day for one. Here is how they differ.
- About 1 hr from Split
- Boardwalks across the falls
- Often paired with Trogir or wine
Closer, smaller and right up against the water. The boardwalks run out across the Skradinski Buk cascades, and most trips fold in Trogir’s old town or a Dalmatian wine stop on the way back.
- 1 Split: Krka Waterfalls Trip with Boat Cruise and Swimming
- 2 From Split: Krka Waterfalls, Food & Wine Tasting Tour
- About 2.5 hrs from Split
- Sixteen terraced lakes
- The bigger, wilder park
Further inland and far larger. Sixteen lakes stacked down a forested canyon, linked by wooden walkways and a quiet lake ferry. The longer drive, and the postcard everyone knows.
- 1 From Split: Plitvice Lakes National Park Guided Tour
- 2 From Split: Plitvice Lakes Guided Tour with Entry Tickets
The Adriatic
Fifty islands within a day’s sail.
The water off Split is scattered with islands. Brač and Šolta on the near horizon, Hvar and Vis beyond, and the Blue Lagoon’s impossible turquoise in between. Pine, white stone, hidden coves, and a sea that stays warm into October.
Island cruises & speedboats →The Cetina
White water and a green canyon, half an hour out.
Behind the coast at Omiš, the Cetina River carves a limestone gorge that turns every shade of green. Rafts run the gentle rapids and still pools through summer; canyoning trips jump, abseil and slide the side ravines. The wildest half-day near Split, and the coolest when the city bakes.
See all 40 Cetina trips →The Dalmatian table
Peka, pršut and the wines of the coast.
Split eats slowly. Black risotto and just-landed fish in the konobas, lamb and octopus baked for hours under a peka bell, hand-cut Dalmatian pršut, and the reds and whites of the islands and the Pelješac coast. Tastings and old-town food walks turn up the tables worth sitting down at.
Read the guide: the best food & wine tours in Split →By place
Split, and everywhere it reaches.
The Old Town for the palace and the Riva. Hvar for the harbour and the lavender. Brač and Šolta for the beaches. Krka for the falls. Omiš for the river. Dubrovnik for the long day south.
By activity
Pick how to spend the day.
Speedboat if you want the islands fast. Raft if you want the river. Kayak under the old walls at dusk. Or give the day to the waterfalls, the Dalmatian table, or the road to Dubrovnik.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Split? A long weekend that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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