We’ve had a nice time here in Split, Croatia. What we’ve seen of the country is as beautiful as we were told. This blog post highlights most of the things that we did to fill our time while we called Split home during the month of June 2026.
World Heritage, Must See!
Diocletian’s Palace – The heart of tourism in Split, Croatia is Diocletian’s Palace. It was built at the end of the 3rd century by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. It was his plan to live there after doing something that Emperors never do, retire. It’s said that his plan was to retire there and grow cabbages and let someone else rule over Rome.
A particularly interesting part of the history of the palace that our guide shared with us was how it was built as a stronghold for traditional Roman Paganism and was designed by someone who was famous for persecuting Christians. Centuries after Diocletian’s death, fleeing an invasion force, locals moved into the palace and built homes and lives within its walls. They were Christians and needed a place to worship. Within the palace, they repurposed some buildings… took over Diocletian’s mausoleum and converted it to the Cathedral of St. Domnius which is said to be one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the world that is still actively used, and retains its original structure.
Klis Fortress – the Fortress of Klis is about 10km from Split, and an easy Uber ride away. There’s been a fort in this location for almost 2,000 years. The fortress was used for defense as well as a palace for royalty, and has been overthrown multiple times dating back to the Roman empire. It was last used in its military capacity during WW2.
Klis was used by the Axis powers (initially by Italian fascist forces) until they changed sides and then was used by Nazi forces until the war ended.
More recently, the fortress became popularized as it served as a filming location for the tv show, Game of Thrones. It was the filming location for Meereen, the city where the Mother of Dragons freed the slaves.
The views of Split and the Adriatic Sea from the fortress walls are amazing. I’ll never get over being able to visit places built by people who lived thousands of years ago.
Nearby places to visit
Hvar – Hvar is a nearby island which can be easily visited from Split by taking the ferry, which takes you to Hvar City. This is the extent of where most folks go, and, to be fair, is where we went. But the island is much bigger than just the city, so if you wanted to really dig in, it’s probably worth a few days to see more of it.
Hvar city’s main attraction, besides the gorgeous water front, is Fortica Fortress. You can hike up from the ferry stop up to the top for excellent views of the town below and the harbor.
Trogir – Trogir City is about a half hour north of Split by car. An uber will get you there from Split, no problem. But you can also take the bus. (We did Uber). The highlight of Trogir is the Kamerlengo Fortress. The old town has excellent ancient architecture and influences from Greek, Roman, Venetian, and Gothic styles. It’s worth at least going there for the day.
Sea Organ in Zadar – This and the next spot are quite a bit farther from Split and are worth some planning. We visited Zadar on the way to Plitvice because I was really curious to see the sea organ! Zadar is about a two hour drive north of Split. Again, it’s a beautiful coastal city and one of its tourist attractions is an “architectural sound art object” which makes organ-like music using the waves of the Adriatic. It’s no doubt cool, for the unusualness of it. But It’s probably not worth a two hour drive *just* to see it. That said, Zadar looked like a nice and slightly more chill version of Split, so it might be worth just spending a couple of nights there to check it out.
Plitvice Lakes National Park – Plitvice Lakes was strongly recommended to us as the best place to see the turquoise waterfalls that Croatia is known for, and it did not disappoint. The national park is about three hours from Split by car. We rented a car and drove ourselves. To visit the park you can purchase tickets online, due to its popularity the tickets have a timed entry. After a little research we decided to just go and spend the night at Hotel Jezero which is located at Entrance 2. If you’re staying there they provide park passes that are good for the length of your stay. The absolute best part of that is that you can walk directly into the park as soon as they open and enjoy its amazing nature before others arrive.
We only stayed there one night which was ok, but were I to do it again I’d spend two nights to have a full day to explore and two mornings for maximum chill.
The drive from Split is easy, but it’s a long drive. You could probably do it as a day trip if that’s your thing, but I’d strongly suggest that you stay nearby and save your energy for the park itself instead of being in a car for six hours.
Local parks and outdoor spaces
Park Josipa Jurja Strossmayera Đarđin – This park is just outside of the north gate of Diocletian’s Palace. If you’ve visited here and seen the imposing bronze statue where everyone gets selfies and rubs the big toe for luck, that is Gregory of Nin and it sits between the Palace and Đarđin Park.
Fun fact, Gregory of Nin was a bishop made famous for opposing the Pope by translating the Bible into Croatian.
Anyway, from our apartment, Đarđin Park was our favorite outdoor green space. It’s a fairly small park but it has plenty of trees giving excellent shade. We spent many afternoons having picnics on beach towels sitting on the grass.
Marjan Forest Park – The big hill right west of Diocletian’s Palace is Marjan Forest Park. Along the coast below there are beaches and on top there is a zoo, an ancient Christian church, and several vantage points with excellent views of the city. A proud Croatian flag also flies there which is visible from most of the old town below. There is also a botanical garden. The historic garden was built in the 1950’s, had its heyday in the 60’s and 70’s, but suffered by the 1980’s. There is active effort in rehabilitating the garden that is ongoing. Either way, if you’re in Split, you should definitely have a walk up there. The views alone make it worth it.
Sustipan Park – Sustipan Park is located on a little peninsula on the opposite side of the huge bay where cruise ships and the ferries dock. It’s an easy walk from the Palace, about 20 minutes. The park is almost always peaceful and offers some excellent views of Split and the sea. Just below the park are two excellent restaurants, too. Restaurant Adriatic and Pizzeria Skipper. Both are great. Restaurant Adriatic is a higher-end affair, and Skipper offers great beer and wood fired pizzas. We enjoyed and would recommend both.
Bacvice Beach – Bacvice Beach is a sandy covered beach that is to the east of the palace. It was about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and one of the only places where we actually went swimming. The water is shallow for a long way out. We’re not huge beachgoers and it was hot enough that by the time I’d walk back to the apartment I was already sweating again. The water temp was a pleasant 78 degrees by mid-June. The sand there is dark and kind of… like dirt. Not a good spot for snorkeling, unfortunately, but it was a nice spot to play in the water. There are restaurants nearby as well as outdoor showers for washing off the sea water.
There is also a really good (kinda fancy) restaurant near there called Zora Bila which I’d strongly recommend.
The Riva – The Riva is a manmade waterfront promenade directly adjacent to the south gate of Diocletian’s Palace. There are docks for small boats, a bunch of restaurants, and small shops. Sometimes there are also street vendors with tents selling arts and crafts and souvenirs. We never figured out when they would be there. I assumed on the weekend, but that was inconsistent.
During our first couple of days here we went on a tour of Diocletian’s Palace and our guide suggested that we not eat on the Riva. She said that the prices were higher, and the food wasn’t as good as other places. We never tested it to conform, we just took her advice. That said, going and sitting on a shady bench on the waterfront to enjoy some gelato did become something that we did regularly on hot afternoons.
Museums
Croatian Maritime Museum – The Maritime Museum is about a 10 minute walk from the palace, but it’s all uphill. It was only seven euro for the two of us to enter and it was pretty cool. There are a few exhibits that are outside of the museum including some anti-aircraft guns as well and some very early torpedoes. Inside, the museum houses artifacts from generations of seafaring. There are models, works of art and artifacts from ships from the past. I enjoyed the old ship models and a few of the stories about maritime activity in the area. The location of the museum is actually an historic fortress with tall walls surrounding it called Fortress Gripe.
Museum of Fine Art – The permanent collection in the fine art museum started to take place in 1931. It houses art from as long ago as the 14th century. The current home and location of the museum is just outside of the north gate of the Palace. That building was once a hospital but was renovated to house the growing art collection in 2001. The first floor houses some temporary and some permanent contemporary art exhibits. The larger second floor houses a large permanent collection of fine art from the 14th century to the 1960s.
The Cinema – We went to the movies to see Disclosure Day at one of the oldest theaters in Europe, Kino Karaman. It’s almost 120 years old! It’s got one screen, and ticket prices are shockingly low, only €5. Small popped corn was €2. Not sure how they afford to keep the place in operation but It was nice to do something a little different one evening.
So what else?
We went to a Salsa, Bachata, Kizomba dance on the beach one evening. (It was still hot out, even at night.) Two things that we had on our radar, but never got around to doing were to visit the Roman ruins of Salona, and to go to the Olive farm near Klis.
Food
This does not include the probably dozen gelato places that we went and the many meals made at home in the kitchen of our apartment. I’ll wrap this post up by sharing some of our favorite places to eat out:
