SPLIT · CROATIA
A Roman palace on the Adriatic.
Krka and Plitvice waterfalls, Blue Cave speedboat days, Cetina rafting and the islands of Hvar, Brač and Vis. All of it from a city built inside Diocletian’s Palace.
Only here
Only on this stretch of the Adriatic.
Boat trips and pretty old towns turn up all over the Mediterranean. A whole city living inside a Roman palace, a sea cave that glows blue from below, and a river that rafts straight to the sea belong to this coast alone.
A living palace
Diocletian’s Palace
Split grew up inside a Roman emperor’s retirement palace, and people still live in it. Diocletian raised these walls around 305 AD; seventeen centuries on, the old town is a warren of cafés, churches and apartments built straight into the colonnades. Walk the peristyle and the cellars and the whole city is the monument.
- 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
Light from below
The Blue Cave of Biševo
On the islet of Biševo, off Vis, the sea floods a low cave each morning and sunlight bounces up through the water until the whole chamber glows electric blue. The speedboat day threads it together with Stiniva cove, the Pakleni islets and a stop on 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
River to the sea
The Cetina Canyon
Behind the pirate town of Omiš the Cetina cuts a limestone gorge straight down to the Adriatic. You raft its rapids, jump from its ledges and swim its cold green pools, walled in by cliffs the whole way until the canyon opens onto the sea.
- 1 Cetina River: Rafting and Cliff Jumping Tour
- 2 Split/Omiš: Cetina River Rafting with Cliff Jump & Swimming
- 3 Zipline Croatia: Cetina Canyon Zipline Adventure from Omis
Start with the standout
The single most popular day out from Split.
More travellers build a Dalmatian trip around this one than anything else on the list.
The classics
Split’s Most Popular Day Trips
Krka and Plitvice, the Blue Cave islands, Cetina rafting and the old town. The days most people come to Split for.
Where to begin
The days a Split trip is built around.
Krka and Plitvice waterfalls, the Blue Cave islands, the Cetina canyon, Hvar and the Blue Lagoon. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big decision
Which island day?
Split is the gateway to the Dalmatian islands, and the hardest part is picking one. Three ways to spend a day on the water, depending on how fast you want to go and who is coming along.
The Dalmatian table
Peka, pršut and a glass of plavac.
Dalmatia eats slowly. Fresh fish and black risotto in the old-town konobas, prosciutto and sheep’s cheese from the stony hinterland, and the deep-red plavac mali grown on the island slopes. Half-day food walks through Split and tastings at the family wineries just inland.
Read the guide: the best food & wine tours in Split →When the light goes gold
The Riva after the sun drops.
Split comes alive in the evening. The marble of the Riva glows in the last light, the palace cellars and squares fill with music, and the boats slip out for sunset cruises and parties on the water. Aperitivo on the seafront, then the old town until late.
See the sunset cruises & evenings →The Adriatic
A thousand islands off one coast.
Split sits halfway down the Dalmatian coast, where the mountains drop into the clearest water in the Mediterranean and more than a thousand islands scatter offshore. Vis and its blue cave, Hvar and its lavender, Bráč and its white-pebble spit. The sea is the whole point.
Island hopping & cruises →Game of Thrones
Daenerys kept her dragons in these cellars.
The substructures beneath Diocletian’s Palace stood in for the vaults where Daenerys chained her dragons, and the hilltop fortress at Klis became the slaver city of Meereen. Guided tours walk the real Split and Klis filming spots, with the scenes lined up against the stone.
- 1 Split Game of Thrones Tour: City of Dragons
- 2 Split: Game of Thrones Tour with Diocletian’s Palace Cellar
- 3 Split: Klis Sunset Sightseeing Bus Tour
By pace
Pick your day, by pace.
From a long konoba lunch to whitewater in the Omiš gorge, Split runs the whole range. Slow when you want to slow down, out on the water when you want salt air, and full send when you want your heart going.
Take it slow
Long lunches and old stone.Konoba dinners in the old town, tastings at the vineyards above the coast, and a gentle gourmet cruise along the bays.
Out on the water
Paddle out under the cliffs.Sea kayaks below the Marjan pines, stand-up boards along the coves, and island-hopping cruises to Brač and Hvar.
Full send
Whitewater and cliff jumps.Rafting the Cetina through the Omiš gorge, canyoning down its waterfalls, and zip lines strung across the canyon.
The Cetina
Whitewater between thousand-foot walls.
Half an hour south of Split the Cetina drops out of the mountains through a limestone canyon and runs to the sea at Omiš. Rafts take the rapids and the cold green pools, canyoning trips abseil and slide down the side gorges, and zip lines cross high above the water. The best day of adventure on the coast, and an easy run from town.
See all 38 Cetina rafting trips →By place
Dalmatia, six ways.
Split for the palace and the Riva. Hvar for the lavender and the beaches. Trogir for the medieval lanes. Omiš for the river and the cliffs. Mostar over the border. Dubrovnik down the coast.
By activity
Pick how to spend the day.
Speedboat if you want the islands. Raft if you want whitewater. Cruise if you want the slow sea. Kayak the coast, walk the old town, or settle in for a long Dalmatian lunch.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
Never been? Here is a long weekend in Split that hits the essentials without a wasted hour.
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