Operated by Bura Adriatic
Five hours to Šolta and back on a ten-person boat: three swim stops in coves you cannot reach by road, an hour in Maslinica for dinner or a drink, and the run home across the channel as the sun goes down behind the island.
By Marin Perić
The Blue Cave day is spectacular and it is also ten and a half hours on the water. This is the same coastline, the same clear coves and a better time of day, in five hours, with small children on board and back in time for a late dinner in Split. If you are choosing between the two and you have children under eight, or you get seasick on long crossings, or you simply do not want to be on a boat from before breakfast until after dinner, take this one.
Shorter still: the two-hour Split sunset cruise runs towards Čiovo and back.
The hour ashore is in Maslinica, the prettiest harbour on Šolta — a row of stone houses, a castle at the end of the quay, and a couple of konobas that do grilled fish to the water. You can eat dinner, have a drink, or walk to the castle and back. The village is small enough that you cannot get lost and you cannot spend an hour badly.
For a whole day on the same water, a skippered day sail crosses to Šolta, Brač or the Drvenik islands.
Three coves on the north shore of Šolta, chosen by the skipper for shelter and calm water, and usually empty. The second stop is the best for snorkelling — clear water over rock and seagrass, and small fish that follow you around. The water is warmer than the Blue Cave route, because Šolta is closer and the coves are shallower.
If you have the whole day instead, take the Blue Cave and Five Islands trip.
Closer to town, the Marjan shore is the free version: clear water over rock, reached on foot.
Forty minutes across the channel to Šolta.
A sheltered cove on the north shore, usually to ourselves.
Clear water over rock and posidonia — the best snorkelling of the trip.
An hour in the harbour: dinner, a drink, or a walk to the castle.
West side of the island for the light, then back to Split.
The operator cancels free up to 24 hours before departure, and refunds the same day when they call it off for weather. Check the current terms when you book.
Same pontoon as our Blue Cave trip — the blue flag at the head of the Matejuška breakwater.
Right now · Autumn
Excellent through September, when the sea is still 24 °C and the sunsets are earlier and better. From mid-October the trip winds down and the last sailing is usually late in the month — bring a windproof layer for the run home either way.
Get out there
Guided trips that include this stop, with live availability.
Boat trips
A full day on a fast twelve-seat boat: the Blue Cave on Biševo, the Monk Seal cave, Stiniva's famous cove, lunch on Vis and a swim off Budikovac's turquoise lagoon, finishing with a stop at Hvar town. Ten and a half hours, small group, no coach transfer.
Within a short walk.
Food & drink
A stone-walled konoba in an alley behind the Matejuška fishing harbour, doing straight Dalmatian seafood without a single flourish. Small, warm and consistently very good.
Food & drink
A small konoba on a Varoš side street doing exactly four things well: grilled fish by the kilo, black risotto, octopus salad and house wine from a jug. No view, no English menu board outside, and a queue by eight in July.
History
A thirteenth-century chapel on the Marjan staircase, halfway between Varoš and the ridge. Small, usually locked, and the terrace in front of it is the quietest good view in Split — most people walk straight past on the way to Vidilica.
Culture
The villa Ivan Meštrović built for himself on Marjan's south slope, now the best museum in Split. Sculpture inside, a garden of bronzes with a sea view outside, and the Kaštelet chapel with his wooden reliefs five minutes down the road.
Nightlife
Vanilla is Split's big summer party venue, out by Poljud rather than in the old town, which makes it a destination for a planned night rather than a stop on a bar crawl. Go if you want a large room, a late finish and holiday energy; skip it if you came to find Split's own bars.
Family
The most Split thing you can do for ten euros. Poljud is a listed 1979 shell of a stadium, the Torcida have been going since 1950, and a mid-table league game on a Saturday night tells you more about this city than any walking tour will.
Family
The south side of Marjan drops straight into clear water over rock rather than sand, which is exactly what you want and exactly what the city beaches are not. Bring a mask, walk in off the stones at Kašjuni or Bene, and it costs nothing.
Boat trips
A skippered yacht for the day, out to Šolta or Brač and back on the afternoon wind. Slower than the fast boats, quieter than all of them, and the only way to see this coast the way it has always actually been travelled.
Boat trips
Two hours out of the city harbour towards Čiovo and back as the light goes, with a drink in your hand and Split's waterfront lit from the water. The single easiest good decision on a first evening in the city.
Boat trips
Croatian law lets anyone drive a boat under 5 kW without a licence, which is enough to potter round a bay at walking pace and reach coves the buses do not. Around €57 a day out of season and €88 in August, and nobody will ask you anything except for a deposit.
Adventure
The noisy end of the Split waterfront, and the only place near the city with the full concession: parasail, jet ski, banana, tube, pedalo. Nobody will pretend it is authentic. It is, however, exactly what a bored eleven-year-old wants at four in the afternoon.