An hour and a half through Dalmatia's own grapes: plavac mali from Hvar and Pelješac, pošip and grk from Korčula, and the debit and maraština nobody exports. Most tastings run in palace cellars, which is a good place to be at three in the afternoon.
By Ana Kovač
Plavac mali — the big red, a descendant of zinfandel, at its best from Dingač and Postup on Pelješac. The Dingač slopes are steep enough that the grapes were traditionally hauled up by donkey.
Pošip — Korčula's white, full-bodied and increasingly good. The best examples are from Smokvica and Čara on the interior of the island.
Grk — grown almost only around Lumbarda on Korčula, a different white that is genuinely rare and worth seeking out.
Debit and maraština — the everyday whites you will drink in konobas without noticing. Maraština is the one used for prošek, the sweet dessert wine, not to be confused with the Italian prosecco.
Most run in a palace cellar, which is a stone-vaulted room with eight tables and a host who knows the wines. You get five or six pours, a plate of pršut and cheese, and a explanation of what you are drinking and where it came from. The good ones let you taste before you pour, and the good ones are honest about which wines are worth buying and which are not.
For a glass in the evening rather than a tasting, see the palace wine bars.
Pršut and Pag cheese come up again on the Split food tour, which ends inside the palace.
Expect €30–45 for five or six wines with cheese and pršut. Book ahead in season; the good cellars are small and fill up. Tastings last about ninety minutes and are a good thing to do at three in the afternoon when the beach is too hot and dinner is not for three hours.
Tastings are indoors, which puts them on the list for a wet day in Split.
Right now · Autumn
Harvest season — several cellars pour the new vintage from late October, and the tastings get noticeably more interesting.
Within a short walk.
History
The oldest cathedral building in the world still in use, and it started life as the mausoleum of the emperor who persecuted the man it is now named after. The bell tower beside it gives you the best view in Split for the price of 183 steps.
Food & drink
Three and a half hours through the green market, the fish market and four family-run places inside the palace, eating soparnik, pršut, Pag cheese, fresh anchovies and rožata. Enough food to replace lunch, with the context that makes Dalmatian cooking make sense.
Food & drink
The open-air produce market against the palace's eastern wall, running every morning since forever. Figs, tomatoes, olive oil, cheese from Pag, and old women who will tell you your peaches are not ripe yet. Free to walk through, best before nine.
History
An eight-metre Meštrović bronze just outside the Golden Gate, of the bishop who fought to keep the liturgy in Croatian. Everyone rubs his big toe for luck, which is why it is the only polished part of him. Free, and takes five minutes.
Food & drink
The nine-until-midnight part of a Split night, and the best of it. Small cellars and side rooms inside Diocletian's Palace pour Dalmatian wine by the glass with no music you have to shout over. Arrive before nine if you want a table, and leave around midnight when the lanes empty.
History
The colonnaded courtyard at the centre of Diocletian's Palace, where the emperor appeared to his subjects and where Split now drinks wine on the steps. Free, roofless, and the best-preserved Roman square you can sit down in.
Food & drink
Twelve seats at a counter, a blackboard that changes daily, and cooking that is better than places charging three times as much. No reservations, no table service, and a queue outside from seven. Worth the wait.
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.
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 tiny sourdough bakery near the Golden Gate that sells out by early afternoon. Proper bread, burek, and the best breakfast pastry in Split for under three euros.
Food & drink
Split's best-known fine-dining seafood restaurant, on the first floor of the ACI marina with the whole harbour in front of it. Expensive, precise, and the view genuinely earns part of the bill.
Food & drink
A high-ceilinged former shop turned bistro, doing modern Mediterranean plates and a serious wine list. The most reliable smart dinner in the centre, and the room is genuinely lovely.