A small sandy bay just past Bačvice, in front of the tennis club where Goran Ivanišević learned to play. Shallow, calm and mostly families — the quieter alternative when Bačvice is a wall of people.
By Marin Perić
Same sand, same shallow water, a fraction of the noise. There is no beach club, which is precisely the appeal. The tennis courts behind it are where Goran Ivanišević grew up, if that means anything to you, and the tennis club cafe is the only bar on the beach. Firule is the beach for people who want Bačvice without the Bačvice crowd, and in August that is a lot of people.
Bačvice is next door, with the beach clubs and the picigin.
Free, no sunbeds, no beach club. The water is shallow and sandy for twenty metres out, which makes it good for children. There is a cafe at the tennis club and a kiosk. The beach is small and fills by ten in August, but never to the density of Bačvice. A twenty-minute walk east along the seafront from the Riva, past Bačvice.
The neighbourhood behind both is Bačvice, Split's beach quarter.
Further east, Žnjan has more space and ramped entries into the water.
Within a short walk.
Nightlife
Where a Split night ends rather than starts. The row of clubs behind the sand fills from about midnight, runs to three or four in summer, and sits a ten-minute walk east of the Riva, so nobody needs a taxi home. Loud, young and pop-driven — arrive before one and it will feel empty.
Adventure
Split's own barefoot ball game, invented at Bačvice in 1908 and played in ankle-deep water with no points and no winner. Free, faintly ridiculous, and the single most Split thing you can do. Locals will let you join if you ask.
Beaches
Split's city beach, and the only proper sand within walking distance of the palace. Shallow for fifty metres, which makes it excellent for small children and the reason picigin — Split's own barefoot ball game — was invented here.
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.
Adventure
Wrecks, walls and caves within an hour of the city, on water that is warm from June to October and clear most of the year. A try dive needs no experience and no certificate; a certified single dive is the cheapest way to get wet if you already have a card.
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.
Beaches
The best beach within reach of the city: white pebbles, clear deep water and pine shade on the south side of Marjan. A beach club at one end, empty rock at the other, and a sunset that faces exactly the right way.
Beaches
On the north shore of Marjan, under dense pine, with concrete platforms and pebble coves, tennis courts, a running trail and a café. This is where Split actually swims — quieter than Bačvice, shadier than Kašjuni, and free.
Beaches
The long, recently rebuilt beach strip east of the centre: wide promenade, sports courts, beach clubs, plenty of space and proper accessible entries into the water. Little shade, but the easiest beach in Split to spend a whole day at with children.
Beaches
A small pebble beach below the Meštrović Gallery, dominated by a diving platform and a café under the pines. Deep water, no crowds and a strong neighbourhood feel — this one is genuinely local.