The best day trips from Split are Hvar and Brač by catamaran, Krka national park an hour and a quarter inland, Trogir for a complete medieval town twenty minutes west, and the Blue Cave on Vis for the single most spectacular day on the water.
By Marin Perić
Every one of these fills a day properly. The common mistake is stacking Krka in the morning with an island in the afternoon and spending nine hours in transit. Split is a good base precisely because you can do one thing well each day and still be back for dinner.
First time in Croatia, one day out: Hvar.
Travelling with children: Trogir or the half-day Šolta trip.
Want the photographs: the Blue Cave and Vis.
Want green and water instead of sea: Krka.
Want something completely different: Mostar.
10 picks, in order
Ordered by an editor who lives here, not by who paid the most.
The big one. Ten and a half hours, and worth every one of them on a small boat.
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.
Local favourite10 h 30 min
An hour by catamaran. Fortress in the morning, Pakleni islands in the afternoon.
Split to Hvar town is 50 minutes to just over an hour by passenger catamaran — TP Line, Krilo and, in summer, Jadrolinija — for €10–25 one way in summer 2026. The Jadrolinija car ferry goes to Stari Grad instead, in two hours. Hvar is the best-known island in Dalmatia: a Venetian harbour town, a fortress and the Pakleni islands offshore. Doable in a day, better in two.
Half the drive of Plitvice and a two-hour boardwalk loop. No swimming since 2021.
Waterfalls, boardwalks and a river gorge about 75 minutes north of Split by car. Without a car or a tour, take a direct bus from Split's main station to Skradin — a few a day, roughly 1¼ hours — and the park boat, included in the ticket from April to October, up to Skradinski Buk. Adult entry is €40 from June to September in 2026, €20 in spring and October.
Fifty minutes to Supetar, then across to the beach on every Croatian poster.
The nearest big island, and home to Zlatni Rat — the shifting pebble spit at Bol that appears on every Croatian poster. Fifty minutes by ferry to Supetar, then an hour across the island, or straight to Bol by catamaran.
Twenty minutes on bus 37, a UNESCO town, and it is on the way to the airport.
A complete medieval town on its own small island, 27 kilometres west and a UNESCO site in its own right. Half a day is enough, it costs almost nothing to reach, and it is on the way to the airport.
Rafting, zip lines and a pirate fortress, half an hour down the coast.
A pirate town where the Cetina river cuts out of the mountains into the sea, half an hour down the coast. Rafting, zip-lining, canyoning and a fortress climb that ends with the whole gorge underneath you.
A long day and a real border, but the most different thing you can do from Split.
Two and a half hours inland into Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the rebuilt Ottoman bridge at Mostar and the wide falls at Kravice. A long day and a real border crossing, but the most different thing you can do from Split.
Ninety minutes through the palace with a guide who lives inside it: the Golden Gate, the cellars, the Peristyle, the cathedral and the streets in between. Small group, no flag, and a proper explanation of why a Roman emperor retired to a cabbage patch in Dalmatia.
Local favourite1 h 30 min
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.
5 h
Plitvice works as a day trip from Split, but only just: it is about three and a half hours each way, which leaves four to five hours in the park. A tour is the least effort, a car the most flexible, the bus the cheapest and the tightest. If you have one day and no strong reason, Krka is the better day out.
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.
History
Ninety minutes through the palace with a guide who lives inside it: the Golden Gate, the cellars, the Peristyle, the cathedral and the streets in between. Small group, no flag, and a proper explanation of why a Roman emperor retired to a cabbage patch in Dalmatia.
Boat trips
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.