The Best Things to Do in Split

Diocletian's Palace

Enter from the Bronze Gate and walk up through the cellars. It is how the palace was designed to be met.

Diocletian's Palace is free: its lanes, the Peristyle, the domed Vestibule and the central passage through the cellars are open at all hours with no gate. You pay only for interiors — the side halls of the cellars (€10 for adults as of October 2026) and the cathedral, bell tower, crypt, treasury and Temple of Jupiter, ticketed separately. Built around AD 305, it is still full of homes, bars and shops.

Local favourite2 h

Marjan Hill

Sunset from the ridge, then down the north side for a swim in the dark.

The pine-covered hill on Split's western edge, a fifteen-minute walk from the Riva and the reason the city feels liveable in August. Free, open always, with viewpoints, hermit chapels, swimming coves at the bottom and a proper trail network on top.

Local favourite2 h 30 min

Blue Cave & Five Islands

Twelve people, 07:30 departure, inside the cave before the queue exists.

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

Game of Thrones Walking Tour

Worth it if you watched the show; the cellars and Klis really were Meereen. Skip it if you did not.

Two hours around the palace cellars, the Peristyle and the Klis-facing viewpoints where Meereen was filmed. Honest verdict: worth it if you love the show, skippable if you merely watched it — a standard palace tour covers the same stones with more history.

From €302 h

Rock Climbing on Marjan

Bolted routes on the Marjan cliffs with the sea underneath. Guides run beginner sessions.

Bolted limestone routes on Marjan's south face, fifteen minutes from the old town, with the sea directly below. Guided beginner sessions run all year; the rock faces south so winter is often better than summer.

From €453 h

Quad Safari in the Podstrana Hills

Loud, dusty and genuinely fun, in the hills behind Podstrana rather than anywhere near the palace.

Half a day on the gravel tracks behind Podstrana and up towards Mravince and Kozjak, on roads that carry almost no traffic. The reason to go is the view: Split, Kaštela Bay and the islands laid out below you from a ridge most visitors never reach.

From €654 h

Villa Spiza

Twelve seats, a blackboard, and cooking that beats places charging three times as much.

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.

Local favourite

Kašjuni Beach

Two minutes west of the beach club it becomes an empty pebble beach. Go there.

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.

Local favourite

Cathedral of St Domnius & Bell Tower

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.

Local favouriteFrom €101 h

Diocletian's Palace Walking Tour

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

The Riva

Split's palm-lined seafront promenade, and the city's actual living room. Locals walk it at seven every evening, coffee lasts an hour, and nobody is in a hurry. Free, always open, and the correct place to watch the light go orange on the palace wall.

Local favourite45 min

Šolta Sunset & Swim Cruise

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

Night Paddleboarding at Stobreč

Two hours on a board lit from underneath, pushing off Stobreč as the sun goes and paddling into the river mouth in the dark. The LEDs light the bottom through three metres of water, which is the whole point: you can see what is down there.

From €442 h

Sea Kayaking Under Marjan

Three hours paddling the cliffs and hidden coves along Marjan's south shore, with two swim stops and a cave you can only reach by water. The best way to see Split from the side it was built to face, and easy enough for a complete beginner.

Local favouriteFrom €353 h