The stone fishermen's village on the slope below Marjan, all narrow stepped lanes and low houses. It is where the best konobas hide, where cats outnumber cars, and where you will get lost in the good way.
Varoš is the oldest part of Split outside the palace walls — a stone fishermen's village on the slope below Marjan, with stepped lanes too narrow for a car and low houses that were built before tourism existed. It is quiet in the morning, loud with konoba kitchens at lunch and dinner, and full of cats at all hours. The lanes run uphill and some of them are stairs, which is the thing to know before you book a place with heavy bags.
Walk through Varoš on your way up to Marjan, and stop at the lookouts on the way — the one behind the chapel of St Nicholas has the best view of the old town from above, and almost no one knows it is there. Eat at Konoba Marjan on a weeknight, book in the morning, and ask what came in rather than reading the menu. Sit on the steps outside your apartment at ten at night with a beer from the shop and do what the locals do, which is nothing in particular.
The cats are not strays in the way visitors understand it — they are fed by the residents, named by the residents, and they stay on the same lane for their whole lives. Do not pick them up, do not move them, and do not call the number on a collar you think is lost. They live here.
The lookout is at St Nicholas chapel, a few minutes up the stone path.
Konoba Marjan is the best konoba in Varoš and one of the best in Split — fish by the kilo, black risotto, octopus salad, house wine from a jug. Fife is at the bottom of the hill on the harbour, and does large plates of home cooking for €12–15 a head. Both are walkable from anywhere in Varoš, which is the point of staying here.
More on Konoba Marjan and what to order there.
More on Fife, the harbour canteen at the bottom of the hill.
Five minutes from the Riva, ten from the palace, and the staircase up to Marjan starts at the top of the neighbourhood. The lanes are stepped and steep in places — ask your host about luggage before you book, because some of the streets are stairs and a wheeled bag is a problem. Buses do not run through Varoš because they cannot; the nearest stops are on the main road at the bottom.
The staircase leads up to Marjan Hill — about 300 steps to the first viewpoint.
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.
Within a short walk.
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.
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.
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.