The vaulted basement halls that held up the emperor's apartments, preserved because they were filled with rubbish for a thousand years. The best-surviving Roman substructure anywhere, ten degrees cooler than the street, and the one part of the palace that looks like a ruin.
By Marin Perić
The people who moved into the palace used the cellars as a dump for roughly a millennium. That fill protected the vaults and preserved the exact floor plan of the imperial apartments above, which had otherwise been rebuilt beyond recognition. The excavation only began seriously in the 1950s, and what came out was a Roman substructure in better condition than anything above ground — because it had been buried, and everything above had been lived in for a thousand years.
The cellars were Daenerys's throne room — see the Game of Thrones walking tour.
A grid of barrel-vaulted corridors and chambers, running the full depth of the palace from the Bronze Gate on the Riva up to the Peristyle. The vaulting is Roman brick and concrete, the arches are the same ones that held up the emperor's apartments, and the floor plan is a mirror of what was above — so by walking the cellars you are walking the plan of the imperial residence, which no longer exists. The central corridor is free and lined with souvenir stalls; the side halls are ticketed and mostly empty, which is the better experience.
The corridor comes out on the Peristyle, the palace's colonnaded courtyard.
The Bronze Gate end opens on to the Riva.
The central corridor is free and open — it is the passage from the Bronze Gate up to the Peristyle, lined with stalls. The ticketed halls are on either side, and a combined ticket covers them plus the cathedral and the bell tower. Forty-five minutes is plenty for the cellars alone. In August this is the coolest place in Split, ten degrees below the street, and worth remembering at three in the afternoon when the stone above is too hot to touch.
The combined ticket also covers the bell tower of the Cathedral of St Domnius.
Get out there
Guided trips that include this stop, with live availability.
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.
Within a short walk.
History
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.
Food & drink
The layer between the Riva and the clubs: small cocktail rooms, jazz corners, hostel bars and neighbourhood cafés that turn into bars after nine. This is where the local crowd drinks, it costs about a third less than the seafront, and it is the part of Split nightlife that still works in February.
History
Ninety minutes through the palace with someone who can explain what you are looking at. Worth it on your first morning: the palace makes far more sense with a guide, and everything you do afterwards is better for it.
History
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.
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
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 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.
History
A fortress wedged into a mountain pass above Split, held by Romans, Croatian kings, Ottomans and Habsburgs in turn — and used as Meereen in Game of Thrones. Twenty minutes on the bus, and the view down to the coast explains a thousand years of fighting over it.
History
The capital of Roman Dalmatia and a city of 60,000 people before Split existed. What is left is a wide field of foundations, an amphitheatre and early Christian basilicas, twenty minutes out in Solin — quiet, uncrowded and almost entirely yours.
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.
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.
History
You do not need a shore excursion in Split. The cruise berths and the tender landing are a five-to-fifteen-minute walk from Diocletian's Palace, and the whole old town is walkable. Four hours covers the palace; six adds Marjan or a swim; eight lets you add Trogir or Klis by local bus.