Split is mid-priced by Mediterranean standards and no longer cheap. Expect €3 for a coffee, €12–18 for a konoba main, €25–35 for dinner with wine, €10 for a beach lounger and €40–60 a head for a small-boat day trip. Croatia uses the euro.
By Marin Perić
Coffee on the Riva: €3.00–3.50. Two streets back: €1.80–2.20. The same espresso, a two-minute walk apart.
Beer, 0.5 l: €3.50–5.00 in a bar, €2–3 from a konoba fridge.
Bakery breakfast: €2–4. A burek and a coffee is the local breakfast and costs under €5.
Konoba main course: €12–18. Fresh fish is by the kilo and adds up fast — ask the price per kilo before you order, or you will find out at the end.
Dinner with wine: €25–35 a head in a konoba, €45–60 somewhere smart. The jump from konoba to smart is mostly in the wine list and the tablecloths.
City bus ticket: about €2. Day ticket: about €6.
Sunbed and umbrella: €10–20 a day at a managed beach; free everywhere else.
Small-group boat day trip: €90–130. Big catamaran: €50–70. The difference is the group size and the experience, not the route.
Museum entry: €5–10. The palace itself is free.
Accommodation in July and August is the single biggest cost and can be double the June price. Everything else is fairly stable. Eating two streets back from the water saves roughly a third with no loss of quality — often the opposite, because the places on the waterfront are paying for the view and the places behind it are paying for the food.
Travel in May, September or October. Accommodation is half the August price, and the sea is warmer than you expect in September.
Eat where the menu is on a blackboard, not a photograph. The photographed menus are for tourists, and the prices match.
Drink at a konoba rather than a beach club. A glass of house wine at a konoba is €3–4; a cocktail at a beach club is €15.
Take the bus, not a taxi. The 12 to the beaches costs €2; a taxi to Kašjuni costs €10.
Swim at a free beach. Kašjuni, Bene and Firule are all free; the managed beach clubs at Bačvice and Žnjan charge for sunbeds.
Not obligatory. Rounding up, or ten percent for good service in a restaurant, is normal and appreciated. Nobody chases you for it, and nobody refuses it. In a bar, round up to the nearest euro. In a taxi, round up to the nearest euro. In a konoba, leave €2–5 on the table for a meal.
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.