September is the local favourite: a whole summer of stored heat in the sea, softer light and half the crowd. October is still swimmable to mid-month and perfect for walking. November is the wettest month and the city returns to the people who live in it.
By Marin Perić
The sea does not cool at the pace the air does. By September it has been heating since May and sits around 24 °C — warmer than June — while the air drops to a comfortable 26 °C and the August crowd has gone home. The light gets lower and better for photographs. Prices fall back. It is, on balance, the best month of the year here.
Swimming through September and into mid-October, in the warmest sea of the year outside August.
Marjan and Klis once the heat breaks — the walking is far better than in July.
Boat trips still run daily through September and most of October, at lower prices.
The grape and olive harvest inland, and the year's new olive oil at the green market from late October.
November for the museums, long lunches and an old town that belongs to Split again.
Boat timetables thin out from mid-October, and some island restaurants close for the winter. November brings the year's heaviest rain — usually hard and brief rather than all day. If a boat trip is the reason you are coming, come in September rather than November.
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.