The best ice cream in Split, made in small batches with real fruit and no artificial colours — which is why the pistachio is dull green and the strawberry is pale. Two euros a scoop and a queue that moves.
By Ana Kovač
If a gelato in Split is bright turquoise, walk past it. Luka's is the one that tastes of the thing on the label. The chocolate sorbet is the standout.
The pistachio is the test of any gelato, and the one here is dull green, which is the colour of real pistachio and not the colour of food colouring. The strawberry is pale pink for the same reason. The chocolate sorbet is the standout — dairy-free, intense, and the one that converts people who think they do not like chocolate ice cream. The seasonal flavours change through the summer: fig in late August, mandarin in autumn, sour cherry in June.
For breakfast rather than pudding, Kruščić sells pastries for under three euros.
Open from late morning until late evening, March to November. About €2 a scoop, and the queue moves fast even when it looks long. Cash and card. Closed in winter, because the ice cream is made fresh and the owner would rather close than freeze it.
Eat it on the Riva during the seven o'clock walk.
Travelling with children? See things to do in Split with kids.
Within a short walk.
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.
Food & drink
A tiny sourdough bakery near the Golden Gate that sells out by early afternoon. Proper bread, burek, and the best breakfast pastry in Split for under three euros.
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.
Adventure
Three hours that get you round the palace, up Marjan and out along the coast without the climb. The electric assist is not laziness — it is the difference between seeing the top of the hill and reading about it.
Nightlife
Central is the closest thing Split has to a conventional big-room European nightclub, centrally placed and built for larger DJ nights. It does not get going until after midnight. Arrive at 22:30 and you will find a half-empty room and conclude the city is dead; come back at one and it is unrecognisable.
Food & drink
A high-ceilinged former shop turned bistro, doing modern Mediterranean plates and a serious wine list. The most reliable smart dinner in the centre, and the room is genuinely lovely.
Food & drink
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.
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
Three and a half hours through the green market, the fish market and four family-run places inside the palace, eating soparnik, pršut, Pag cheese, fresh anchovies and rožata. Enough food to replace lunch, with the context that makes Dalmatian cooking make sense.
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.
Food & drink
Split's best-known fine-dining seafood restaurant, on the first floor of the ACI marina with the whole harbour in front of it. Expensive, precise, and the view genuinely earns part of the bill.
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.