Croatia is such a wonderful country to visit. That beautiful Mediterranean climate mixed with the European cobbled street old town vibe makes for some of the most beautiful places. Split really has it all! As well as being a great place to explore, it’s a great base to see some more of Croatia. Read ahead for our best tips and advice on how to make the most out of your trip to Split on a budget.

Cost: Free

Split is the perfect place to visit to find those beautiful old cobbled streets with small winding alleys. The old town is a great place to wander and lose yourself as all the streets twist and turn. You can find an old city gate, many historical landmarks, and a fountain that spurts water over the path while you walk under it!

The main thing to see in the old town is Diocletian’s Palace, a 1,600 year old Roman fortress that served as a residence to the Roman Emperor and his military. It’s sort of integrated into the old town so you may just wander into it without even realising! Luckily it is free to enter.

There are parts of the Palace that do cost, like the Saint Domnius Bell Tower that costs €7 to go up. Tickets are available in the office across the square. You’ll also need to buy tickets to access Diocletian’s Cellars. Tickets are €5 and are available in the West Wing office, however the central hall is free. The cellar also has an art market so that’s always a good way to see the basement without any cost.

Diocletian’s Palace

There are also a few museums in the old town of Split. There is a Game of Thrones museum, as well as one of the strangest museums we’ve ever seen. It’s called Froggyland, and has a collection of taxidermy frogs doing a variety of activies like playing musical instruments. Froggyland shuts during the winter months.

The main square is People’s Square and has lots of shops and restaurants. It’s a good place to have a break and people watch. Just around the corner from the square is a SPAR supermarket that is on the ground floor of the Mala Papalićeva Palača complex. This is the former home to an esteemed family that was built in the 13th century. This means that the supermarket is actually UNESCO protected.

On the edge of the old town, the Hrvojeva Street Market is open 7am-5pm every day and sells clothing, accessories and souvenirs. Right next door is the Green Market that is open 6am-2pm every day and sells fresh fruit and vegetables.

With all these things to see in the old town it will take a full day of just walking around to see everything. Make sure you allocate a good chunk of time to really take it all in!

Cost: Free

After walking around the old town, another great place to walk is along the Riva promenade. It’s a 300m stretch of pathway along the water, and is a nice and quick little walk.

If you continue around the water at the West end of the Riva promenade, there is a staircase called the Marjan Hill Stairs. This is a short but steep uphill climb, no longer than 10-15 minutes, that leads to the Marjan viewpoint. This has an amazing view of the city and water below so is definitely worth a visit.

You can continue walking up the hill if you would like. Only 5 minutes up from the viewpoint is the Church of St. Nicholas. There are other higher viewpoints and lots of different trails so heaps to see if that’s your kind of thing!

Cost: Bus €3-5 euros per way

One of the best things to do from Split is visit the nearby town of Trogir. It is super easy to get to and well worth a visit. This is a small town located on an island and connected to the mainland via bridges.

Trogir is a preserved Medieval town with some of its old walls still remaining. It has a fascinating mix of renaissance, baroque and romanesque architecture. It is also a Game of Thrones filming location, as so much of Croatia is.

The main thing to do is just to wander around the winding streets but there are some activities too. You can climb the Cattedrale di San Lorenzo bell tower for €5 and the ticket also includes entry to the Cathedral. You can also find the Church of St. Nicholas and the Church of St. Peter in the town. The Kamerlengo Castle, which is a 15th century fortress, costs €5 to enter and has another nice view.

There’s also two museums in Trogir. The Museum of Sacred Art is €3 entry and the Trogir City Museum, which exhibits some of the cities interesting history, is €4 per person.

As for food, most of the places to eat are restaurants so are pretty expensive. We found a market across the bridge right next to the bus station that had some lovely traditional Croatian food for reasonable prices that we’d recommend.

There’s a couple of ways to get there. You can a Flixbus which costs between €5-10 Euros each way and takes 30 minutes to get between the two cities. Read our blog all about Flixbus if you’re interested in this option. Considering that they can often be late, we wouldn’t recommend this for a day trip if you can avoid it (which you can!).

The second option is to take the public bus. When you put this into Google Maps it might direct you to take a bus to the Joker Mall, then swap and get on another bus to Trogir. That route takes almost an hour and a half each way so ignore that option!

The best option is the direct bus that leaves from Split train station and is an Autotrans by Arriva bus. If you’d like this option we’d recommend checking with the staff at the bus station on the exact schedule, as it changes seasonally. It costs €3-5 euros per way, depending on the time of the bus and the season. You can buy tickets at the bus station or in cash on the bus. This was definitely the most convenient way to get there for a day trip!

You won’t need more than a couple of hours in Trogir so really is the perfect day trip from Split.

Cost: €40 each return

Another great day trip from Split is to one of the nearby islands, and we recommend Hvar. Hvar is an island just south of Split and is so beautiful, especially the main town of Hvar where we went. We booked our tickets on Ferryhopper (read our blog post all about Ferryhopper for more information) for €40 each return. The journey takes about one hour each way. There are other islands around Split such as Šolta, Brač and Vis but Hvar is the most popular.

Once the ferry gets in, it’s an easy walk to the old town where there’s heaps of shops and restaurants. The ferry arrives just around the corner from the main square.

Croatia is famous for growing lavender (something you’ll realise after a short time of being in the country). Hvar is known as the island of lavender because of its unique climate and constant sunshine. There is even a lavender festival held once a year on the island in the middle of July, which is right at the end of the lavender season that runs between late May to mid July. 

It possible to get from the main town to the fields however as public buses don’t run often, your best option would be a taxi, rental car or to book a tour. They’re only a 15 minute drive from the ferry port. As we were there after lavender season we didn’t go to the fields, so you’ll have to let us know how they are!

After looking around the old town, a really nice thing to do is to walk along the water. You can go in either direction, both ways offer beautiful beaches and views across to other islands. We preferred the walk past Hvar Park. There are some incredible resorts along the way to marvel at, as well as lots of restaurants and bars. The water is crystal clear and it was a lovely way to spend an hour walking along to water and back to the main town.

Another great thing to do in Hvar is to visit the Tvrđava Fortress which overlooks the whole city. The present fortress was built by the Venetians in 1278 but there has been something occupying that land since before 500 BC. It is a relatively easy and shaded walk up from the town, and takes about 15-20 minutes.

Tickets were €10 each when we visited. Inside the fortress is an old prison cell, some souvenir shops, a cafe and a bathroom.

But the real reason to go is for the view over the town, the surrounding island and the sea. It is simply stunning and really is worth paying the entry fee for. If you opt climb the hill to see the view but don’t enter the fortress, you unfortunately won’t see as much. There are so many trees on the hill outside that block the view. The best view requires you to enter the fortress but once inside there are heaps of places to get the view from and you can spend an hour or so making the most of the entry fee!

Keep in mind that food in Hvar is more expensive than in Split, so you could opt to take a packed lunch to save money. We decided to find some cheaper options on the island. For a budget meal, we ate at a bakery called Mlinar, where we tried a Burek which is a traditional Croatian snack and was perfect for a quick lunch. We also really recommend L’amore Per Il Gelato for a delicious gelato after lunch. There are two locations in the city. While it’s not cheap, they have some really interesting flavours and we tried a lemon and lavender which was absolutely delicious.

There really is more than enough to do on Hvar to make the most of a really wonderful day trip from Split!

If you want to see what we got up to during our time in Split, you can check out our vlog:

If you go to Split, we hope these tips come in handy to help you make the most of your time.

• How to Affordably See Zagreb
• How To Decide On The Better Day Trip From Dubrovnik
• Ferryhopper: The Easy Way to Book Ferries Around the Mediterranean