First of all, thank you so much for all the love (or I should say “Likes”, “Follow”, and “Shares”) you guys have given to my blog and social media handles. As a noob food and travel blogger, I can say that it’s been such an overwhelming response these past 2 weeks. I am sure as and when I put more content out, I will get to grow my audience, have proper engagement and develop a community with like-minded people here. If you have any good, bad, or ugly feedback, do let me know so I can incorporate those changes in my subsequent posts. Okay, without further ado, I present to you the next city in my Croatian itinerary – Split.

It’s a bit weird that I am blogging about my Croatian travels in the reverse order of my actual itinerary. I thought maybe you will be more impressed by Dubrovnik and will give other Croatian cities a chance as I track my way back to Split, Zadar and Zagreb.

So, if you always fancied going on a holiday in the French Riviera area but your bank balance doesn’t allow for that extravaganza, I would highly recommend traveling through the Dalmatian coast in Croatia. It’s equally pretty like the South of France but significantly cheaper. I tried to visit three cities along the coast Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik that gave me a good perspective of the Northern, Central and Southern coast respectively. My first impression of Split was that it was just a small tourist town but when I visited, I was proved wrong. Built around the Diocletian palace, Split extends over a large area yet to be ventured by tourists.

How long to stay

Unless you are looking to do adventurous activities like sailing, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, and rock climbing, I would say that a day is more than enough to enjoy the vibe of the city. Since I had a crazy itinerary covering 6 countries over 3 weeks, I was here only for half a day. I was still able to see a lot of the city and didn’t felt like I was rushing or something. I got there in the morning from Zadar and left in the evening for Dubrovnik.

Getting there and getting around

I took the bus (Croatia Bus) from Zadar and was in Split in a little over 2 hours (For some reason, we had to switch bus somewhere in the middle of the journey but didn’t feel like inconvenience to me). Since I booked my tickets the day before, I ended up paying 63 HRK for it. Before you travel, make sure to print the tickets if traveling by Croatia Bus. The drivers don’t like you showing them the tickets on your electronic devices. Keep in mind that there are several operators covering this journey so make sure to look for the name of your operator in your ticket and ensure you take the right bus. I did some research on train vs bus and it looked like that buses are faster and cheaper option to get to Split from Zadar. Train System is not a popular form of travel in Croatia unlike the other countries in Western Europe. If you can’t take the bus or train to get to Split, your best option will be to fly into Split airport which is quite far from the City Center.

If most of your sightseeing is going to involve around City Center, you can easily walk to places. Central Split is very compact and is best experienced on foot. You can also use the buses (make sure to buy a round trip ticket or 5 round trip tickets for the best value) or rent a bike (15 Kn/hour is a good rate) to explore the city.

Where to stay

Since I didn’t end up spending a night in Split, I didn’t do much research on what neighborhood to stay in or avoid. But from what I saw, it looked like there are lot of hostels available for those who are on budget. Another thing I noticed was that renting out private accommodations was a very popular thing in Split. What that means is essentially you rent a room or the entire apartment from a local. You will see people holding signs about it near the bus station, train station and ferry port. If I were you, I would book a place on Airbnb.

What to buy

If you are planning to do shopping or buy gifts to take back home, I would recommend Dalmatian Wines.

What to see or do

Since I was in the city for just a few hours, most of my sightseeing was around the City Center area. Here are the attractions I suggest visiting:

• Riva

It’s the city’s main promenade. It has a very new modern look and reminds me of the English Promenade in Nice or the Croisette in Cannes. You can enjoy the waves splashing nearby while you walk here or you can enjoy a nice meal or drinks at many restaurants on Riva while enjoying the sunset.

• Jupiter’s temple/ St. John’s temple

An ancient Roman temple that also has an original Egyptian sphinx in front of it. There is no fee to visit the temple. It’s a pretty small temple but still worth visiting from inside.

• Peristil Square/Peristylium

It’s the main square of Diocletian’s palace with well-preserved Roman architecture and an original Egyptian Sphinx. Game of Thrones fan might have a bit of Déjà vu moment while visiting here. 

• St. Duje’s Cathedral

One of the oldest cathedral in the world, this building is a great mixture of Roman temple and cathedral church. If I remember it right, it was built in the 3^rd century as a mausoleum for the Roman emperor Diocletian. It’s a very small cathedral so you easily see it all in just a few minutes.

• Bell Tower

If you want to get great panoramic views of the city I would recommend climbing the campanile bell tower next to the palace mausoleum.

• Diocletian’s Palace

Possibly the most important attraction in the city since (the historic center of) Split was built around the remains of this Roman palace. It is one of the UNESCO Heritage site in the world and you can easily experience this site by just wandering around. If you are willing to pay you can visit the excavated remains of the basement of the palace. It is probably one of the best preserved Roman palace in general that you can visit the 2 main streets: cardo and decumanus and see its 4 monumental gates (Golden, Silver, Bronze and Iron gate). The palace is enriched with some Gothic and Renaissance buildings which makes it a perfect match. You might see a lot of places highlighting guided tour of the palace, I would avoid it since you walk all around the palace and see everything it has to offer. If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you can see some of the sights that were shown in the show.

What to eat

Croatian food is heavily influenced by Italian food (because of the country’s physical proximity to Italy) and some of the popular dishes in the region are: Risotto with White Scampi or Black Calamari, Dalmatian Gnocchi (pasticada s njokama) and Cevapi or Cevapcici (Grilled rolls of meat (usually beef, pork or lamb) served with onions, Kajmak (kind of clotted cream) and Ajvar (a relish made from aubergines, garlic, bell peppers and chilli)). You can also get some local cheese from Pag island and wide selection of salami and Istrian and Dalmatian Hams and have a picnic on Riva area.

Even though I had just a few hours to spend in Split, I managed to get my hands on this local delicacy:

• Soparnik

It is a crepe-like dough filled with Swiss chard and onions which is baked in fireplace. It’s usually topped with olive oil and garlic. You can find them at a lot of bakery style shops.

Although Dalmatia region is very well known for its wines, but the locals prefer Soda drinks called Pipi and Orela that are manufactured there.

Have you been to Split, Croatia? What are your suggestions in terms of things to see or do? Is there anything you recommend eating or drinking? How were you able to save money while traveling through this beautiful city?