History
Split is the second largest city in Croatia, with just under 200,000 inhabitants, and is the largest city on the Adriatic coast. Emerging from a Greek settlement founded between the 3rd and 4th centuries, the height of Split's history came in 295 AD when Roman emperor Diocletian ordered a residence to be built there for his retirement. It took ten years to build this magnificent palace and Diocletian lived there until his death in 313 AD. After that, many Roman rulers continued to use it as a retreat. In the 7th century, when the Roman colony of Salona was abandoned, many of its inhabitants sought sanctuary behind the palace's high walls and their descendants lived there until the present day.

The city enjoyed a good degree of autonomy between the 12th and 14th centuries before it was conquered by the Venetians in 1420. After the fall of Venetian rule in 1797, Split was ruled by the Austrians, and briefly by the French, before becoming part of the Yugoslavia that was formed in 1918. Much of its development occurred after 1920 when Zadar, Dalmatia's official capital, became an Italian enclave. In 1941, the city was occupied by the Italians and a very strong resistance movement soon evolved and the city was first liberated in 1943, after the capitulation of Italy, and then finally in October of 1944 when the first people's government of Croatia was formed.

Getting there
Split is fantastically well served by air from the UK and Europe. Croatia Airlines and Easyjet have flights from London, whilst FlyBe have a once a week flight from Birmingham during the summer. See our Getting There by Air section for more details.

From mainland Europe, there are flights from Prague and Bratislava with SkyEurope; from Cologne/Bonn and Zurich with Germanwings; from Dusseldorf with Air Berlin; from Geneva with Easyjet; from Copenhagen with Sterling; and from Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger or Warsaw with Norwegian! Phew! See our Getting There page for more details.

There are several trains a day from Zagreb - following track improvements in the past few years to allow for fast tilting trains, this journey time has now been reduced to about 5 hours and 30 minutes. The Die Bahn website is great for train times.

There are also many, many buses per day from Zagreb and elsewhere in Croatia to Split. See the Zagreb Bus Terminal website or the Split Bus Terminal website for timetable details.

Numerous ferries connect Split with the nearby Adriatic islands (Hvar, Brac, Vis, Lastovo etc) and there is a coastal ferry service between the city and Rijeka to the north and Dubrovnik to the south - all are run by Jadrolinija. There are also daily ferries in the summer months (and slightly less frequent during the winter) between Split and Ancona in Italy. See our Travelling from Italy section for more details.

Things to see
Obviously, the most important sight is Diocletian's palace. Get a locally published guide in English which describes this monument in great detail. Do not miss the Peristyle which is the main open space in the palace and is surrounded by a colonnade of six columns to the eastern and western sides and an arch, decorated with garlands, in the centre. On the eastern side of the Peristyle is a cathedral. On the western side is the Narodni trg ("People's Square") with the old town hall which was built in the 15th century. There is an Ethnographic museum on the square (worth visiting) and nearby is a city museum. Don't miss a remarkable statue of Grgur Ninski (Gregory of Nin), a Croatian religious leader from the 10th century, by the most famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic.

There are some fascinating museums like the Maritime Museum; the Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments; the Museum of Croatia; and the Mestrovic Gallery which is housed in his summer residence which was completed in 1939 and designed by Mestrovic himself.

The "Splicani"
This is the Croatian name for the inhabitants of Split. They are well known for the gregarious nature, love of singing, good food and drink and particularly for their devotion to sport. The local soccer team, Hajduk ("The Bandit") is one of the best supported teams in the country and plays in the Poljud Stadium, which the Rough Guide to European Soccer declared as "the stadium with the best atmosphere in Europe". Former Croatian soccer stars Slaven Bilic and Igor Stimac, who have both played in the English Premiership in the past, are Splicani. The 2001 Wimbledon Champion, Goran Ivanisevic, is Split-born and lives there when not travelling, whilst up-and-coming tennis player Mario Ancic is also from Split. The American basketball NBA star Toni Kukoc (Chicago Bulls) also hails from here. And finally, and there is no dispute about this: the most beautiful girls in Croatia come from Split (sorry, Zagreb!).

General info
The area code is 021.

Split Tourist Office at Obala hrvatskog narodnog preporoda 7, 21000 Split, Tel: 021 348 600, Fax: 021 348 604, Email: tz-split@st.htnet.hr.

British Consulate, Split: Obala Hrvatskog Narodnog Preporoda 10/III 21000 Split Tel: 021 341 464; Fax: 021 362 905

Accommodation In Split
Hotels and private accommodation in Split are plentiful. See Accommodation in Split.

Additional info
More info on Split can be found at the Split Tourist Office website, the The City of Split website, Split.info and Split Online (Croatian only).

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