Split’s historic centre has been classed as a UNESCO world heritage site and therefore has much to offer on a sight seeing holiday.

The most famous landmark in the city is Diocetian’s Palace built in the 3rd century AD for Roman Emperor Diocletian. Almost a city within a city, the maze of streets and alleyways, buildings, temples, columns, walls and ruins are fascinating and you are almost obligated to visit.

The Cathedral and Bell Tower are also well worth visiting; built in a Romanesque style the octagonal cathedral holds an array of beautiful religious items and for a minimal fee you can climb to the top of the bell tower for some fantastic views across Split. Another cathedral worth visiting is the Saint Duje Cathedral which is possibly the oldest in the world.
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Split is an important transport centre for Dalmatia and the wider region. In addition to the Zagreb-Split motorway (A1), all the road traffic along the Adriatic coast on the route Zadar–Dubrovnik flows through the city. The city also has an impressive series of expressways and avenues, enabling efficient, fast transit by car around the city and its suburbs.

The Split Suburban Rail netwrok opened in early December 2006. It currently has one line, running from Split-Harbour to Kaštel Stari, but is being revamped with brand-new stations and reconstruction of existing ones. The line is expected to get a 2nd track and be fully electrified starting in 2008.
New, low-floor trains are expected as well. This line will also be lengthened, to encompass the aforementioned Split International Airport and continue on to the city of Trogir and Seget Donji. Split has a mini-metro that is to be operational by 2009.

Croatian tourism is back on its feet after the war a decade ago. One popular gateway to Croatia is the city of Split in Central Dalmatia, the heart of which is synonymous with an incredible Roman palace.

Diocletian, Roman Emperor and a passionate builder, created the vast palace for his own retirement, suitable for a man considering himself the god Jupiter’s representative on Earth. His deceased body disappeared at some point in history, presumably a supernatural act of an immortal half-god: himself. In this particular story, Diocletian reappears to see how his palace in Split has stood up to 1700 years of wear and tear.

On his retina, Diocletian has the image of a glorious rectangular structure measuring 215 by 180 meters, containing imperial apartments, temples, a mausoleum and quarters for servants and soldiers, with 16 fortifications on its defensive walls. His eyes are straining to adjust themselves to today’s patchwork of red-roofed buildings in all shapes and sizes, spreading along the sea onto the green Marjan peninsula in the west and terminated in the background by high-rise blocks against the bluish Dinaric Mountains.
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Pjaca, or People’s square is first mentioned in the 13th century as “Sirina” sv. Lovre”.

With its architectural diversity and impressive dynamics of living Pjaca always managed to surprise its visitors, even the “natives” who rarely look up to take in their surroundings.

If you approach it from the imperial decumanus, above the Iron Gate you can hear the sound of the Renaissance clock, separated with Roman numerals in 24 parts, which is raised on the remains of the Roman tower.

The geometrical harmony of its surface sets apart the first city hall, with its 15th century gothic decorations. In 1950 in its portico a popular soccer fan group “Torcida” was founded.
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Bacvice Beach is the closest beach to the centre of Split.

This small sandy beach is located in the Bacvice area of the city, a 10-15 minutes walk from Split’s promenade, the bus and train stations and the ferry terminal.

As well as the small crescent of sand, there is also a large concrete area which is popular with sunbathers and swimmers. While the beach itself is not spectacular, the sea is a lovely turquoise colour and very clean.

The beach is backed by lots of greenery and cafes and restaurants nestled in between the trees and gardens.
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Peristyle has allways been the heart of the Palace and the city since it’s by far most important and historiclly rather old imperial square. Some things were demolished, some altered, some holes were made; things were patched and built as such strained circumstances allowed. But, no matter time and centuries that has past it is still unique antique place where you can stamble upon an unusual coexistance of sphinxes, sarcophagi, early Christian crosses, medieval tombs, roman temples…etc.

A monumental court, called the Perystile, formed the northern access to the imperial apartments. It also gave access to Diocletian’s Mausoleum on the east (now the St. Dominus cathedral of Split), and to three temples on the west (two which are now lost, whilst the third was, similary to masoulem, transformed into a baptistery).

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Diocletian’s Palace (Dioklecijanova palaca in Croatian) is a building in Split in Croatia that was built by the emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century AD. The Latin name of the city, Spalatum, was drawn from that of the nearby Greek colony Aspalathos, which in turn was named after a white thorn common in the area. Contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with the Latin word for palace, palatium.

Diocletian built the massive palace for his retirement after abdicating on May 1, 305 AD. It lies in a bay on the south side of a short peninsula running out from the Dalmatian coast, four miles from Salona, the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. The terrain slopes gently seaward and is typical karst, consisting of low limestone ridges running east to west with marl in the clefts between them.

After the Middle Ages the palace was virtually unknown in the West until the Scottish neo-classical architect Robert Adam had the ruins surveyed and, with the aid of French artist and antiquary Charles-Louis Clérisseau and several draughtsmen, published Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia (London, 1764). Diocletian’s palace was an inspiration for Adam’s new style of Neoclassical architecture and the publication of measured drawings brought it into the design vocabulary of European architecture for the first time.

This palace is today, with all the most important historical buildings, in the centre of the city of Split. Diocletian’s Palace far transcends local importance because of its degree of preservation. The Palace is one of the most famous and complete architectural and cultural features on the Croatian Adriatic coast, and holds an outstanding place in Mediterranean, European and world heritage.
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Split (Latin: Spalatum; Ancient Greek: Aspálathos, Italian: Spalato) is the largest and most important Dalmatian city, the second-largest urban centre in Croatia, and the seat of Split-Dalmatia County. The city is situated on the shores of the Mediterranean, more specifically the eastern Adriatic Sea, spreading over a central peninsula and its surroundings, with its metropolitan area including the many surrounding littoral towns as well. An important regional transit center, the city is a vital link to the numerous surrounding Adriatic islands and the Italian peninsula, as well as a popular tourist destination.

Split is also one of the oldest cities in the area, and is traditionally considered just over 1,700 years old. However, recent archaeological research relating to the ancient Greek colony of Aspálathos (6th century BC) establishes the city as being several hundred years older.

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.

Split is not only an urban, cultural and traffic centre of Dalmatia with road and sea connections to Dalmatia’s numerous summer resorts, but it is itself often a tourist and excursionists destination. A city with a 1700-year old tradition, a variety of archaeological, historical and cultural monuments, among which the well-known Palace of Diocletian . Split has a variety of restaurants and wine cellars, offering domestic specialities. There are many beaches and public beaches in the city and its surroundings, the most popular of them being Bacvice, a sand beach almost in the very heart of the town. City Split The cultural and entertainment offer of Split is extremely rich, particularly in the summer, when the city squares, yards and other areas turn into a large open-air stage. The Split Summer, a traditional festival in the middle of the summer season, includes dramas, operas and concerts. Split has several theatres, among which the Croatian National Theatre, established in 1893, deserves a special mention as a house hosting theatrical festivals, the Split Summer and the Days of Marulic. There is also the Youth Theatre, and the Split Puppet Theatre. Split has four marinas: City SplitSplit ACI Marina in the north-western part of the City Port the sports boats pier Spinut on the northern coast of Marjan the sports boats

marina Poljud in the Poljud Port the sports boat pier Zenta on the eastern coast of Split .

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