Croatia's second-largest city, Split (Spalato in Italian) is a great place to see Dalmatian life as it’s really lived. Always buzzing, this exuberant city has just the right balance of tradition and modernity. Step inside Diocletian’s Palace (a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the world’s most impressive Roman monuments) and you’ll see dozens of bars, restaurants and shops thriving amid the atmospheric old walls where Split life has been humming along for thousands of years.
To top it off, Split has a unique setting. Its dramatic coastal mountains act as the perfect backdrop to the turquoise waters of the Adriatic.
Transportation
Split is an important transport center for Dalmatia and the wider region. In addition to the Zagreb-Split freeway (A1), all the road traffic along the Adriatic coast on the route Rijeka–Dubrovnik (Adriatic Highway) flows through the city. The city also has a series of expressways and avenues, enabling efficient, fast transit by car around the city and its suburbs. The most important mean of transport in Split is bus, the city being inadequate for trams due to its hilly geography. The local public transport company Promet Split .
Split is also the southernmost integrated point of the Croatian Railway network. Within Split's city centre, railway traffic passes two tunnels before reaching the Central Station. The line to Split is unremarkable; a journey from Split to Zagreb or Rijeka takes around 5 hours, as the line is unelectrified and consists of only one track. Currently, there are no definite plans to upgrade the line, but with the start of work on the new Zagreb-Rijeka railway line in October 2007. The Split Suburban Railway network opened in early December 2006. It currently has one line, running from the Split city harbour to Kaštel Stari. The line is expected to get a second track and be fully electrified in the near future. New, low-floor trains are expected to be implemented as well. This line will also be lengthened, to encompass the aforementioned Split International Airport, and continue on to the towns of Trogir and Seget Donji. Split also plans to construct a mini-metro that in future.
The Split Airport in Kaštela is the second largest in Croatia in terms of passenger numbers (1.581.734 in 2013), with year-round services to Zagreb, Rome, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and the Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany, as well as heavy tourist traffic in the summer. The expansion of the terminal is scheduled to commence in 2012. The airport is located about 20 km west of Split.
The Port of Split, with its annual traffic of 4 million passengers, is the third busiest port in the Mediterranean, with daily coastal routes to Rijeka, Dubrovnik, and Ancona in Italy. During the summer season Split is connected with other Italian cities as well, such as Pescara. Most of the central Dalmatian islands are only reachable via the Split harbor (with Jadrolinija and Split Tours ferries). This includes the islands of Brač, Hvar and Šolta, as well as the more distant Vis, Korčula and Lastovo. Split is also becoming a major cruise ship destination, with over 260 ship visits, carrying 130,000 passengers. The largest ship scheduled to dock is the 315m long Celebrity Eclipse.
In addition, European Coastal Airlines offers multiple daily connections by seaplane from Split to a multitude of islands throughout the Adriatic. These super fast seaplane connections include an 11-minute flight to Jelsa on the island of Hvar, an 8-minute flight to Vela Luka on the island of Korčula, a 22-minute flight to Ubli on the island of Lastovo, and a 1-hour flight to Pula. The first trans-Adriatic flights between Croatia and Italy began in November 2015 with four weekly flights being offered between Split downtown and Ancona (59 minute flight).
