Croatia · Central Dalmatia
Yacht Charter Split
A Roman emperor's retirement palace with a city living inside it, and four islands within two hours.
Split is the only city in the world built inside a Roman palace. Diocletian put up a fortified retirement villa here in about AD 305, and when the empire receded the local population moved into it and never moved out — so the cellars are bars, the peristyle is a square, and about three thousand people have flats in the walls. It is also the practical centre of Dalmatian chartering: the airport is twenty-five minutes away and four good islands are within two hours of the breakwater.
A palace that turned into a town
The palace is a rectangle of some thirty thousand square metres with four gates and a colonnaded courtyard in the middle, and the reason it survived is precisely that people kept using it. Nothing here is roped off: the substructures that held up the emperor's apartments are now a covered passage from the Riva to the peristyle, and the cathedral in the middle is Diocletian's own mausoleum, converted by the Christians he had spent his reign persecuting.
It is a working city rather than a preserved one, and it is best walked early. The cruise arrivals come through the Bronze Gate from about nine, and the same lanes at seven in the morning belong to people going to work.
The Riva, and Marjan
The Riva is the palm-lined waterfront the city uses as its living room, and it runs the length of the palace's south wall — which was, when it was built, the sea wall: boats came in under the emperor's windows.
West of the old town the peninsula rises into Marjan, a pine hill of paths, chapels cut into the rock and small pebble coves on its southern flank. It is a twenty-minute walk from the Riva and it is where the city goes to swim.
What is within two hours
Šolta is an hour south-west and is the quietest of the near islands. Brač is an hour south, with the Zlatni Rat spit at Bol and the highest point in the Adriatic islands behind it. Hvar is two hours, and Vis three across open water.
That spread is the reason the charter fleet gathers here: you can leave after lunch and be at anchor off a different island before dinner, and a week out of Split never has to include a long passage unless you want one.
Practical notes
- The airport is twenty-five minutes away at Kaštela, next to Trogir, which makes changeover days easy
- Šolta is an hour south-west, Brač an hour south, Hvar two hours and Vis three across open water
- The old town is inside the palace walls and is walked, not driven; the Riva runs along the old sea wall
- The lanes belong to the city before nine and to the day arrivals after it — the early walk is a different place
- Marjan, the pine hill west of the centre, has swimming coves twenty minutes on foot from the waterfront
Reached from: Trogir, Šolta and Brač
Where to dine
A table by the water
Zoï
SplitOn the Riva above the old sea wall, and the most considered cooking in the city.
Konoba Matejuška
SplitA few tables in a lane by the fishermen's harbour, grilling whatever came in that morning.
Bokeria
SplitA high room in the palace quarter, part kitchen and part wine bar, busy from early evening.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
Diocletian's Palace
Thirty thousand square metres of Roman palace with a city living in it: cellars as passages, the mausoleum as the cathedral.
The Riva
The palm-lined waterfront along the palace's south wall, which was the sea wall when boats came in under the emperor's windows.
Marjan
A pine hill west of the centre with rock-cut chapels and pebble coves, twenty minutes on foot from the Riva.
The near islands
Šolta at an hour, Brač at an hour, Hvar at two and Vis at three — the reason the fleet gathers here.
The fleet
Yachts available for Split
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Split
- Is Diocletian's Palace a ruin or a town?
- A town. About three thousand people live inside the walls, the emperor's cellars are a public passage and the mausoleum is the cathedral. Nothing is roped off, which is why it feels unlike any other Roman site on this coast.
- Why do so many charters start in Split?
- Geography and the airport. Kaštela is twenty-five minutes from the quay, and Šolta, Brač, Hvar and Vis are all within three hours. A week from here can be short hops between four quite different islands without a single long passage.
- When is the old town quietest?
- Before nine in the morning. The day arrivals come through the Bronze Gate from about then, and the same lanes an hour or two earlier belong to people going to work. From a boat the early walk costs nothing.
- What does a yacht charter in Split cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks. Send us your dates and party size.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
Charter here
Enquire about a charter in Split
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.