What should I avoid in Split?

The restaurants along the Riva promenade look appealing after a long ferry from Ancona or a bus from Dubrovnik. They're not worth it. Most run identical menus with photos of every dish, and the pašticada, braised beef in a sweet wine sauce, tends to arrive lukewarm and underseasoned. Walk 3 minutes west into Varoš, the old fishermen's neighborhood below Marjan, and you'll find Konoba Varoš or Konoba Matejuška serving the same dish for €12-15 with the slow-cooked richness it's supposed to have. The smell of wood smoke and bay leaf drifts through those narrow stone lanes. That's how you know the kitchen is cooking from scratch. If a restaurant has someone standing outside waving a menu at you, that's your signal to keep walking. Split has roughly 400 restaurants competing for the same cruise-ship crowd, and the ones that need a barker can't keep regulars.

Split Airport sits 24 km west near Kaštela, and the taxi situation at arrivals is the single biggest first-day mistake. Drivers at the terminal quote €50-60 to the city center. The meter fare runs closer to €30-40. The airport shuttle bus costs about €5 and drops you at the waterfront bus station in 30-40 minutes. If you do take a taxi, insist on the meter before you get in. The same applies at the ferry port. Uber and Bolt both work in Split and tend to run 30-40% cheaper than the taxis lined up outside. One more transport note. Don't rent a car for a Split-only trip. Parking near the old town is nonexistent, the nearest garage on Kopilica charges around €20-25 per day, and the one-way streets will have you circling the same block for 20 minutes past stone walls with about 10 centimeters of clearance on each side.

Mid-July through late August, the stone walls of Diocletian's Palace, constructed starting around 293 AD, act as a heat sink. By early afternoon the Peristil courtyard can feel 5-6°C hotter than the ambient temperature outside. The stone radiates stored warmth, and the narrow passages block any sea breeze. Today's forecast shows 32°C and clear skies, which inside those walls likely feels closer to 38°C. Get the Palace and the Cathedral of Saint Domnius into your morning or late afternoon, and spend the hot middle hours elsewhere. Marjan hill works well for that stretch. Pine canopy drops the temperature, and the air smells like resin and salt. Kašjuni beach on Marjan's western slope stays less crowded than Bačvice, which by August fills to the point where you're laying your towel on someone else's towel. The bura wind arrives without much warning in cooler months and can cancel ferry crossings to Brač or Hvar. Check the Croatian Meteorological Service forecast before booking any island day-trip between October and April.

The Game of Thrones tours through Diocletian's Palace charge €30-40 for 90 minutes of pointing at doorways. Split's share of the filming amounts to a few corridors in the basement halls and some exterior shots. You can walk the same route with a free map from the tourist office on the Peristil in 20 minutes. The lavender products sold inside the palace walls cost 2-3 times what you'll pay at the Pazar green market, which runs every morning on the palace's eastern side. Small cloth bags of Hvar lavender go for about €2-3 at Pazar versus €6-8 from vendors inside. Skip the full-day boat excursions to the Blue Cave on Biševo that depart from Split's waterfront. They run 10-12 hours round-trip for a 15-minute look inside the cave. If you want the Blue Cave, take the Jadrolinija ferry to Vis and book a shorter trip from Komiža for roughly half the price.