Split is one of Europe’s most extraordinary cities — a living Roman palace where 1,700 years of continuous habitation have layered medieval lanes, Baroque churches, and café culture over the bones of an emperor’s retirement home. This split walking tour explores Diocletian’s Palace, the golden-stone Peristyle courtyard, the world’s oldest continuously used cathedral, and the sparkling Riva promenade along the Adriatic. Your guide is the Passage Pioneer channel, whose 4K walk captures every worn column and sun-drenched alley of this utterly unique Croatian city.

About This Walking Tour

The Passage Pioneer walking tour moves through Split’s old town, where the walls, towers, and cellars of Diocletian’s Palace provide the literal fabric of the city. You enter through the palace’s gates — the Golden Gate to the north is the best preserved, its Roman stonework still intact after seventeen centuries — and emerge into a world where apartment windows open from ancient Roman walls and restaurants occupy spaces that once served an emperor’s household.

The Peristyle, the palace’s great ceremonial courtyard, remains the social heart of Split today, its columns framing the entrance to the Cathedral of Saint Domnius. The tour captures the cathedral — originally Diocletian’s own mausoleum, repurposed by early Christians in an act of remarkable historical irony — along with the echoing subterranean cellars that supported the palace’s upper floors and are perfectly preserved because the city above simply built over them rather than clearing them away.

From the palace interior the route opens onto the Riva, Split’s long waterfront promenade redesigned in 2007, where palm trees shade café tables and ferries cross to the Dalmatian islands. The camera lingers on the contrast between the ancient stone behind and the bright Adriatic horizon ahead — the defining visual tension of this extraordinary city. The 4K footage renders the golden limestone in warm afternoon light, doing justice to the quality of Roman masonry that has outlasted empires.

Highlights of Split

Diocletian’s Palace is the centrepiece of any Split visit, but it rewards slow exploration rather than a checklist approach. The four palace gates — Golden, Silver, Iron, and Brass — each open onto a different character of the city. The Golden Gate leads directly to the bronze statue of Gregory of Nin, the 10th-century bishop who championed Croatian liturgy over Latin; touching his toe is said to bring good luck, and the polish on that enormous toe speaks to how many visitors have obliged.

The Vestibule, a domed circular hall just behind the Peristyle, is one of the finest Roman interior spaces in the world — open to the sky now that its dome has collapsed, which only adds to its atmospheric quality. The palace cellars beneath extend for the full footprint of the building and were used as film locations for the dragon vaults of Meereen in Game of Thrones Season 4, a fact that brings a certain class of visitor here specifically.

Beyond the palace, Marjan Hill rises 178 metres above the western edge of the city, offering views across the offshore islands of Brač, Hvar, and Šolta. The Riva promenade connects the palace’s southern sea-gate to the city’s ferries and catamaran terminal. Split’s Green Market and Fish Market just east of the palace walls bring local produce culture — figs, olive oil, local Pošip white wine, and that morning’s catch from the Adriatic — to anyone willing to arrive before 10am.

A Brief History of Split

Roman Emperor Diocletian, one of the very few emperors to voluntarily abdicate, commissioned his retirement palace between approximately 295 and 305 AD on the Dalmatian coast near his birthplace. The palace was more fortress than villa — a rectangular complex roughly 200 by 240 metres, housing not only the emperor’s private apartments but barracks for a garrison, temples, a mausoleum, and all the infrastructure of a small city.

After Diocletian’s death the palace passed through various imperial and then Ostrogothic hands, and by the 7th century it had become largely abandoned. In 614 AD, when the nearby Roman city of Salona was destroyed by Avar and Slav raids, its surviving inhabitants moved into the palace and began adapting its spaces for domestic use. They built homes inside the galleries, converted the temples, and sealed some of the gates. The medieval city of Spalatum — later Split — grew organically inside the Roman walls.

The Cathedral of Saint Domnius is direct evidence of this transformation: Diocletian’s own octagonal mausoleum was converted into a Christian cathedral, making it the world’s oldest cathedral building in continuous liturgical use. Split passed under Venetian rule from 1420 to 1797, which accounts for the Venetian Gothic elements visible in some of the palace quarter buildings. The city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Practical Tips

Split is accessible by ferry from Ancona in Italy (approximately nine hours overnight) or by fast catamaran from Dubrovnik (around three hours). The old town and Diocletian’s Palace are entirely walkable from the ferry terminal — the Riva promenade runs directly from the dock to the palace’s south wall. The palace interior is free to walk through at any hour, though the Cathedral, Vestibule, and cellars charge separate entry fees.

The currency is the euro (Croatia joined the eurozone in January 2023). English is widely spoken in tourist areas. The best season for visiting is May to June or September, when temperatures are pleasant and the summer crowds have not yet peaked or have begun to thin. July and August bring intense heat and a dramatic increase in visitors, though the sailing culture of the Adriatic reaches its peak at that time. Grilled fish with blitva (Swiss chard and potato) is the signature Dalmatian dish, best found at a konoba near the old port.

Watch & Explore More

For more immersive city walking tours across Europe and beyond, visit @walkingtoursvideoscom on YouTube. If you’re planning a broader Adriatic itinerary, our Dubrovnik walking tour covers the famous walled city just three hours south, and the Rome walking tour explores the capital of the empire Diocletian once ruled.