Where to Stay in Split: 7 Excellent Areas & Hotels

The many fabulous places for where to stay in Split guarantee a great time in Croatia! The combination of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, beautiful beaches and offshore islands attracts visitors from all over the world every year. Whether for a city break or a beach vacation, you’ll find plenty of accommodation options in this charming coastal metropolis. We’ve been to Split more times than we can count at this point. Staying in a different neighborhood almost every visit, which gives us a pretty good sense of what each part of the city actually feels like to wake up in.

In this travel guide, we’ll give you all the important tips and information about where to stay in Split, backed by what we’ve actually experienced ourselves in each neighborhood.

Split Old Town

Split Old Town is the easiest choice if you’re not arriving by car, and it’s also where we’ve stayed most often ourselves over the years. The streets are narrow and winding enough that you genuinely lose track of direction, which sounds annoying but somehow never gets old, you just end up somewhere unexpected instead. Restaurants, bars, and small boutiques fill the center, and the waterfront promenade is where everyone ends up eventually, whether for a walk, a coffee, or just to watch the boats.

What makes the old town different from a typical European city center is that you’re actually staying inside a former Roman palace complex, Diocletian’s Palace isn’t a separate attraction you visit, it’s the neighborhood itself. That history is part of what makes wandering the streets here feel different from anywhere else in Split.

Prices run higher than elsewhere in the city, but you’re paying for the privilege of stepping outside your door straight into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For a short city break, we wouldn’t stay anywhere else.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Split Old Town:

• Boutique Hotel: The Riva Palace impresses with its prime location in the old town and directly on the waterfront. The rooms are tastefully and uniquely furnished!
• Wonderful Apartment: The Apartment Diocletian Pearl is a wonderfully spacious and tastefully furnished apartment directly in the historic center.
• Backpacker Hostel: The chic Ćiri Biri Bela Boutique Hostel convinces backpackers with the best facilities and brilliant location in the old town.

Split Old Town

Bacvice

Bačvice sits just a few hundred meters from the bus station, close enough to walk into the old town in about ten minutes. We’ve spent plenty of evenings here over the years, and if you want a feel for how locals actually spend a summer evening, this is the beach to visit. The shallow sandy bay fills up fast on hot days, sun loungers everywhere, beach bars doing steady business well into the night.

This isn’t the neighborhood for a quiet stay. Bačvice has always had a bit of a reputation as the place where Split goes out, and that hasn’t changed. If nightlife matters to you, or you just want to be close enough to the action to walk home afterward, this is the area we’d point you toward.

Accommodation here is a mix, mostly private apartments, but there’s also one of the better hotels in Split right in the neighborhood. You’re close to the beach and close to the old town at the same time, which is harder to find than you’d think in this city.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Bacvice:

• Stunning 4-Star Hotel: The Hotel Park Split delights with a great breakfast, a wonderful pool and the fabulous location to the beach and near the city center!
• Apartment by the Sea: The Apartments Sand Beach scores with fabulous equipment and is tastefully decorated. Plus, it’s just a few steps from the beach!
• Charming Guesthouse: The Green Park Luxury Rooms offer very nicely furnished double rooms with many extras such as capsule coffee machine, capsules and various teas.

Bacvice

Varos (Marjan Forest Park & Kasjuni Beach)

The area around Marjan Forest Park is one of our favorite parts of Split, quiet, green, and still only a short walk or bus ride from the old town. We’ve hiked several of the trails through the park over the years, and the viewpoints along the way are worth the climb, on a clear day you can see most of the city laid out below you.

Down at the coast sits Kasjuni Beach, one of the nicer bays in the city, with a beach club that stays lively without ever feeling overrun. It’s the kind of place where you could spend a full afternoon without checking the time.

If you’d rather wake up somewhere calmer than the old town but still want the city within easy reach, this is where we’d point you. Most accommodations here are apartments and holiday homes, quiet, well-kept, and often just a short walk from both the forest trails and the sea.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Varos:

• Vacation Apartment Sea View: The Apartment Sun Place is a beautiful, high quality equipped vacation apartment in a quiet location. Also the view from the terrace is fantastic.
• Vacation Home: The Unique House Split is a real insider tip. Guests love the cute little house, with the romantic garden and the fabulous view of the sea.
• Large Vacation Home: The Holiday Home Marjan is perfect for large families or smaller groups. Guests love the tasteful decor and great views.

Kasjuni Beach

Trstenik

Trstenik sits about 3 kilometers from the historic center, a stretch of coast where one small bay follows another. We walked and photographed this whole stretch of coastline while exploring Split’s beaches, and it’s popular in summer with families and older travelers looking for a relaxed few days by the sea. The long promenade running alongside it is well suited for a morning walk or an evening jog once the heat has faded.

You won’t be walking into the old town from here, a bus, taxi, or car is the more realistic option. What you get instead is a quieter stretch of coast and easy access to the water without the crowds closer to the center. Accommodation ranges from private apartments to one of Split’s better 5-star hotels, which sits right on the water, good if you’re planning mostly beach days with the occasional trip into town.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Trstenik:

• 5-Star Hotel: The Radisson Blu Resort & Spa is among the best accommodations in Split. Here, guests are pampered to the hilt, and the location directly on the sea is also fantastic!
• Apartment by the Sea: The Apartman Spalatum inspires with 1-A location directly on the sea, with great views from the balcony and with free parking.
• 3-Star Hotel: The Hotel Elu Iris is a real insider tip. A wonderful little hotel with modern furnishings, friendly staff, delicious breakfast and parking is also available.

Beach Trstenik

Znjan

Žnjan, in the southern part of the city, is one of Split’s newer neighborhoods. New apartment buildings and hotels line a long stretch of beach here, the water noticeably clearer than what you’ll find closer to the center. We spent a good amount of time here on one of our stays, and it felt removed from the old town’s crowds without actually being far away, about 4 kilometers, easy enough by bus or car. Weekends bring a solid crowd to the beach clubs along the shore, though it never got as loud or chaotic as Bačvice did on the nights we compared the two.

Parking tends to be less of a headache here than in the older parts of the city, most apartments and hotels have their own spaces, which matters if you’re arriving with a rental car. This is where we’d send you if the beach itself matters more than staying somewhere historic.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Znjan:

• Apartment with Pool: The Eol Apartments Split are only 2 minutes away from the beach, beautifully furnished and the pool with sea view is also a highlight!
• 4-Star Hotel: The Hotel Fanat scores with excellent price-performance ratio. The restaurant is excellent, the breakfast delicious and also the location at the sea is terrific.
• Apartments with View: The Apartments Deja Views offer different sized apartments in a great location and with fabulous furnishings!

Znjan Beach

Stobrec

Stobreč, about 10 kilometers from central Split, was once a small fishing village before it grew into a popular spot for a beach-focused stay. It’s where we stayed on our most recent trip, and the shift in pace was noticeable almost as soon as we arrived. Quieter streets, a small promenade with a handful of restaurants, and a proper stretch of beach without the crowds you’d find closer to the center.

You’ll want a car here, or at least be comfortable relying on buses to reach the old town. There’s also one of the larger campsites near Split right on the water, alongside apartments and holiday homes for those who’d rather not camp. If a slower pace matters more to you than being in the middle of things, this is where we’d send you.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Stobrec:

• Vacation home with Pool: The Villa Sweet Home Marija is a beautiful, modern vacation home with pool, which is ideal for families and small groups.
• Apartment at the Beach: The Apartment Sun & Sea is a modern, bright apartment with a great view of the main beach and the turquoise sea.
• Mobile Homes: The Camping Stobrec is a popular choice among campers. The facility offers plots for caravans and tents as well as cozy mobile homes!!

Stobrec

Podstrana

Podstrana sits further out from the center, but it’s one of our favorites when a beach vacation is the actual priority, not just a nice-to-have alongside sightseeing. The coastline here is genuinely one of the better ones near Split, bay after bay with calm, clear water and mountains rising up behind them. From the old town, it’s about 20 minutes by bus or taxi, and the coastal town of Omiš isn’t much further either, worth the detour if you’re already out this way.

You’ll find everything from beachfront apartments to small hotels with their own pool along this stretch of coast, most of it built right along the water. If you’re choosing where to stay in Split mainly for the beach, this is the area we’d point you toward first.

Best Accommodations & Hotels in Podstrana:

• Luxury 5-Star Hotel: The Le Meridien Lav Split is a great hotel right on the dream beach, with pretty pool area, beach club and good restaurant. Perfect for that special vacation.
• Fantastic 4-Star Hotel: The Hotel Beach Split is a great option! This small, pretty hotel scores with beach location and with great facilities.
• Pension by the Sea: The Pansion Martin inspires as a family business, offers a great breakfast, and also the location directly on the beach is fabulous!

Podstrana

Conclusion: Where Should You Stay in Split?

After all these visits, Split Old Town is still where we end up staying most often, nothing quite matches waking up inside Diocletian’s Palace and stepping straight into the middle of everything. It’s also the most expensive part of the city by a clear margin, you’re paying for that location.

If nightlife is what you’re after, Bačvice puts you close to both the beach and the old town without the premium prices of staying right in the historic center. Varoš works well if you want some quiet without giving up easy access to the city, and it’s one of our favorite areas for exactly that reason.

For a beach-first stay, the coast south of the center is where your money goes furthest. Trstenik and Žnjan both offer newer, well-equipped places without old-town prices. Stobreč and Podstrana take that a step further still, cheaper and noticeably quieter, but you’ll want a car, or at least patience with the bus schedule, to make the most of either one.

More info about Croatia:

• 20 Unique Things to Do in Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Trogir, Croatia: Travel Guide & Things to Do
• Zadar, Croatia: Top 15 Amazing Things to Do
• Makarska, Croatia: The Complete Travel Guide
• 15 Best Places to Visit in Istria, Croatia

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Where to stay in Croatia

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