*This is a collaborative post with Jet2holidays, but all thoughts shared are entirely my own as always.
In 2018 Adam and I visited Dubrovnik in Croatia and fell IN LOVE! Dubrovnik has the perfect mix of historic old town vibes, with views of the sea and the ability to wander down the twists and turns of small alley ways and get lost in the romance and history of the city. Croatia, therefore, has always been somewhere we've recommended to others and wanted to go back ourselves and so when we had the chance come up to go and visit Split in Croatia, we were so excited!
Looking at the photos beforehand, Split reminded us of Dubrovnik - we were drawn to the fact that Split is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the home to Diocletian’s Palace, an incredible 1,600-year-old Roman palace which makes up most of Split's 'Old Town'. Split is also on the coast, so has incredible sea-views and is the perfect place to take a sunset cruise (which we did), a boat tour or island hop.
Travelling
Our flights to Split were with Jet2 with a combined package of the flights and the hotel. Jet2holidays are our go-to for couples holidays - we've always found them to be great! We flew from London Stansted, and everything was super smooth from the airport to the flights themselves. Considering we travelled during August and the summer holidays, we'd expected things to feel a bit hectic, but to be honest, this was the smoothest airport/airline experience we've had to date. What I particularly liked was that all the details with Jet2 were on the app, I could check in, view our boarding passes, our flight times, view our transfers and all of the other details crucial for our trip. On arrival to Split, we were greeted by a Jet2 representative who was super helpful offering advice and a customer helpline for the duration of our stay should we need it. And then we were shown us to our driver and car that was waiting for us for our transfer to the hotel. We didn't have to worry about anything!
Hotel
After doing a bit of research on Split Hotels with Jet2holidays, we stayed at Hotel Ora and found it to be super modern, clean, spacious and comfortable! I particularly liked the chic interior decor in the bar / breakfast / lounge area.
The breakfast was included in our stay and was great. We are both vegetarian and found lots to eat for breakfast. The food wasn't labelled, but the staff were happy to advice as to what everything was/contained. Our room was spacious, clean and modern, and the bed was comfortable. There was good air con and because the hotel isn't huge we didn't hear noise from other rooms. The only negative I have about our stay at Hotel Ora is the road noise. Our room was located right next to the dual carriageway, which was busy day and night. I asked if we could possibly move to another room on the other side of the hotel but they were fully booked at the time. Whilst we did hear the road noise, this didn't ruin our stay.
Hotel Ora is about 7 minutes drive or so away from the Old Town, walking would take about 25-30 minutes. For us, we decided the best option to travel to the Old Town where we we wanted to explore most of the time, was a taxi or Bolt which cost us around 4 euros each way or 6 euros on the Saturday. Getting taxis/bolts is super easy and we used the app to pay. There is also a bus stop across the road from the hotel, which was 2 euros each each way, so the same as the taxi. We never did the walk as when we visited it was 34 degrees and so we preferred to save our energy to explore the Old Town when we got there.
Old Town
The Old Town of Split was everything we had hoped it would be! A mix of history and culture with a picturesque promenade at the harbor to stroll along. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diocletian’s Palace from 305 AD is the most famous attraction in Split. The palace was ordered to be built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian in the 4th century and the remains of more than 200 buildings can still be seen today. The palace grounds contain many historical sights such as the Cathedral of St. Domnius, the Peristyle and the palace cellars. The Peristyle is the central square of Diocletian’s Palace and was formerly a reception hall for imperial visits. Here you can see original Roman columns and arches and truly feel like you're in the 'heart' of the Old City!
If you're feeling brave enough, and the weather isn't as hot as it was for us when we visited, something else to do is to climb the bell tower at the Cathedral of St. Domnius. We decided it would be too much for us with the temperature, but apparently after the climb of 200 steps you are rewarded with a spectacular view of the city.
The cellars of Diocletian’s Palace were super interesting. We paid to enter the cellars, but it was worth it to escape the heat for a bit and explore the old palace cellars which were huge and featured so many different rooms! There was an art exhibition on at the time included in the cost of the ticket.
The Harbor Promenade of Split called Riva, just next to the Old Town is absolutely stunning. You can walk along the coastline looking out to to the sea under palm trees. There are benches dotted along the promenade so you can sit and take in the wonderful views of the harbour and there are plenty of bars too, where you can sit and have a drink and a bite to eat with a view. We sat for an hour or so just looking out the sea with a cocktail and it was glorious!
What I loved about the Old Town the most was the fact that you almost felt inside of a bubble inside the historic city walls. There's a great atmosphere, which gets even better at night when the sun goes down and the city becomes even more charming. The shops, restaurants, market and museums stay open late and there's a real buzz! There are lots of little alleyways to turn down and they're all lit up at night. I loved also that you never knew what you might come across, at one point we found ourselves in a shop entirely dedicated to all things Christmas and another shop that was all things lavender. We also found amazing bars and restaurants and we very nearly went into the illusion museum in Split too, but sadly run out of time.
Sunset Cruise
There are many boat trips you can take from Split, you'll find these dotted along the Riva coastline. At first we didn't know what to pick, we didn't want to do an all day tour as we were limited with time. But there were some great-looking island hopping tours available with some that included a trip to a blue cave! We eventually decided on a sunset cruise, which I 100% recommend!
The sunset cruise was just absolutely amazing - we had drinks included, music, a great boat guide who told us about the different sights and places as we passed them and then we sat and watched the sun go down which was totally beautiful. I'd expected the boat to be rammed with people, but they said they would only take 15 maximum and in the end I think there were about 11 of us. Some people jumped in to the sea and swam whilst watching the sunset. There was a really lovely, chilled vibe.
The highlight asides from watching the sunset from sea, was unexpectedly seeing DOLPHINS! My Husband spotted them out of the corner of his eye as they passed by our boat. We were incredibly lucky as the boat guide said he'd only seen dolphins 3 times that year! I had a tear in my eye as I watched them swim past, it's incredible to see animals in their natural environments!
Restaurants
There's SUCH a selection of restaurants to choose from in Split! There's a different one everywhere you look.
For us as vegetarians, we found our favourite restaurants where Fig where we had a very tasty sweet potato curry and also Pandora's Greenbox, a plant-based restaurant, that had an incredible atmosphere, amazing drinks, board games to play (we played a semi-drunken game of Chess!) and tasty food! We had a spicy pasta alongside some cocktails and bread and hummus for starter and loved it!
If you have a particular restaurant you want to eat at, I definitely recommend booking, especially during the busier summer period! Another mention has to go to UJE Oil Bar where we had lunch and cocktails. They do a lovely celery soup and even tastier bruschetta!
Hvar
On our last day in Split we visited the nearby island of Hvar. We took a catamaran from the harbour which cost 20 euros each one way and took an hour. The island is beautiful and from what I could tell and the things that I read, it has a very lively nightlife scene. There are lots of historical sights to see, including a hilltop fortress, the main square and cathedral and a 15th-century monastery to name just a few. We loved exploring the streets, browsing the little shops and discovering pretty little spots to sit and enjoy a drink. We also found an amazing roof terrace bar / restaurant to sit and have a cocktail whilst soaking in the views of the sea.
Something we would have loved to have done if we had had another day was visit the Krka Waterfalls which look absolutely stunning! The advice I was given, is to get up and go early if you do visit Krka National Park as it can get VERY busy.
Book your trip!
Our visit to Split was absolutely incredible! We managed to pack lots of things in to just a couple of days and we made truly wonderful memories. I'm so glad we've ticked Split off of our travel list as it was beautiful. If you've never visited before, but are considering it, I really recommend it and to make your trip as smooth as possible take a look at booking a package holiday to Croatia with Jet2holidays.
Thank you for reading.
Alex xo
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