There are many beautiful places to live across the globe. One of those places is Croatia, especially sunny coastline and the city of Split in particular. If you consider living as a digital nomad or just running business from a relaxed and sunny place in Europe, where you are close to many other countries and gorgeous places, move to Split.
Let’s start with some basic information about Split.
Split is the second biggest city in Croatia, with 200.000 inhabitants, located by the sea and enjoying 200 sunny days per year. It was built around a 1600-years old Roman palace called Diocletian’s Palace – where people still live between ancient walls.
Geographically, Split is located on a peninsula, surrounded with beautiful beaches and mountains on each side.
Split is famous for its fjaka, a sort of Danish hygge but only warmer – an easy-going lifestyle, great food, vibrant life on streets and pleasant Mediterranean climate all make living in this city enjoyable. And there are so many places around it to visit – national parks, islands, castles and rivers – you are close to so many unique experiences.
But living here is different than being a tourist, so let us look into those important “details”.
Split is connected with the capital of Zagreb by the A1 highway and it takes only 3 hours and 45 minutes to reach the city.
You can take a bus from Zagreb to Split. Lines are quite frequent, and prices can vary from 14 euros to 29 euros, depending on a provider and how early you buy your ticket. The trip usually takes 5 hours.
Train can be another option, but our railroad system is not something you want to experience if you’re not an adventurer with a lot of patience. Trip can take up to 9 hours sometimes, and there is high possibility you will regret for stepping into that train.
Split Airport is the busiest airport in the country, located 30 min away from the city centre. During the tourist season (May – October) you can fly in directly from hundreds of destinations, while during the low season you will probably have to take a flight with a stopover in another city to get to Split.
At the Split airport you can find buses and taxies.
An official bus line starts every 30 minutes from the Main Bus station and the price is around 10 euro per one way.
If you consider taking a taxi, be careful since that ride could be very pricey. There are also Uber and Bolt apps available so choose riding with them before opting for the regular TAXI. The price of your ride from the airport to the city centre should be around 40 euro (300 kuna).
Great thing about Split is that you don’t have major traffic jams, like you have in bigger cities. You can easily come driving from one part of the city, to completely opposite one, for not more than 20 mins. You can also walk to most part of the city in less than an hour. Otherwise, you can use public transport. Except public buses, you can use public electric scooter or take normal/electric bikes, from one of the many stops all around the city, for very affordable price (approx. 30 euro per a year). If you want to take a taxi, the best option is to use uber, and price should never be higher than 10 euros, if you travel inside of peninsula of Split.
Split Ferry Port is one of the biggest in the Adriatic Sea. It is located by the sea, just next to the city centre.
Ferries and fast catamaran will take you directly to all Dalmatian islands, such as Brač, Hvar, Vis, Korčula and Lastovo… If you want to explore the islands, book your tickets through the website of the ferry transport company.
Split has good connection with many Croatian islands. Here is the list of recommended ones, which you can reach directly from ferry port in Split.
The island of Brač is mostly known for its unique and gorgeous beach of Zlatni rat, which is usually considered one of the best beaches in Croatia and Europe.
Hvar is probably the most known Croatian island. Visited my many celebrities (Beyonce, prince Harry, Demi Moore…) who enjoyed historical cities, great restaurant, lagoons and beach bar, the city of Hvar is a luxurious-places to be. Take a boat trip to pristine Pakleni islands or rent and old-timer to explore the rest of the island.
Vis is a beautiful small island with incredible beaches (Srebrna, Pritiscina, Stiniva, Zaglav…).
Small fisherman’s place Komiža is the best place to feel the spirit of small town and just relax watching fishing boats come in and leave, while many cats just wait for their favourite fisherman.
From Komiža take a daily boat trip to the island of Biševo, where you can get inside of incredible Blue Cave.
There are a many restaurants in Komiža where you can try local food and fresh fish. The best two are Konoba Jastožera and Konoba Barba. If you want to eat cheap and good food in hearth of Komiža, you can go to bistro Zadruga. They offer authentic Dalmatian lunch like Paprika stuffed with mincemeat and rice, or my favourite, that cannot be found on many places, fisherman’s sea food beans stew, or in Croatian, Ribarski Fažol.
If you want to visit town of Vis, make sure you reserve your table at Pojoda restaurant. My recommendation is gregada.
For authentic dinner, served in a traditional way, head to Žena Glava, an inland village in Vis. Place to stop is Darko agrotourism, where Darko will prepare dinner for you, in front yard of his house. Make sure you give him a call-in advance, as this is not a classic restaurant.
Another great place to eat is a restaurant Aerodrom (meaning “Airport”), located at the place where there used to be a landing plain for military planes.
You’ll find many tunnels and places around the island since it was one of the most important military point-in the former Yugoslavia and the tourists could not easily visit the island until 1991.
Korčula is the 6th largest island in Croatia, and it belongs to the very top of island destinations in the Mediterranean. Carved out of stone and surrounded by thick pine forest, the town Korčula is a favourite destination for all travellers.
Marko Polo house, performances of the knights game Moreška, island wine tour, 20 cycling and 25 hiking trails are few of the best experiences on Korčula. If we mention beautiful clear sea and wonderful local food and wine, Korčula is worth a visit. If you like wine you need to try famous white wine Grk, from Lumbarda. One of my favourite’s places for seafood in whole island is Konoba Zure, 10 mins driving from town of Korčula, in Lumbarda, place famous for their wines.
Šolta is an island in front of Split, located only 30-45 minutes by ferry. On the western part of the island is the old fishing village Maslinica. Today it is very known for the beautiful small marina at the foot of the Martinis Marchi castle on the south side of the bay. Thanks to the marina, the town has developed offers for boaters who can enjoy several nice restaurants with good selection of seafood specialties. If you like seafood, do go to restaurant Šampjer and try famous Dalmatian meal called gregada. This place might be a little pricey, but everybody says it’s worth it. Other very known places and centres of summer events on the island are Rogač, Nečujam and Stomorska.
Now, coming back to Split. If you come to Split in hot Summer period, first thing you want to do after you settle down, is find refreshment at one of many beaches you can find around coast of Split.
If you prefer sand beaches, there are Bačvice and Firule beaches located next to the city centre – it will take you 10 to 15 minutes on foot to reach them.
Bačvice is the most famous and the biggest sand beach in city, where people enjoy the sea all year long!
In summer time, you can find a lot of tourists there, sun bathing, running around the beach…
Playing authentic Split game Picigin, or just chilling and having beer or coffee in Žbirac is sometimes the inhabitants do 365 days a year so the beach is never without people. If you like places with a lot of young people around you, both locals and tourists, Bačvice is the place to go.
Firule is another sand beach, 10 minutes away from Bačvice. This is the place where mostly local people go. Here you can see a lot of people playing cards, arguing loudly, playing Picigin, or having beer at beach pier, and chatting about latest Hajduk game or so. It can also be quite crowded in high season.
Žnjan is the most popular pebbly beach in Split. It’s only 10 minutes’ drive from city centre. If you take uber it will cost you around 10 Euros. There is a long bicycle path, and running path where people often go for a jog. It has a lot of spaces for parking, which is often a problem in Split. If you want to take a bus, you can take number 15 from main Train station, and it will take you to Žnjan in 25 to 30 mins.
Beaches around Forest Park Marjan are nice for a day trip on the beach, especially ones on the north side, where you have plenty of small picnic tables near the coast. Here you can have nice summer picnic and jump into the fresh sea. Most famous beach on north side of Marjan is Bene, with restaurant and kids’ entertainment park.
One of the hidden beaches, where usually local people go, and is never crowded, is called Bunkeri. To find this beach, you just need to leave the main road 50 meters before Bene (coming from Marjan north gate), turning right, and enter the forest by following small forest path.
After a few minutes of walking through forest, you will see stairs leading you to the sea. On the south side of Marjan you can find two nice pebbly beaches, Obojena svjetlost and Kašjuni, which can also be very crowded in high season. Marjan south side beaches are better to visit during the morning hours, when they are less crowded.
Beach Mala Luka is beach outside of Split, around one-hour driving, after town of Omiš. This place is a resort, that remained in the same form as it was during the Yugoslavian times. Beaches are beautiful, with beautiful blue sea, turning into green from trees around it. You will have to pay day parking ticket, around 7 euros. It is definitely worth it, as this place is still not that crowded, because it was not developed as other places around it, during the touristic boom in modern Croatia. You have 2 main beaches, with more small beaches coming. If you pass by main beach, and continue to walk down the small forest path, you will find the place for your own.
Following up list of beaches in Split, we should mention some of the parks around the Split where you can have a nice walk or jog.
Marjan is the biggest and the most famous Split park, starting at the edge of Split city centre. It is a big forest hill, with a lot of cycling and hiking paths. It is also a perfect place for a day picnic. In the southside of park, there is a ZOO with domestic animals. This is not a classic ZOO, with wild animals, but with domestic Dalmatian animals, that are walking freely, and are not captured in the cages.
Zvončac park you can reach by walking down the West Coast of Split city centre. You will be there just after you pass by City Council building. Here people from Split usually come in Springtime, to play games like badminton or so, or to celebrate children’s birthdays.
Sustipan used to be Split old cemetery. Cemetery was relocated, and beautiful park remained. It is located just above Zvončac, with one side leaning on the coastline, having small stone church at the entrance. Very often, concerts are organised there, with people sitting around the stage on the grass, on their blankets. It is a great place to have an evening walk, or to come to watch sunset.
You must be very hungry at this stage, with so much information being thrown to you. When it comes to Split gastronomy offer, below you can find list of different kind of restaurants and bars where you can enjoy authentic food, or just grab a burger or pizza.
Pizza & Burger places:
● Pizzeria Skipper
● Pizzeria Bokamora
● Pizzeria Basta
● Fabrique pub
● Plan B Pub
Domestic food:
● Restaurant Zona
● Restaurant Šug
● Restaurant Oštarija u Viđakovi
● Restaurant Corto Maltese
● Restaurant Fife
● Restaurant Hvaranin
Fine dining:
● Restaurant Dvor (Michelin star)
● Restaurant Kadena(Michelin star)
● Restaurant Zora Bila
● Restaurant Zrno Soli
● Restaurant Maestro
● Restaurant Bokeria
● Restaurant Zoi
Eat and have drinks with the locals:
● Ka’ Doma
● Tri Volta (inside the Diocletian palace)
Bars:
● Guitar Bar – Small bar near park Đardin with live jazz, blues, and rock music
● Basket Pub – Pub near Slobodna Dalmacija newspapers building, where you can meet local people. You can come here to have a drink before night out on Friday or grab a beer after work.
● Adriatic – Cool bar in Licka ulica, with various international DJs coming to play jazz and soul music on random days.
Markets:
The best way to know what to eat at a new place is to visit local markets. The central food market called Splitski Pazar is located next to the Diocletian Palace and is very lively throughout the year.
For fish, head to Splitska Peskarija inside the palace, next to known Marmontova street, but be sure to get there early in the morning.
Gastro Ribarnice Brac is a chain of fish stores that you can find all around the city. They are well known by their quality gastro products and fresh fish.
Coffee and sunglasses culture
People from Split almost always have their sunglasses on. They carry sunglasses with them in pockets even on a rainy day just in case it turns to be sunny afterwards. So that’s the reason you’ll find numerous sunglasses shops in the city.
Coffee is a social drink. It is common for anyone to order a coffee and a glass of water and sit at the table for an hour or two with their friends. Coffee is “an excuse to socialize”. If you sit down for a coffee, take your time and relax.
When it comes to cultural life of Split, here is the list of institutions that we find important, and worth to visit.
HNK (Croatian National Theatre) is the most important cultural institution in Split. It is located in city centre, at Trg Gaje Bulata, next to the Diocletian’s Palace. Here, you can see ballet, opera, drama, and various concert programs all year long, performed by domestic ensembles, or guest ones, from Croatia or International.
Kinoteka Zlatna Vrata is a small cinema located side by Golden Gate of Diocletian’s palace. Here you can see plenty of movies from all over the world. Most of these movies would be independent movies, that you would not have chance to see in few cineplexes around the city, that usually offer standard Hollywood production. Ticket for shows in Zlatna Vrata would cost you only 2.5 Euros. The interior of cinema is also interesting, as each chair is named after a movie star.
Dom Mladih Split is the place lead by students of Split. Here you can find various exhibitions during the year, from modern art, photography, amateur movies, etc.
It is located at Ulica Slobode 28. In this building you can find Indoor Skate Park if you want to skate, or Free Climbing gym. If you want to learn various circus skills like dance on silk, trapeze dance or so, you can visit club Hram, where you can gain these kinds of skills. There are also cultural events happening in building’s amphitheatre, or various alternative music events happening in cool punk concert hall, called Kocka.
Hrvatski Dom is an old/new cultural place in Split, founded more than 100 years ago. During the late 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, this institution was not active. In December 2020, building renovation was completed, with impressive, newly restored concert hall, and this place has been lively since then.
Several times a week you can attend music events, from classical to jazz music. Split at Night Jazz Festival is taking place here 2 years in a row, and it is one of the events you need to attend in this building full of history.
Alongside the cultural institutions that are open all year long, there are plenty of cultural events taking place all around the city, so let’s have a look at the most interesting ones.
Split Spring Festival is modern spring cultural – gastro outdoor festival for tourists and locals. Some of the most popular Split restaurants and bistros preparing street food with every evening live performance by RnB, jazz and blues bands and DJ’s on stage.
Evo Ruke – Revija Urbane Kulture is a group of events, organized during the summer in Split, on various locations. This year they organized Split Blues Festival, as part of the urban music event series in Split in 2022. You can see more info on the link bellow:
Mediterranean Film Festival was listed as one of the top 10 Europe’s summer festivals in 2022 by theguardian.com. This festival is organized in 4 different locations in Split, with Bačvice Summer Cinema being the central spot.
You can enjoy Mediterranean movies, from North Africa, up to Mediterranean Europe.
Ticket for one night would cost you around 5 Euros.
Usually after the screening there is some music played by local DJ’s, where you can hang out with other people, discuss the movies, or even, if you are lucky, meet the director or actors of the movie you just saw, as likely, they will be dancing along with the audience.
Split Summer Festival is an international music and stage event that includes drama, opera, ballet, and concert programmes. Founded back in 1954, it usually takes place from 15 of July to 15 of August. The performances are scattered throughout the city at various spots.
Split Park Festival is a brand new festival, started 2022. It is music and gastro open air festival located near park Zvončac, which you can enjoy from mid of July until mid of August. With this festival, Split has received additional summer content that reflects the climate and local tastes.
Split at night Jazz Festival is a jazz festival that takes place in June. For last 2 years festival took place in Hrvatski Dom venue. Domestic and international jazz artists perform jazz music 3 days in a row. Festival is organized by Split jazz musicians, Sara & Jappa, daughter and father, who also perform their music as part of festival program.
Ultra-Europe Festival would be more of a party event, then a cultural one. It is an electronic music festival that takes place in open stadium. It is part of the worldwide expansion of the Ultra Music Festival. (3 days in July).
If you want to keep up with latest events in split, you can always visit these 2 websites, where you have detail info what is going on in Split each day:
Split is taking big steps in his growing digital nomad and tech community.
Progress of the IT sector should be especially emphasized. One of the very well-known communities is Split Tech city (split-techcity.com).
It’s a community made up of well-meaning and progressive companies, start-ups, associations, initiatives, institutions, and individuals. Its main goal is to inform, encourage and develop the IT sector of Split and the region.
On their site you can find all the information about festivals and conferences related to IT sector that are happening in Split and this part of Europe. If you would like to use coworking space in Split, no problem. There are few of them on different locations, you can check on their site which one most suite to you.
Every year more and more digital nomads and contractors are choosing Split (Croatia) for relocation, what is pushing community forward in all aspects. Government supports that, by offering very good conditions and benefits for opening limited company located in Croatia (very similar to Umbrella Company in Ireland or UK).
When it comes to tech events, there are few tech festivals happening in Split during the year, and these are some of them.
Festival of technology and entrepreneurship takes place at start of September. It is organized by Split Tech City, where local and international entrepreneurs take part in program, talking about various subjects related to the problems they encounter in their way to the success, or failure sometimes. It takes place in attractive location of Bačvice Summer Cinema.
Dump Days usually take place in May, on Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split.
The conference for the new generation is joined by numerous Croatian and world-renowned companies such as Blank, Extension Engine, Photomath, and Rimac Technology, and lectures will be given by some of the best experts in development, design, marketing, and technology.
Visitors will see live sponsorship stands, listen to lectures, panel discussions, Campfire Talks, and can participate in practical workshops and FlyTalks and short job interviews.
Find more about the event here.
Get in the ring is Global Startup Competition. It is an opportunity for start-ups of different stages to gain exposure and credibility by being selected as a winner of a local event. It’s a great chance to be part of a global network to explore business opportunities. Split is taking part as one of the host cities, where winner goes to the global event. In 2021. this competition took place in concert venue of Hrvatski Dom.
Sport is such an important part of Split history and life in general that will follow you everywhere.
We call it the sportiest city in the world since so many individuals and clubs made to the top of various sports.
HNK Hajduk Split is the biggest sport brand of Split. Almost every empty wall featured graffiti or murals dedicated to our soccer club Hajduk, whose fan club Torcida was the first European soccer fan club in history.
If you want to know more about its famous history, just ask anyone you meet about it.
Today, it is the only club of big importance in South Eastern Europe that is owned by his own supporters, in unique model, where adult members of the club elect board members on democratic elections, that take part every 4 years. Hajduk is strongly connected with its supporters, local community, and Dalmatia region. For every resident of Split, Hajduk is not just a club, it is a religion. You should visit Hajduk home game on Stadium Poljud to see one of the best atmospheres in Europe.
Some of our famous citizens are a tennis star Goran Ivanišević, jumper Branka Vlašić, soccer player Slaven Bilić, Ivan Perišić, Ante Rebić, handball player Ivano Balić, basketball players Toni Kukoč and Dino Rađa…
Split is hometown of the best European basketball team of 20th century. Famous Yugoplastika, now days named KK Split, is competing in ABBA League. You can see their games in Gripe basketball venue during the basketball season. It is parent club of few former NBI players, with most famous being members of NBA Hall of Fame, Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč. Sometimes, they can be seen attending KK Split games in Gripe basketball venue.
In Split there is plenty of sport clubs, gathered under the umbrella of Split Sports Association.
Find more info about clubs that are active in Split, and maybe even take part in one of them if you feel like it.
Is it expensive to live in Split? No, if you stay away from the city centre where you’ll find higher prices aimed for tourists.
How much is an average monthly rent for an apartment in Split? It depends on what you’re looking for. If you want a sea view, you’ll pay higher than if you choose to live in a remote quarter.
Monthly rent for apartment is around 400 euros plus utilities (one or two-bedroom apartment). According to one research, one person spends around 250 euros per month on groceries (depending on the person). So, we can say that total costs of living are around 800 to 1000 euros per month.
More about all costs you can find on numbeo.com.
If you think that Split could be the next chapter in your life, please contact us and we’ll organize everything for you.
Follow us in our next blog post.
Your Sunshine Contracts crew.
