Split Private Walking Tour with Diocletian Palace & Food Tasting

Duration2h 30m

Free cancellationFull refund up to 24 hours before

Instant confirmationYour booking is confirmed right away

TicketMobile or paper ticket accepted

LanguagesEnglish, Spanish

Private tourOnly your group will participate

Overview

A Roman emperor chose this spot partly for its sulphur springs, then quit ruling to grow cabbages. Split has taken both its history and its food seriously ever since. On this private walk, a local shows you the palace everyone comes for, the quarter almost nobody finds, and three places where Split actually eats.

Enter Diocletian's Palace through its vaulted cellars and climb into the Peristyle, where a 3,500-year-old Egyptian sphinx still guards the emperor's courtyard. Look up through the open dome of the Vestibule, where klapa singers often perform, and hear why the most powerful man in Rome walked away from his empire for a vegetable garden.

Leave by the Golden Gate to rub Gregory of Nin's shiny toe for luck, then cross People's Square and pass Peškarija, the fish market with no flies, thanks to the same sulphur springs that drew the emperor here. Next, slip into Varoš, the old fishermen's quarter of stone houses and narrow lanes, where locals still live before closing your tour.

What's included

Private walking tour with a multilingual tour guide
Food Tasting

Entry to the Cathedral of St. Domnius, bell tower and Temple of Jupiter

What to expect

Fruit's Square (Trg Brace Radic)
15m

After meeting your guide, we will explore the Split's palm-lined seafront, in front of the palace's southern wall. A quick introduction explains how a Roman emperor's retirement home became a whole city.
15m

Visit the old town on the Riva, and see the whole palace laid out in miniature before you walk inside it. Two hundred years ago none of this promenade existed: the sea lapped right up against the palace's southern wall, and the Bronze Gate in front of you was the emperor's private sea entrance, where boats could moor below his apartments. The waterfront was only built during French rule, under Napoleon's Marshal Marmont. Today locals call it the city's living room. It's where Split meets for morning coffee and evening strolls, and where the whole city gathers to celebrate its patron saint's festival.
15m

Walk through the vaulted halls beneath the palace, which once supported the emperor's apartments. Game of Thrones later filmed Daenerys's dragon scenes in the halls next to this passage.
Saint Domnius’ Cathedral
15m · Admission ticket not included

See the Cathedral of St. Domnius from outside; it was built from Diocletian's own mausoleum. Then stand under the open dome of the Vestibule, where klapa groups often sing. Hear the story of the emperor who reportedly told his envoys he'd rather tend his cabbages than return to power.
30m · Admission ticket included

Inside Diocletian's Palace, explore the vaulted cellars, the Peristyle and its 3,500-year-old sphinx, the Cathedral of St. Domnius, the domed Vestibule, the Temple of Jupiter and three of the palace's original gates. Walk up the steps into the domed entrance hall of Diocletian's private quarters. The roof has long since fallen in, leaving a circle of open sky above you, and the stone walls carry sound so well that local klapa singers often gather here to sing a cappella.
Let Me Pass (Pusti me da prodjem) Street
30m · Admission ticket not included

Squeeze through Pusti me proć, "Let me pass", the narrowest street in Split, to the Temple of Jupiter. Built for the king of the Roman gods and turned into a baptistery in the 6th century, it still has its original coffered stone ceiling. A headless Egyptian sphinx guards the entrance, and inside stands Ivan Meštrović's bronze statue of St. John the Baptist.
The Golden Gate
15m

Leave through the Golden Gate, the grand northern entrance on the road to Salona, which was reserved for the emperor and his family. Outside, rub the bronze toe of Meštrović's giant statue of Gregory of Nin, polished gold by millions of hands looking for luck.
15m

Walk around to the western Iron Gate, topped by an 11th-century clock tower, and step out into Pjaca, the square where medieval Split grew up outside the Roman walls. From here, the tour continues past the fish market into the Varoš quarter.

Meeting and pickup

Meeting point

Our guide will meet you at the Radić Brothers Square (Fruit Square). Please make sure you have shared your proper contact details with us to avoid any hassle at the meeting point

End point

Our guide will meet you at the Radić Brothers Square (Fruit Square). Please make sure you have shared your proper contact details with us to avoid any hassle at the meeting point

Additional information

Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
Public transportation options are available nearby
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Alcohol (local wine or rakija, if part of the tasting) is served only to travelers aged 18 and over, the legal drinking age in Croatia.
Wear comfortable shoes as the tour covers about 2 km at an easy pace over 2.5 hours, mostly on level ground. Streets inside Diocletian's Palace are paved with smooth, polished limestone, which can be slippery when wet.
A compact, foldable stroller can be used along the Riva and most of the old town. It must be carried down the steps into Diocletian's Cellars, up to the Peristyle, and into the Cathedral and the Temple of Jupiter
Summer days in Split often reach 30–35°C, with little shade on the Riva. Bring a hat, sunscreen and water
Cover shoulders and knees to enter the Cathedral and the Temple of Jupiter.
For pregnant travelers and seniors the pace of the tour is set by your group, and your guide can shorten or adapt the route at any time.

Cancellation policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.