The Port of Split is the very busy and beautiful central port of the city, located on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia and acting as an important trade centre, ferry harbour and cruise destination. It is the third largest Mediterranean passenger port, welcoming around four million people every year and hosting 18,000 ships. It is a busy transport hub due to the city’s popularity as a tourist destination, university town, summer party city and cultural attraction, and offers various routes to nearby beautiful Croatian islands.
There are many attractions surrounding the Port of Split, including various shops, small clothes stores and souvenir stalls and a street market selling local jewellery and typical Croatian items. The port is also very close to the old town centre, which has the main attractions of Split, including Diocletian’s Palace, the Riva promenade, Mestrovic Gallery, Marjan Hill and numerous bars and cafes. The port is host to various seafood restaurants due to its proximity to the water and sells deliciously fresh and locally sourced delicacies including mussels, squid and oysters, and is a great place to relax and enjoy sea views. From the Port of Split, visitors can take sightseeing tours of the coastline, rent a boat to explore independently, hop on a cruise or take a ferry to nearby islands like Hvar, Brac or south to the city of Dubrovnik.
From the Port of Split, visitors can travel to the old town centre by simply heading up the hill from the water, reachable within a 10-minute walk. In the city itself, there is a train station and a nearby bus station for land travel throughout Croatia. However, from the port, there are ferry links to east coast Italy, western Slovenia and to southern Croatian coastal cities like Dubrovnik or the smaller local islands.
The Port of Split became a trading post as early as the 4th Century BC, at the time of the Greek settlers, when its harbour connected to other local hubs on the Adriatic Sea. The port was used by the Romans during their ruling of Split and by the Byzantine Empire, Kingdom of Hungary and Republic of Venice over time. In modern history, it became more of a modernised harbour for passenger traffic rather than trading post, offering an abundance of touristic transport services and cruise ship moorings.