Split Old Town Guide
Split Old Town is broader than Diocletian’s Palace. The Palace forms the Roman core, but the historic centre grew around and beyond it over centuries, adding medieval squares, later civic buildings, markets, promenades and neighbourhood streets. Understanding that difference makes the city easier to explore.
Is Split Old Town the same as Diocletian’s Palace?
No. Diocletian’s Palace is the ancient core inside the wider historic centre. Visit Split describes the city as a place where the Palace gradually became a living city and where Roman, medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and modern layers remain visible together.
Start with our Diocletian’s Palace guide if you want the Roman plan first; use this page to understand what surrounds it.
What to see in Split Old Town
People’s Square (Pjaca)
Pjaca became one of the central civic spaces of medieval Split. It feels different from the Palace because the urban fabric has already moved beyond the Roman enclosure.
Fruit Square
Fruit Square is smaller and more intimate, linking the waterfront side of the historic centre with later Venetian-era layers of the city.
Marmontova
Marmontova is one of the clearest transitions from the tightly packed historic core into a broader city street, leading towards Prokurative.
Prokurative
Prokurative gives Split a more open, later urban character and works naturally as the western end of a first-time Old Town walk.
Riva
The Riva is not simply a waterfront promenade; it is the main seam between the historic core and the harbour. It is also the easiest place to pause, re-orient and decide whether to continue west towards Matejuška and Marjan.
Matejuška
Matejuška is the small historic harbour west of the Riva and a useful final stop before the lanes of Veli Varoš.
A simple Old Town walking route
- Golden Gate
- Peristyle
- Vestibule
- Riva
- Fruit Square
- Pjaca
- Marmontova
- Prokurative
- Matejuška
For a more structured route with stop-by-stop guidance, use our self-guided walking tour of Split.
How long do you need?
You can cross the Old Town quickly, but seeing it properly takes longer because the value is in the transitions between places rather than ticking off one monument after another. Allow time for the Palace, at least one square, the waterfront and a break.
Best way to understand the Old Town
A walking tour in Split is useful if you want the Roman core and later city explained as one story. If you prefer to move at your own pace, the historic centre is compact enough to explore independently.
What to do next
Continue to Marjan, use the Old Town as the central section of a one-day Split itinerary, or compare broader things to do in Split.