Sightseeing stop in Split: discover beautiful places in Croatia

Split highlight

historical center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

We at Monterrasol Transfers specialize in private car transfers. Together with the transfer itself, we propose that you visit some beautiful places along the transfer route. We call such places optional sightseeing stops (short excursions).

One of the places we selected to propose as a sightseeing stop is a beautiful Split in Croatia. Sightseeing stops are a perfect easy opportunity to see new places during your transfer across Croatia, especially during long distance transfers. Take it as a great option to get in touch with local culture and history. It's good to combine transportation and sightseeing together!

Split is Croatia's second-largest city and the largest city in the historical Dalmatia region. Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian is a UNESCO World Heritage Site from 1979.

Last reviewed: 11 December 2021

Split description

The city was founded as the Greek colony of Aspalathos in the 3rd or 2nd century BC on the coast of the Illyrian Dalmatae, and later on was home to Diocletian's Palace, built for the Roman emperor in AD 305. It was a colony of the polis of Issa, the modern-day town of Vis, itself a colony of the Sicilian city of Syracuse. The Greek settlement lived off trade with the surrounding Illyrian tribes, mostly the Delmatae. It became a prominent settlement around 650 when it succeeded the ancient capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, Salona.

By a popular theory, the city draws its name from the spiny broom, after which the Greek colony of Aspalathos or Spalathos was named. The theory is dubious as it is Spanish broom that is a very frequent plant in the area.

As the city became a Roman possession, the Latin name became Spalatum or Aspalatum, which in the Middle Ages evolved into Aspalathum, Spalathum, Spalatrum, and Spalatro in the Dalmatian language of the city's Romance population. The Croatian term became Split or Spljet, while the Italian-language version, Spalato, became universal in international usage by the Early Modern Period. In the late 19th century, the Croatian name increasingly came to prominence, and officially replaced Spalato in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia after World War I.

After the Illyrian Wars of 229 and 219 BC, the city of Salona, only a short distance from Spalathos, became the capital of the Roman Province of Dalmatia and one of the largest cities of the late empire with 60.000 people. The history of Spalathos becomes obscure for a while at this point, being overshadowed by that of nearby Salona, to which it would later become successor.

After the sack of Salona by the Avars and Slavs, the fortified Palace of Diocletian was settled by Roman refugees. Split became a Byzantine city. Later it drifted into the sphere of the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Croatia, with the Byzantines retaining nominal suzerainty.

For much of the High and Late Middle Ages, Split enjoyed autonomy as a free city of the Dalmatian city-states, caught in the middle of a struggle between Venice and Croatia (in union with Hungary) for control over the Dalmatian cities.

Venice eventually prevailed and during the early modern period Split remained a Venetian city, a heavily fortified outpost surrounded by Ottoman territory. Its hinterland was won from the Ottomans in the Morean War of 1699, and in 1797, as Venice fell to Napoleon, the Treaty of Campo Formio rendered the city to the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1805, the Peace of Pressburg added it to the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy and in 1806 it was included in the French Empire, becoming part of the Illyrian Provinces in 1809.

After being occupied in 1813, it was eventually granted to the Austrian Empire following the Congress of Vienna, where the city remained a part of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia until the fall of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and the formation of Yugoslavia.

In World War II, the city was annexed by Italy, then liberated by the Partisans after the Italian capitulation in 1943. It was then re-occupied by Germany, which granted it to its puppet Independent State of Croatia. The city was liberated again by the Partisans in 1944, and was included in the post-war Socialist Yugoslavia, as part of its republic of Croatia. In 1991, Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia amid the Croatian War of Independence.

We know good things to see in Croatia. We know the roads, well-known tourist attractions like UNESCO sites, and off-the-beaten-path places.

If you would like to learn more about Croatia and explore it by visiting different attractions, come with us for a private tour. We can travel all across Croatia and we will show you all the important tourist attractions together with the hidden gems of this beautiful country. Feel free to contact us!

We have developed numerous itineraries for private car tours in Croatia as well as in neighboring countries, including tours passing through several countries as one journey. Solo private tours and tours for Seniors are available also.

Transfers to Split

Currently we know prices for these car transfers to Split:

Private transfers from Bosnia-Herzegovina

• private car transfer Jajce to Split

• private car transfer Medjugorje (Međugorje) to Split

• private car transfer Sarajevo to Split

Private transfers from Croatia

• private car transfer Dubrovnik to Split

• private car transfer Dubrovnik airport Cilipi (Čilipi) to Split

Private transfers from Montenegro

• private car transfer Portonovi to Split

Unable to find your transfer?

If the transfer you need not exist in the list of our transfers, feel free to ask us for custom transfer by this form: ask for a custom private transfer to Split, Croatia.