SPLIT
About Split
For 17 centuries, the story of Split has been going on, ever since the Roman Emperor Diocletian decided to build a palace on this very peninsula near the great Roman city of Salona, where he would spend the last years of his life in peace. In those 1700 years, the Palace slowly became and became a city, which today lures with rich tradition, magnificent history, beauty of natural and cultural heritage.
Diocletian's Palace and the entire historical centre of Split have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979, not only because of the extraordinary preservation of the Palace itself, but at least equally because the Palace and its city (or the city and its Palace, as you like) continue to live a full life.
Split is much more than a magnificent architectural backdrop. It is a city where it is possible to enjoy top quality gastronomy and wines, find numerous cultural events such as film and theatre festivals, exhibitions, top museums and concerts, a city that offers entertainment from numerous clubs and bars to street events to festivals such as Ultra Europe, which is visited every year by up to 100 thousand young people from hundreds of countries around the world. Split with its dozens of Olympic and other medalists, it has a sporting tradition like few other cities of its size in the world.
Explore
Start from the most important sights, that is, Diocletian's Palace and the city center, including the city's most important promenade Riva. The second "ring" includes Marjan and, depending on the weather, one of the city beaches, say Bacvice famous for "Picigin", a unique game created in this very place.
Take a walk from a model of the historic centre on the Waterfront, and a panel depicting the reconstructed Diocletian's Palace. Take a walk along the Waterfront to the west, with numerous cafes and shops, enjoying the view of the palace's southern façade and the city's harbour. The road will then take you through town squares such as Fruit or People's Square, and on to the northern wall of the Palace, best preserved. The statue of Gregory of Nin, the work of the great Croatian sculptor Ivan Mestrovic, the magnificent Golden Gate, which in Roman times led to Salona, the largest Roman city on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, and which was allowed to be used only by emperor Diocletian and his family, jupiter's temple, Vestibule, Peristyle, the Cathedral of St. Duje the patron saint of the city and for many other sights that this city provides you will not be enough for a day. We must not forget to mention the rich gastronomic offer and in recent years this interesting city has also emerged as the top destination for music festival lovers.
Split today
Split it is the second largest and most important city in the Republic of Croatia and the strongest regional centre on the eastern adriatic coast. According to the last census, from 2011 Split it has 178,192 inhabitants, which is almost 40 percent of the inhabitants of Split-Dalmatia County (455,242 inhabitants), or just over 4 percent of the total population of the Republic of Croatia (4,290,612 inhabitants).
Split, as a Dalmatian metropolis and agglomeration center, cultural, economic, university and sports center has large spatial, professional, scientific and production potentials that, with the use of european funds, represent the backbone of the future development of the city, which should become a locomotive of the development of the region. In its development function, the city has also profiled stronger international activity in the function of attracting foreign investors, who are expected to be involved in the realization of the planned city projects, the value of which is measured in the hundreds of millions of euros. In this regard, the commitment to the strong development of the city as a tourist destination is clearly expressed, with a reliance on cultural and historical heritage and new projects that are already attracting tens of thousands of new tourists, which results are already visible in the past year and this year when Split broke all attendance records in a season.
Tourism
Split in recent years it has become an increasingly popular tourist destination. According to the ECM, an organisation that brings together about 120 major tourist cities in Europe, Split had the highest annual percentage growth in the number of tourist arrivals and overnight stays. It became a tourist hit destination, especially for young people, and became a tourist champion of Croatia. In the first 9 months of 2014, there were 863 thousand overnight stays, which is 33,000 more than in 2013. The average retention of tourists in Split is 3.5 days. Most of them come from Germany. Next up are the British and French and the Italians, followed by guests from the USA and Australia. With almost one million overnight stays of tourists per year Split In 2015, he stepped onto the European and world tourist stage of sought-after destinations. By completing the started and building new hotel capacities, Split will be more positioned in the markets of congress, sports, recreational and cultural tourism. So in about 10 years, it could reach 2 million overnight stays. For the arrangement of the city, as well as for the total tourist offer Split Has received a number of the most important domestic and international awards of tourism, economic and other associations.
In traffic terms Split remains the most important hub, and the new quality came with the construction of the highway to Zagreb. The importance of Split's position at the intersection of all modes of transport (shipping, road, rail and air) is confirmed by the fact that the airport breaks historical records for the number of passengers, and the city port with a turnover of over four million passengers is the third port in the Mediterranean.
