10 Best Places to Visit in Croatia – Travel Video

It is no secret that Croatia is one of our favorite countries to travel in Europe,  and Split is a destination that can’t be missed. Set in and around the walls of an ancient Roman palace looking out to the Adriatic Sea, Split is what travel dreams are made of: sunny, scenic, and filled with plenty of historic sights and culinary delights to keep you busy. The streets are a marble maze where pieces of history lay hidden around every corner, the harbor is lined with cafes and palm trees drawing out locals and visitors to promenade in the sunshine, and let’s not forget about the abundance of restaurants serving up fresh seafood and Croatian dishes with a contemporary twist! Let’s give us a read and explore the 10 best places to visit in Croatia.

So join us in this travel guide as we take you on a tour of the city and show you 15 things to do in Split, Croatia! Okay so we are talking to kick off your tour of Split but first, we need to show you how close you are to the Diocletian Palace. It is right there. Like could that be any more central? (Croatian singing) Diocletian was a Roman Emperor who ruled from the years 284 to 305. He was born in Dalmatia, and when it came time to build his retirement residence, he chose this very spot which today forms the Old Town of Split. It only made sense to start our tour of Split here.

 First, the bell tower for a quick look at the city from above. (Bells ringing) So first up you can go to visit, from 10 best places to visit in Croatia, the Bell Tower (Katedrala Svetog Duje). That was 20 Kuna. We also paid an extra 25 Kuna for another ticket that is going to give us access to the Mausoleum, the Crypt, the Temple of Jupiter. But man these are some big steps here in the Bell Tower, Okay you’ve to reach the platform. You will not get much of a lookout yet. But here you are. You can make it up to the first platform and then when you saw it was rickety metal steps the rest of the way up, your hands got all clammy and your feet wouldn’t budge, Right next to the bell tower, you have the Mausoleum of Diocletian. Emperor Diocletian was a persecutor of Christians, and ironically, his mausoleum is now a cathedral named after Saint Dominus, who was martyred by Diocletian.

 Consecrated at the turn of the 7th century AD, this is regarded as the oldest Catholic cathedral in the world. Keep in mind that because this is an active place of worship, there are certain times of day when it’s closed to visitors. From there, we walked over to the Temple of Jupiter. Interesting fact: the sphinx you see at the entrance was one of the twelve sphinxes brought from Egypt by Emperor Diocletian. Dedicated to the Ancient Roman God of Sky, Thunder. King of all of the Gods. This would go on to become the Baptistry of Saint John which is why we’ve got this baptismal font kind of shaped like a cross. You also have to a relatively modern sculpture of Saint John the Baptist. This one was done by a Croatian sculpture and yeah this is a pretty cool building.. You can see some faces and flowers and it is just really well preserved so it is kind of fascinating.

The next stop, from the 10 best places to visit in Croatia, is the Crypt. You can go now underground. Check it out. We have a domed ceiling. Lots of arches all around. And check this out. There is a well. It looks like people have been throwing money in there. The crypt sits directly underneath the cathedral and it’s dedicated to Saint Lucy, another victim of the religious persecutions under the rule of Diocletian. Okay guys next attraction we are now tell about the basements of Diocletian’s Palace (Dioklecijanovapalaca) and they are huge for starters. They actually give you a map at the beginning so you can find your way around and we paid42 Kuna per person. Also it is kind of like wet and damp here. There is water dripping from the ceiling. So you kind of have to be a little bit aware. But yeah so far it is really impressive.  After visiting the palace basements, walked through the underground market which is open to the public free of charge. This market is also located at basement level and it is filled with vendors selling all types of artwork and souvenirs. And you guys know the drill. It is now time to take a quick pause from all the sightseeing to enjoy a food break. This looks amazing. They have just brought out yeah all of the food.

To this one restaurant and just getting black risotto. Black risotto. Yes. Black risotto. That is really good as well. That was 343 Kuna or 46 Euros. Not the cheapest meal but my gosh that was delicious. So that included the two risottos. That included the shrimp appetizer. That included the wine and your soft drink. The dessert drink. And the dessert of course. So yeah that was overall a fantastic meal. We absolutely love that place. This is one of the best places to visit in Croatia. It was just so good. While we were in the neighborhood, we also walked up the Marjan Steps for scenic views of Split. Marjan Hill is 178 meters high and it takes 314 steps to reach the highest point. It’s a very pleasant walk with lots of greenery, and along the way, we even came across an old stone church. There have been some amazing ones. You can actually see the Old Town but you can also look out to like the ferry point. And also there have been some interesting look at this old church over here. Check that out. That was unexpected. Yeah, so it has just been a really cool way for us to start this morning. Then on the way back down the hill, we went for a walk through Varo’s.

So another really cool area to visit here in Split is the neighborhood of Varoš. This is one of the oldest parts of the city and it is where a lot of the fishermen usedto live. So you get all of these cute little stone houses with colorful shutters. Colorful doors. And it is super peaceful in this area. Super quiet. And you have lots of little lanes where you can wander. So yeah I would highly recommend this little neighborhood.

while you were in Split, you  also made time to visit a statue with a rather famous toe. This is Grgur Ninski. He was a medieval Croatian bishop who introduced the national language in the religious services, at a time when services were only held in Latin and could not be understood by most of the population. So we are now talking about the famous statue of Grgur Ninski. Gregory of Nin and apparently if you rub the big toe you’re going to get good luck..

And now a travel tip: while you’re out strolling down the Rive Promenade, you can also access Matejuška Port, which is a harbour for small boats used mainly by the local fishermen. This particular spot offers some really nice views looking back on Split. Not too far from here, you also have the Green Market, which is a great little spot to do bit of grocery shopping. We are currently discussing the outdoor supermarket. This is the Green Market.  Price is reasonable and everything is just so fresh here. Last but not least, we had to share one more restaurant so good we had to come back: BokeriaKitchen and Wine Bar. They have an outstanding menu, but we still cannot stop raving about their gourmet burger with black truffle mayo. So you can start with Sam’s burger because this is a thing of beauty.

Let’s It comes with prosciutto here. Prosciutto. A smoked cheese. Yeah. And it looks like a bit of salad in there. Maybe a pickle and salad in there too. this is so juicy. You can’t wait to try it. And the fries. you’ve been snacking on your fries. you know the fries are worth coming for alone. These are so good that they have a bit of skin on them. Cooked to perfection. Crispy on the outside and super mushy in the middle

And that’s a wrap for our travel guide to Split! 10 Best places to visit in Croatia. We hope you guys enjoyed tagging along and exploring this historic coastal city . As always, if you have any other ideas of things to do in Split that you’d like to share with travelers, feel free to share those in the comments below.In the meantime, wishing you happy travels.