Dalmatia

Split is the city that surprises everyone who writes it off as a stopover.

The second-largest city in Croatia, it has been continuously inhabited for 1,700 years — first as Diocletian's retirement palace, then as a medieval town that grew inside the Roman walls, and now as a city of 180,000 where the old town and the new city coexist with a naturalness that few historic centres manage. The palace is not a museum. It is a neighbourhood.

Dalmatia extends south and north from Split along one of the most extraordinary coastlines in the Mediterranean. The Adriatic here is clear, cold and impossibly blue. The islands — Hvar with its lavender fields and nightlife, Brač with its white stone quarries, Vis with its relative quiet — each offer a different register.

The food is direct and excellent: grilled fish, prosciutto from Drniš, cheeses from Pag, wines from Hvar and Vis. In the fish market below the palace walls, the morning catch arrives daily.

The best time to visit is May–June or September–October. July and August are extraordinary in their heat and energy, but the crowds are real. In the shoulder seasons, the sea is still warm, the restaurants still open, and Split returns to something closer to itself.