Split: what to see and whether to move there

What drives the city and who it suits

Split is Croatia's second city: roughly 160,000 people inside the city limits and noticeably more across the wider area. Four things pay the bills - tourism and cruise traffic, a working port with ferries to the islands and Italy, shipbuilding and the university, and a growing IT and outsourcing sector. That last one matters to newcomers, because it means coworking spaces, English-language meetups and a critical mass of people billing foreign clients.

Split does not feel like a museum, and that is its main difference from Dubrovnik. Ordinary people still live inside Diocletian's Palace, buy bread there and argue about parking. The city is southern, loud and obsessed with football - Hajduk is closer to a religion than a club - and socially fairly closed: locals are warm but real friendships take years.

Three groups move here. Remote workers from Northern Europe and the US who want the EU, the sea and prices that are still moderate by their standards. Diaspora Croats coming back to the coast. And families who care about safety and about a child being able to walk to school alone. There is effectively no local job market for a foreigner: salaries are low, vacancies are seasonal, and English without Croatian opens few doors outside tourism and tech.

Neighbourhoods: where newcomers end up

Living inside the palace walls is romantic until your first July night. Bars under the window run until three, renovating anything is a bureaucratic ordeal, there are no lifts, and thousands of people file past your door every summer day. Treat it as a few-month experiment, not a home.

Varos and Lucac are the stone quarters on the slope right behind the centre - walkable to everything, quieter, but the housing stock is old and damp and parking simply does not exist. Bacvice and Firule form the seaside belt newcomers gravitate to: beach, tennis clubs, cafes, prices above the city average.

Znjan and Trstenik, three or four kilometres out, are proper residential districts with newer buildings, sea views and somewhere to leave a car; this is where families sign year-long leases. Split 3 is 1970s block housing - cheap, green, functional, fifteen minutes to the centre by bus. Mejasi and Kman give you the lowest rents and the dullest view.

There are no dangerous districts here in the usual sense; the variables are noise, parking and building quality rather than crime. The real problem is different: a large share of flats are let only from October to May, because in summer the owner makes several times more from tourists. A reasonably priced year-round lease has to be hunted early, usually through people you know.

Cost of living

Croatia has used the euro and been inside Schengen since 2023, so prices need no mental conversion. Split is cheaper than Zagreb for services, more expensive for anything near the water, and unexpectedly costly to heat in winter - palm trees outside do not mean a warm flat.

These are autumn 2026 orders of magnitude. Summer rents run 20-30 percent higher, and inside the old town they blow past the top of the range. On healthcare, the mandatory HZZO scheme costs a few tens of euros a month and works, but with queues; the common expat setup is HZZO plus a private clinic for specialists, at roughly 30-70 euros a visit. Supermarket food costs more than people arriving from Eastern Europe expect, while the Pazar market is both cheaper and better.

Practicalities: transport, climate, language, money

A car in Split is mostly a liability - parking is paid and scarce, and the core is pedestrian. Promet city buses cover everything, and both a shuttle and a regular line run to Resnik airport. Jadrolinija ferries leave straight from the Riva for Brac, Hvar, Vis and beyond, with schedules cut back sharply in winter. The train to Zagreb is slow; the bus and the plane are faster.

The climate is Mediterranean. June to September is hot and dry, with July and August above thirty degrees and the city at capacity. May, June, September and October are the good months. Winter is mild but wet and windy: the cold bura off the mountains and the rainy southern jugo. Heating in older buildings is weak and January electricity bills come as a shock.

The language is Croatian. English is solid among younger people and in hospitality, weaker in government offices, where documents are accepted in Croatian with certified translations. Connectivity is excellent: fibre in most districts, reliable mobile coverage, several coworking spaces. Zagrebacka, PBZ, Erste and OTP are reluctant to open accounts for non-residents but straightforward once you hold a residence permit and an OIB tax number. The OIB itself is free and required for practically everything, from a lease to a SIM card.

Moving and legal status

Croatia is in both the EU and Schengen, so short visits are visa-free for many nationalities while an actual move runs through national permits. The main routes:

• The digital nomad residence permit, for third-country nationals working for a foreign employer or foreign clients. As of 2026 the maximum stay has been extended to around 18 months, the income threshold raised to roughly 3,600 euros a month or an equivalent lump sum in savings, and a cooling-off period of about six months applies before reapplying. Foreign-source income is exempt from Croatian income tax for the life of the permit, written directly into the Aliens Act.
• The single work and residence permit, if you have a Croatian employer.
• Your own d.o.o. company with at least a 51 percent stake and genuine activity; the tax office looks at turnover, premises and staff.
• Family reunification, study and research permits.

What Croatia does not offer is a golden visa. Buying property grants no residence by itself, and for citizens of several countries buying as an individual is only possible where a reciprocity agreement exists; the usual workaround of buying through a Croatian company carries its own tax consequences. Thresholds and rules are revised almost yearly, so verify the current requirements before you file. Our country breakdown is Croatia, and the general mechanics live in residence permits, nomad visas and taxes by country.

Is Split worth considering as a home

Yes, if your income comes from outside Croatia, you love the sea and you can tolerate Balkan administrative tempo. Split offers a rare combination: EU and Schengen membership, safety, climate, an airport with direct European routes for half the year, and a city you can genuinely live in on foot.

The downsides are real. Decent rentals are scarce and often seasonal, which is why many newcomers move house every May. Local salaries are low, so the move only works with external income. In summer the city is physically overrun; in winter it contracts, with half the restaurants shut, flight connections down to a handful of routes and a damp cold in old stone buildings that wears people out more than frost would. Government offices are slow and monolingual. And prices have risen enough that Split is no longer a cheap alternative to Italy - it is merely a slightly cheaper one.