Split itinerary for first-timers

Split's waterfront promenade runs the whole length of the palace's southern wall, with palms on one side, café terraces on the other and ferries coming and going in the harbour. In the morning it is quiet enough to see the Roman wall behind the cafés and the bell tower rising above it.

• Palm-lined promenade
• Palace southern wall
• Harbour and ferries
• Bell tower view

Start early: the Riva is the one place in Split that is calm before the first tour groups arrive around ten.

The Peristyle is the colonnaded court at the centre of Diocletian's Palace, where the emperor appeared before his subjects. The domed Vestibule opens off it, the emperor's mausoleum became the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, and its Romanesque bell tower can be climbed for a view over the roofs and the harbour.

• Peristyle
• Vestibule
• Cathedral of Saint Domnius
• Bell tower
• Triclinium

Climb the bell tower before midday, when the light is still on the harbour side and the stairs are not yet crowded.

Beneath the Peristyle, the palace's vaulted cellars mirror the plan of the emperor's rooms above and lead down to the Bronze Gate on the Riva; the central passage is lined with market stalls. A few steps west of the Peristyle, the Temple of Jupiter keeps its coffered stone ceiling, and beside it runs one of the narrowest streets in Europe, known as Let Me Pass Lane.

• Underground market
• Palace substructures
• Temple of Jupiter
• Let Me Pass Lane

The cellars are the coolest place in the palace at midday, when the stone lanes above are at their hottest.

Outside the eastern wall, the Pazar is Split's open-air market: stalls of fruit, vegetables, dried figs, olive oil and flowers pressed against the Roman wall. The Silver Gate opens from the market straight into the palace's main east-west street, the Decumanus, which leads back to the Peristyle.

• Green Market stalls
• Silver Gate
• Decumanus
• Eastern palace wall

The market is at its fullest in the morning; by late afternoon many stalls have packed up, so come early if you want to shop rather than just look.

The Golden Gate was the ceremonial northern entrance to the palace, the one Diocletian himself would have used. Outside it stands Ivan Meštrović's giant bronze statue of Gregory of Nin, the medieval bishop who argued for church services in Croatian; rubbing his polished big toe is said to bring luck.

• Golden Gate
• Gregory of Nin statue
• Northern palace wall
• Strossmayer Park

After dark the palace lanes are lit from the walls, the Peristyle fills with people sitting on the steps between the columns, and the Riva becomes one long terrace. Entering through the Bronze Gate from the waterfront and coming out on the Peristyle is the classic way in.

• Riva at night
• Bronze Gate
• Peristyle after dark
• Gregory of Nin floodlit

Live music is often played on the Peristyle steps in summer evenings; arrive before the terraces fill up around nine.

Marmontova is the wide, polished street that marks the western edge of the old town, laid out in the Napoleonic era. Halfway along it, the Ribarnica fish market sells the morning's catch from stone counters under an Art Nouveau iron roof; it is said to be free of flies thanks to the sulphur springs beneath it.

• Fish market
• Marmontova Street
• Sulphur spa building
• Trg Gaje Bulata

The fish market works mornings only; by early afternoon the counters are hosed down and empty.

Just west of the palace's Iron Gate, the People's Square, called the Pjaca, was the centre of medieval Split, ringed by the old town hall and Gothic and Renaissance palaces. The smaller Fruit Square to the south has a Venetian tower, a baroque palace and a statue of the Renaissance poet Marko Marulić.

• People's Square (Pjaca)
• Old town hall
• Iron Gate clock
• Fruit Square
• Venetian tower

Republic Square, known as the Prokurative, is a red-painted, arcaded square open to the sea on its south side, built in the 19th century in imitation of Venice. Behind it, Veli Varoš is the old fishermen's and farmers' quarter: steep, narrow lanes of white stone houses with green shutters, small chapels and stairways that climb towards Marjan.

• Prokurative (Republic Square)
• Matošića Street
• Senjska Street
• Stone houses of Varoš
• Chapel of St Nicholas

Varoš has no sights to tick off; wander the stairways uphill and you will arrive at the foot of the Marjan steps.

From the top of Varoš, a flight of stone steps climbs to the Prva Vidilica, the first viewpoint on Marjan Hill. A terrace with a café looks straight down onto the old town, the bell tower, the harbour and the islands beyond, and the Jewish cemetery lies in the pines just behind it.

• Marjan steps
• Vidilica terrace
• View over the old town and harbour
• Old Jewish cemetery

The steps take about ten minutes from Varoš; the view is best in the late afternoon, when the sun is behind you.

Beyond the first viewpoint, Marjan is a forest park of pines and paths covering the whole peninsula west of the city. A ridge path passes the small medieval chapel of St Nicholas and a second viewpoint before reaching Telegrin, the 178-metre summit, with views over the city on one side and the islands of Brač, Šolta and Čiovo on the other.

• Church of St Nicholas
• Pine forest paths
• Second viewpoint
• Telegrin summit

Allow about an hour for the ridge walk to the top and back; there is little shade on the summit steps in summer, so carry water.