Split in 5 days

The emperor's walled retirement palace, built between 295 and 305, where refugees from Salona settled in the 7th century and people still live today.

Diocletian's octagonal mausoleum, made a cathedral in the 7th century for a bishop he had executed, and the oldest building still used as one.

A shallow sandy bay ten minutes from the old town, birthplace of picigin, a splashy game of keeping a small ball out of the water.

A wooded peninsula of Aleppo pines, fifteen minutes' walk from the old town, with steps from Varoš up to viewpoints over the bay and islands.

The ruins of the Roman capital of Dalmatia at Solin, spread over open fields: amphitheatre, baths, an early Christian basilica and a necropolis.

A long fortress on a limestone ridge north of Split, guarding the only pass inland, held against the Ottomans until 1537.

A ferry to Supetar, then an hour's drive across Brač to Bol and Zlatni Rat, a white pebble spit that shifts with wind and current.

A limestone canyon where the river spills over travertine barriers; Skradinski Buk, the widest, has seventeen falls crossed by wooden walkways.