Best Day Trips from Split (Krka, Hvar, Blue Lagoon, Trogir)

Split is the best base in Dalmatia for day trips, full stop. Waterfalls, walled medieval towns and a scatter of islands all sit within a couple of hours of the harbour, and half of them leave straight from the Riva by boat. The four essentials are Krka for the waterfalls, Trogir for a UNESCO old town, Hvar for the island day, and the Blue Lagoon for the swim - and beyond those there is the Blue Cave, Brač and even Plitvice if you are willing to make a long day of it.

The one decision that shapes everything is drive or sail. Krka, Trogir and Šibenik are quick self-drive or bus runs up the coast; Hvar, Brač, the Blue Lagoon and the Blue Cave are boat or ferry trips out to sea. This is a roundup of the best of them, with how to reach each one and links to the full guides where they exist - for the city you are leaving behind each morning, start with our Split travel guide.

Krka National Park: the waterfalls

If you do one thing, make it Krka. It is about 85-90 km and an hour’s drive north of Split (or an easy bus/organised tour), and the payoff is Skradinski Buk, a broad staircase of travertine falls where the whole river tumbles over a series of terraces. It is the more relaxed, less-mobbed alternative to Plitvice, and a full-day tour usually runs roughly 10am to 5:30pm with time on the boardwalks.

One honest heads-up that trips people up: swimming below the falls has been banned since 2021, so come for the scenery, the walkways and the boat to Visovac island, not for the old postcard swim. Go early or late in the day to dodge the midday coach crowds, and enter via Skradin (with the free park boat up to the falls) rather than the busier Lozovac gate. The full rundown of tickets, entrances and seasons is in our Krka National Park guide, and the transport side - bus times and fares to Skradin, tours and driving - is in Split to Krka.

Trogir: a UNESCO town half an hour away

Trogir is the easiest win on this list: a tiny walled island-town of tangled stone lanes and a Venetian waterfront, just 27 km (about 30-40 minutes) west of Split and practically next to the airport. You can drive, or take the cheap local bus number 37 from Split’s suburban bus station, which makes it the one day trip you can do with zero planning and almost no money.

Half a day does it: the Romanesque Cathedral of St Lawrence with its carved Radovan portal, the Kamerlengo fortress, and a slow lunch on the riva. Because Trogir sits right by the Blue Lagoon boats, the two pair naturally into one day - town in the morning, swim in the afternoon. More detail in the Trogir travel guide.

Hvar: the island day

For a full island day, catch the fast catamaran to Hvar Town, which takes just over an hour from Split’s harbour (Krilo Kapetan Luka or Jadrolinija). Hvar is the glamorous one - a marble main square under a hilltop fortress, lavender fields inland, and the little Pakleni Islands just offshore for swimming. It is as good for a lazy lunch and a swim as it is for its famous nightlife.

The one rule for a day trip: check the last catamaran back, because the evening departures fill up and being stranded on Hvar overnight is a real (if not entirely unpleasant) risk in July and August. Take the passenger catamaran, not the slower car ferry to Stari Grad, which lands you well outside town. The Hvar travel guide covers what to do once you land.

The Blue Lagoon: the swim everyone wants

The Blue Lagoon (Krknjaši) is a shallow, almost tropical turquoise channel off the island of Drvenik Veli, about 30-45 minutes by speedboat from Split, and it is the swimming-and-snorkelling stop that fills half the boat tours out of the harbour. There is no scheduled ferry - this one is a boat tour only, which is why it is usually bundled with Trogir and a stop on Šolta into a half or full day on the water.

It is worth going with the flow of that: a typical Blue Lagoon trip is less about one place and more about a day of swimming off the boat in clear water, so pick the itinerary and boat size that suit you (small speedboat for flexibility, big catamaran for shade and a bar). Go earlier in the season or earlier in the day if you want the lagoon before the flotilla arrives.

The Blue Cave and Vis: a full day on the water

The Blue Cave (Modra špilja) on the islet of Biševo, out past Vis, is the big-ticket boat trip - a sea cave where midday sun refracts through an underwater opening and lights the whole chamber an electric blue. It is a full-day tour from Split (often five islands in one go), and the magic depends entirely on timing and calm seas, since the cave only glows around the middle of the day and closes in rough weather.

Because it is long and conditions matter, book a reputable operator and treat the sailing distance seriously; it is a big day out, not a quick hop. Our Blue Cave guide explains the timing, the tours and how it compares with the Green Cave nearby.

Brač and Zlatni Rat

Brač is the closest island to Split - the car ferry to Supetar takes about 50 minutes - and it holds one of Croatia’s most photographed beaches, Zlatni Rat (the “Golden Horn”) at Bol, a shingle spit that shifts its point with the wind and current. It is a longer haul across the island from Supetar to Bol, so Brač works best as a beach-focused day if Zlatni Rat is the goal, or a relaxed potter around Supetar if it is not.

If you would rather island-hop than pick one, the ferry network out of Split makes several of these combinable - our guide to island hopping in Croatia sets out the routes.

Further afield: Plitvice and Šibenik

Two more are worth the drive if you have the appetite. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia’s headline national park, is a long day - roughly 2.5 to 3 hours each way - so it is really only worth it as an early start or an organised coach tour; we lay out the logistics in Plitvice from Split. Much closer, Šibenik is about an hour up the coast, an underrated stone city with the UNESCO-listed Cathedral of St James and a pair of hilltop fortresses, and a natural pairing with Krka since the park’s Skradin gate is right next door - see the Šibenik travel guide.

Drive or take a tour?

The short version: self-drive the mainland, take a boat for the islands. A rental car gives you Krka, Trogir, Šibenik and Plitvice on your own schedule, which is cheaper for a group and lets you dodge the crowds by going early - though parking at Krka and Trogir gets tight in peak summer. For anything offshore - Hvar, Brač, the Blue Lagoon, the Blue Cave - a scheduled catamaran works for the island towns, while the lagoons and caves are organised boat tours by nature.

A few practical notes to end on:

• Book island boat tours ahead in July and August - the popular Blue Lagoon and Blue Cave trips sell out days in advance.
• Mind the last ferry. Day trips to Hvar and Brač live and die by the evening timetable; screenshot it before you go.
• Start early. Every one of these is better before the coach and cruise crowds arrive, and cooler for driving.
• One island a day. Distances at sea are deceptive; trying to bolt two islands onto one day usually means seeing neither properly.

Sort your base and your transport and Split turns into a launchpad for a week of very different days - a waterfall, a walled town and a turquoise bay, all before dinner back on the Riva. Carrying on down the coast afterwards? Plan the far end with our one day in Dubrovnik guide.

Ferry and catamaran times, tour prices and park rules change by season. This roundup was checked on 13 July 2026; confirm current timetables with Jadrolinija and Krilo, and tour details with the operator, before you travel.