10 Best Hotels in Split, Croatia: Diocletian's Palace & Riva (2026)

Piazza Heritage Hotel is our top pick in Split for anyone who wants to actually sleep inside the history. The building sits in the UNESCO old-town core, just 70 metres from Diocletian's Palace — about a one-minute walk. Rooms are done in an Art Nouveau style with original stone walls and L'Occitane toiletries in the bathroom, and the guest score sits at 9.5/10 from real reviews. There's no in-house restaurant or big lobby here: breakfast comes as a voucher at a good restaurant right by the door, served 7:30 to 10:00. The one thing to know is that square-facing rooms can get loud at night and early morning, since the square stays busy past midnight. But if you care most about location and atmosphere, nothing else in town really competes. Rates start at $111 a night.

Heritage Hotel 19 is the Split boutique that reviews talk about most for one reason — breakfast served in the shaded inner courtyard of a restored historic building, a world away from a standard dining room. It sits between the Riva Promenade and the old town, so you walk both directions easily: 3 minutes to the Riva, about 10 minutes to Diocletian's Palace, and 15 minutes to the ferry port and bus station. Staff earn steady praise for sorting transfers and handing out genuinely useful local advice. There is no pool and no spa, but everything that is here works. Rooms start at $94 a night, which makes it a sensible pick for couples and solo travelers who want comfort and a great location without paying old-town palace prices.

Hotel Park Split has been open since 1921 and got a big refit in 2015 — the Art Deco building looks straight out over the Adriatic on the edge of Bacvice beach, one of the few fine-sand beaches close to the centre of Split. The in-house Split 1921 restaurant does contemporary Croatian cooking alongside fresh Adriatic seafood, and there's a proper spa and wellness floor with a sauna, jacuzzi, massage rooms and a gym, plus an outdoor pool. Diocletian's Palace sits about 1 km away, a flat 12-15 minute walk along the Riva. It's a 4-star that leans classic rather than minimalist, and it scores 9.0/10 across more than 1,000 real guest reviews. From $100 a night, it's a good fit if you want a beach hotel with a bit of history and a wellness side to it.

Villa Split Heritage Hotel hands you the rarest stay in Split — you sleep inside the walls of Diocletian's Palace, in a building that went up in the 10th century. The original Romanesque stone walls are still there, paired with modern handmade furniture, and the rooms come out surprisingly spacious for an old building in an old town. Breakfast is free and gets praised in just about every review, the Wi-Fi is free and covers the whole place, and the Agoda score sits at a very high 9.6. Staff are the other headline — guests routinely call them the best they met in Croatia, and one review describes a staff member personally driving them to the airport. Rates start at $86 a night, which is genuinely good for this kind of stay. It's a 3–5 minute walk to the Peristyle and 8 minutes to the Riva waterfront.

Hotel Slavija has been taking guests since 1900, which makes it the oldest continuously operating hotel inside the walls of Diocletian's Palace. The Renaissance-Baroque building dates to the late 16th and early 17th century and sits on Diocletian's original 4th-century spa — it is registered as a Croatian national cultural heritage site and protected under UNESCO. The 25 rooms stay genuinely peaceful even though you are dead-center in the old town, and couples score it an almost unheard-of 9.8/10. Rates start at about $71 a night, which is remarkable value for a stay with this much history packed into the walls around you.

PLR Peristyle Luxury Rooms sits inside Diocletian's Palace, the UNESCO-listed Roman core of Split, and scores a steady 9.4/10 on both Agoda and Booking.com — the same number twice, which tells you more than a single rating ever could. Rooms run larger than most people expect from a Old Town stay, each one a bit different, and several come with a kitchenette for cooking in. A few have balconies looking directly onto Peristyle Square, one of the most striking historic views in Europe. Two things to weigh before you book: nearby church bells ring loud in the morning, and there is no lift, so you climb several flights of stairs. Prices start at $86 a night, which is a lot of value for sleeping inside a UNESCO palace.

Boutique Hotel Luxe sits inside a 100-year-old building that's been restored and given a sharp contemporary fit-out, just 400m from Diocletian's Palace. The score holds steady at 8.9/10 across both Booking.com and Agoda, which tells you the quality is consistent rather than a fluke. The real differentiator is the spa: a Finnish sauna, a spa bath and several massage rooms — genuinely rare in a boutique of just 30 rooms. Breakfast is included and the buffet runs wide, with vegan and gluten-free options plus fresh smoothies and specialty coffee. This one suits travelers who want a wellness break folded into their sightseeing without paying resort prices. Rates start from about $103 a night.

Palace Suites Heritage Hotel is an adults-only boutique in the heart of Split's old town, just 150 metres from Diocletian's Palace — a two-minute walk to the gate. It scores 9.2/10 on Booking.com, and the rooms lean into the building's real heritage stone: bare stonework on some walls, old ceilings tidied up with clean new plaster. The beds get praised in nearly every review as some of the most comfortable guests have slept in. Breakfast is a buffet that looks out over the old streets, with good variety to start a day of walking. Rates start around $71 a night, which is genuinely good value for this standard of room this close to the palace. It suits couples who want a quiet, private base in a busy historic core without paying luxury-hotel prices.

Hotel Villa Diana is a small family-run hotel with just 6 rooms — the kind of place where the charm comes from the owners, not the brand. Every room is painted with its own mural, the breakfast gets praised for punching well above its price, and the family who runs it looks after guests personally. You're a 5-minute walk from Diocletian's Palace and about 10 minutes from Bacvice beach, with the seafront Riva Promenade and the Hvar ferry port both close by. Rates start at $69 a night and top out around $143, which is unusually good value for Split in summer. It scores 9.1 on Booking and 9.3 on Agoda, and most reviews end on the same line: they'd come back. Best suited to solo travelers, couples and families who want a warm local feel over a chain lobby.

Apartments & Rooms Graso is the best-value choice on this list if what you want is an Adriatic sea view from your own private balcony without paying hotel-suite money. The location is right on the Promenade — a 5-minute walk to the Old Town and Diocletian's Palace, with the ferry port to Hvar, the beach, and the bus station all close by. Rooms have been freshly renovated, the beds are comfortable, and that sea view turns up in review after review. Two things to know before you book: there is no lift and the building runs 8 flights of stairs, and it can get noisy at night from the promenade below. Rates start at around $71 a night, which is unusually cheap for a view like this in Split.