Arriving to Split by Bus

The Main Bus Station in Split is located in close proximity to the Old Town, adjacent to the Ferry Port and the Train Station. Its convenient location allows travelers easy transfer between different modes of transport. Unfortunately, due to its central location and a general lack of high-capacity access roads the vehicle access to the Main Bus Station can become frustratingly slow during the busier summer period. For these reasons local government has been working on plans to move the Main Bus Station to the suburbs, but no date has been set as of 2021.

Those arriving to Split by bus with booked accommodation in the Old Town will be glad to know that they will most likely be able to reach it after a picturesque, short 5 to 10 minute stroll. If however your accommodation is further up the city, you will either have to be picking up a taxi or an Uber/Bolt or walking to the nearby Pazar Bus Station where almost all of the local lines of city buses run through.

Split’s Bus Station itself is rather small in size as it only has one platform stretching parallel to the road. The station’s building, build half a century ago, is pretty small and rundown. It contains a smaller waiting room with a handful of chairs and ticket windows for domestic and international travel. For added waiting comfort you might want to consider visiting one of the cafés  scattered around the station that offer a great view of the harbor. There are several ATM machines both around the station building and down the street towards the Old Town where you can pick up some pocket cash that you might need. Don’t forget that any luggage you deposit in the luggage hold bellow will cost you extra with most operators, so make sure to have some spare change at hand.

Destinations

As the main transport hub of Dalmatia, Split is well integrated in the bus network of Europe. Buses traveling to other Dalmatian towns are frequent, which will suit even the most flexible of travelers.

The bus line between Split and Zagreb is the most frequented bus line in Croatia, so you should expect to find buses between the two cities on an hourly basis.

Internationally, Split is well connected primarily with Bosnian cities, particularly Mostar and Sarajevo to which it has direct lines. Most other international connections are conducted through intermediary stops, particularly in Zagreb which is the gateway to all lines connecting Split to Central Europe and might be a more optimal option even for trips to Italy.

As bus companies will usually add another bus to a sold-out line, purchasing bus tickets in advance is usually not necessary, though it is an added security. We do recommend that you buy your tickets a day or two in advance, just to be on the safe side.

Bus travel in Croatia is one of the few businesses in the world where you might be getting a better price for in-person purchases rather than buying online. The tickets sold at the counter of Split’s bus station will remain fixed throughout the summer, while the pricing practices of online selling business can vary greatly–though it can be both much cheaper and much more expensive than the base price.

The official website of Split’s Main Bus Station contains a searchable timetable for all of the destinations, though it does not have an option for purchasing. If you wish to buy tickets online, you can find many of the lines available for purchase on GetByBus website. Alternatively, the international giant Flixbus also has several regional and international lines running through Split, particularly during the summer season.

Finally, when purchasing your ticket, make sure to find out whether the option you are going for is a direct or indirect route. Indirect lines will often detour to a lot of smaller towns and will not utilize the Croatian A1 motorway, which will significantly increase the trip lenghts.

In order to get you a sense of what to expect when driving a bus through Croatia, we created a table bellow that gives you the distances (in kilometers) and  usual time it takes for direct trips between the listed -cities and the prices you can expect to pay. Keep in mind that close-by destinations such as Trogir and Omiš can also be reached by regular public buses that stop not at Main Bus Station, but from Pazar Bus Station.

Have you recently traveled by bus to or from Split? Tell us how much you payed for the ticket in the comments bellow!The Main Bus Station in Split is located in close proximity to the Old Town, adjacent to the Ferry Port and the Train Station. Its convenient location allows travelers easy transfer between different modes of transport. Unfortunately, due to its central location and a general lack of high-capacity access roads the vehicle access to the Main Bus Station can become frustratingly slow during the busier summer period. For these reasons local government has been working on plans to move the Main Bus Station to the suburbs, but no date has been set as of 2021.

Those arriving to Split by bus with booked accommodation in the Old Town will be glad to know that they will most likely be able to reach it after a picturesque, short 5 to 10 minute stroll. If however your accommodation is further up the city, you will either have to be picking up a taxi or an Uber/Bolt or walking to the nearby Pazar Bus Station where almost all of the local lines of city buses run through.

Split’s Bus Station itself is rather small in size as it only has one platform stretching parallel to the road. The station’s building, build half a century ago, is pretty small and rundown. It contains a smaller waiting room with a handful of chairs and ticket windows for domestic and international travel. For added waiting comfort you might want to consider visiting one of the cafés  scattered around the station that offer a great view of the harbor. There are several ATM machines both around the station building and down the street towards the Old Town where you can pick up some pocket cash that you might need. Don’t forget that any luggage you deposit in the luggage hold bellow will cost you extra with most operators, so make sure to have some spare change at hand.

Destinations

As the main transport hub of Dalmatia, Split is well integrated in the bus network of Europe. Buses traveling to other Dalmatian towns are frequent, which will suit even the most flexible of travelers.

The bus line between Split and Zagreb is the most frequented bus line in Croatia, so you should expect to find buses between the two cities on an hourly basis.

Internationally, Split is well connected primarily with Bosnian cities, particularly Mostar and Sarajevo to which it has direct lines. Most other international connections are conducted through intermediary stops, particularly in Zagreb which is the gateway to all lines connecting Split to Central Europe and might be a more optimal option even for trips to Italy.

As bus companies will usually add another bus to a sold-out line, purchasing bus tickets in advance is usually not necessary, though it is an added security. We do recommend that you buy your tickets a day or two in advance, just to be on the safe side.

Bus travel in Croatia is one of the few businesses in the world where you might be getting a better price for in-person purchases rather than buying online. The tickets sold at the counter of Split’s bus station will remain fixed throughout the summer, while the pricing practices of online selling business can vary greatly–though it can be both much cheaper and much more expensive than the base price.

The official website of Split’s Main Bus Station contains a searchable timetable for all of the destinations, though it does not have an option for purchasing. If you wish to buy tickets online, you can find many of the lines available for purchase on GetByBus website. Alternatively, the international giant Flixbus also has several regional and international lines running through Split, particularly during the summer season.

Finally, when purchasing your ticket, make sure to find out whether the option you are going for is a direct or indirect route. Indirect lines will often detour to a lot of smaller towns and will not utilize the Croatian A1 motorway, which will significantly increase the trip lenghts.

In order to get you a sense of what to expect when driving a bus through Croatia, we created a table bellow that gives you the distances (in kilometers) and  usual time it takes for direct trips between the listed -cities and the prices you can expect to pay. Keep in mind that close-by destinations such as Trogir and Omiš can also be reached by regular public buses that stop not at Main Bus Station, but from Pazar Bus Station.

Have you recently traveled by bus to or from Split? Tell us how much you payed for the ticket in the comments bellow!