What we always tell guests first

When you arrive, we almost always say the same five things. They are exactly the ones you won't find in any guidebook.

• Drink the tap water. Kaštela, Split, Solin and Trogir are all supplied from the Jadro spring. The quality is good. There's no need to lug home crates of bottled water.
• Between 1 and 5 pm, very little happens. Small shops close, the seafront lies empty in the sun. Plan your sightseeing for the morning, or for the evening from 6 pm onwards.
• Payment is in euros, as it has been since 1 January 2023. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; you'll want cash at the market, at fruit stalls and in some of the smaller konobas.
• The emergency number is 112 – for everything: ambulance, fire brigade, police, sea rescue. They will help you in English, often in German too.
• Don't drive to Split on your first evening. Walk the seafront promenade in Kaštel Stari as far as the castle instead. Afterwards you'll understand why you're staying here and not in the city.

Seven villages, seven castles

Kaštela isn't a town in the ordinary sense but a chain of seven places along the bay: Kaštel Sućurac, Gomilica, Kambelovac, Lukšić, Stari, Novi and Štafilić. From the late 14th century onwards, noble families from Trogir and Split had sixteen fortified country residences built here; villages grew up around seven of them. Hence the saying: seven villages like seven swans.

Kaštel Stari

The Trogir humanist and writer Koriolan Cipiko had his castle built in 1476 – half fortress, half palace, originally reachable only by drawbridge. After a fire in 1493 the Renaissance arcaded courtyard was added. The lanes around it still follow the right-angled grid laid out by the first settlers.

Kaštel Lukšić

The Vitturi castle, completed in 1564 by the brothers Nikola and Jerolim Vitturi, is today a cultural centre and home to the town museum. The drawbridge was replaced by a stone bridge in the 18th century. This is the setting for the story of Miljenko Rušinić and Dobrila Vitturi, from two feuding families – the Dalmatian Romeo and Juliet. Their grave in St John's church bears the inscription "Rest in peace, you lovers". In early August the legend is staged in the village as an open-air play.

Kaštel Gomilica

The Kaštilac stands on a small island some forty metres off the shore, linked by a stone bridge. Benedictine nuns completed it in 1545 as protection against the Ottomans; the convent's roots go back to 1078. Anyone who knows "Game of Thrones" will recognise Braavos. Go early in the morning and you'll have it to yourself.

Kaštel Štafilić

In Kaštel Štafilić stands an olive tree estimated to be around 1,500 years old – possibly a survivor of the Roman estates. It still bears fruit. Olive growing here is no decorative theme: anyone visiting in November will see nets spread out under the trees everywhere.

The Kozjak – the mountain at your back

The Kozjak runs some 16 kilometres from Klis in the east to the Malačka pass in the west, threaded with around 80 kilometres of waymarked paths. Not high mountains – but it has the longest rock face in Croatia, 50 to 250 metres high.

• Sveti Ivan Biranj (631 m): the highest peak of the western Kozjak, with a chapel. About 1 hour 15 minutes from the Malačka pass, considerably longer on foot from Kaštel Stari.
• Malačka (480 m): a waymarked path leads straight up from Kaštel Stari. From the top you can see the whole bay, Split with the Marjan, Trogir and the islands offshore.

In summer, set off before seven and take more water than you think you need – halfway up there is barely any shade. In spring and autumn the Kozjak is the best thing about this region.

Wine: Zinfandel comes from here

One of the finest stories in the area is a scientific one. For decades the origin of Californian Zinfandel was a puzzle. In 2001 a DNA analysis led by Carole Meredith at the University of California, Davis provided the answer: Zinfandel is identical to Crljenak kaštelanski – and equally to Apulian Primitivo. The decisive vine stood in Ivica Radunić's vineyard in Kaštel Novi, a few kilometres from here.

The variety had almost disappeared; today it is being grown again. Ask for Crljenak at the small wineries nearby – and don't overfill your afternoon. They rarely let you leave before you've tasted the oil as well.

Markets: Pazar, Ribarnica and the stall round the corner

The Pazar, Split's green market, sits right against the eastern wall of Diocletian's Palace. Come between seven and ten – after that the best of it is gone and the heat hangs between the stalls.

A few steps further, on the western side, stands the Ribarnica, the fish market: an Art Nouveau building more than 120 years old. You'll notice there are no flies – that comes from the sulphur of the spring next door. Buy whatever there's plenty of – anchovies, sardines, mackerel. Cheaper and better than any expensive fillet.

Kaštel Stari has a small fruit and vegetable market, and Trogir one on the edge of the old town with a fish hall alongside. Then there are the roadside stalls: figs, melons, tomatoes, wine in plastic bottles. Cash, small notes.

Shopping, deposits, rubbish

Supermarkets and Sundays

Konzum and Tommy are the common chains, and you'll find Lidl nearby too. Since July 2023, shops in Croatia may only open on 16 Sundays a year – each retailer decides which ones, and on the coast most put them in the summer months. All the same, don't count on it: do your shopping on Saturday. Petrol stations, kiosks and shops in ports, marinas, campsites and airports are among those exempt from the rule.

The same applies to public holidays. In summer the ones that affect you are mainly 5 August (Victory Day) and 15 August (the Assumption, Velika Gospa). The latter is a big day in Dalmatia: many families travel to places of pilgrimage, and restaurants are full.

Deposits and rubbish

Most drinks containers from 0.2 litres upwards – PET, glass, cans – carry a deposit, ten cents apiece since the start of 2025. You can return them at the machines in the larger supermarkets; you'll get a voucher to redeem at the till. Collect everything in one bag and hand it in on your last shopping trip.

Waste is separated into paper, plastic, glass and general waste; the containers usually stand together by the road. Collection days vary from place to place – we'll tell you when you're here which bin goes out when.

Car, parking, boat

In Split, parking is divided into zones and can be paid for by SMS: send your number plate without spaces to the number for that zone – 708211 (red), 708212 (blue), 708213 (green), 708214 (yellow). With a German or Austrian SIM card, dial the number with the country code (+385). Shortly before your time runs out you'll get a reminder. Usually the more practical option is: leave the car where it is. Trains run to Split from Kaštel Stari station, and in summer passenger boats cross the bay – seasonally between Kaštela and Split, and on the Trogir–Slatine–Split line. After an evening in the old town, coming home across the water is the pleasanter choice; timetables change every year, so ask us shortly beforehand. Water taxis you book on the spot at the jetty in Trogir and Split – agree the price before you get in, not after.

Health, tourist tax, air conditioning

Pharmacies are called ljekarna. There are some in the larger Kaštela villages and in Trogir, and in Split some with a night service too. Many familiar remedies go by different names; staff generally speak English.

The tourist tax is charged per person per night. In Split-Dalmatia County it is around 1.60 to 2.00 euros in high season, and around 1.00 to 1.50 euros out of season depending on the place. Children under 12 are exempt, 12- to 18-year-olds pay half. It is usually settled on site.

On air conditioning: keep shutters and windows closed during the day and air the rooms only after sunset. A unit set to 24 to 26 degrees cools more reliably than one set to 18 with the terrace door open. Whether electricity is charged as a flat rate or by consumption is stated in your booking confirmation.

Mosquitoes do exist, above all the daytime tiger mosquito. You don't need a net, but do bring a plug-in device for the bedroom and the habit of not leaving saucers and buckets standing full of water.

Pomalo – the word that matters most

Pomalo literally means "little by little"; in Dalmatia it means: no rush. It is a greeting, an answer and an attitude to life all at once. If someone tells you they're coming "pomalo", they will come – just not in the next quarter of an hour. Read that as unreliability and you'll be in a bad mood for a fortnight. Go along with it and your holiday will feel half as long again.

Part of the same thing: you greet people when you walk into a shop (dobar dan). Morning coffee takes an hour, not five minutes. And nobody eats dinner at 6 pm.

Where the day ends most beautifully

The bay of Kaštela opens to the south-west, and the sun goes down behind Čiovo. Three places: the seafront promenade in Kaštel Stari, where half the neighbourhood strolls in the evening; the Malačka pass, if you save the climb for late afternoon; and the bridge to the Kaštilac in Gomilica, where the light turns the walls orange.

You'll find more practical notes on getting here, transfers and everyday life in our Croatia guide for guests. If you're still looking for the right house, take a look at our villas in Kaštel Stari. And if you'd like to know who's actually writing here: about us.