Split Airport is small, modern since the 2019 terminal extension, and completely overwhelmed for about ninety minutes after each summer arrival bank. Knowing what actually happens in that window makes the difference between a smooth start and an hour you would rather not have had.
What the arrival looks like
SPU has a single passenger terminal at Resnik, roughly 24 km from central Split and 6 km from Trogir. Schengen accession in 2023 removed passport control for arrivals from the rest of the zone, which sped things up considerably — but baggage reclaim is still the choke point, with a handful of belts serving several aircraft that landed within minutes of each other.
Expect 15 to 30 minutes from wheels down to luggage in hand in July and August, and closer to ten outside the season. Anyone waiting for you needs to know that, which is why our drivers do not start counting until you actually land, and why the first hour of waiting is free.
Getting out: the four options
- Airport bus — runs to the Sukoišan terminal near the ferry port in about 40 minutes. Good value; leaves you a walk from most old-town apartments.
- Public bus 37 — cheaper, slower, stops constantly, drops at the suburban Sukoišan station rather than the centre.
- Taxi rank — available, metered, and busiest exactly when you most want it not to be.
- Pre-booked transfer — a named driver inside the hall, a fixed price, and a car that goes to the address rather than the neighbourhood.
The bit people underestimate
Split’s old town is inside a Roman palace. Cars cannot enter most of it, and the permitted drop-off point depends on which gate your accommodation sits behind — the Golden Gate side and the Riva are a ten-minute suitcase walk apart over polished limestone. Send the exact street when you book and the approach gets planned rather than improvised.
If you are heading somewhere else entirely
Plenty of SPU arrivals never see Split. Trogir is ten minutes west, the Makarska Riviera about an hour and a quarter south, Šibenik fifty minutes north, and the catamaran to Hvar leaves from the Split port half an hour away. The last of those is the one to plan carefully: sailings are timetabled, they fill, and a missed one can cost you the evening.
Full route detail, journey times and fixed-price information is on our Split Airport transfer page.