Split or Dubrovnik with kids?
Written October 2026
People still live inside Diocletian's Palace in Split, and ferries to Brač and Hvar leave from its harbor. Dubrovnik's old town sits inside stone walls you can walk all the way around. With kids under eight, Split is easier going, and Dubrovnik suits older kids who will walk the walls, or a family that wants a resort week at Lapad or Orašac with the old town as a day out.
The two are about three hours apart by car along the coast.
Split, for the beach and the boats
Bačvice Beach
Split
Split's sandy town beach is where locals play picigin, with shallow water and cafés, ten minutes on foot from Diocletian's Palace. It's where we'd take a toddler. Firule, the next cove along, has finer sand and is quieter.
Riva Promenade
Split
The waterfront is lined with palms and cafés, flat and wide enough for a stroller, with the palace behind and the ferries in front. It's where Split takes its evening walk, ice cream in hand.
Marjan First Viewpoint
Split
Marjan is the wooded hill park above the city, and it's free. A shady climb (or a drive) gets you up to the view over the harbor, and the small zoo and the beaches at Kašjuni are on the far side.
- Free entry
- Yes
Museum of Illusions Split
Split
It's all optical illusions and sensory rooms right in the old town, from a giant chair to a big-and-small room, and a stroller can get around. It fills an hour with photos and giggles on a rainy day.
- Free entry
- No
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Le Méridien Lav, Split
Podstrana, south of Split
Le Méridien Lav is Split's only resort with a kids' club, on the coast south of the city with its own beach. There are heated pools indoors and out, and a three-bedroom suite sleeps five. Apartment hotels and old-town hotels with cribs are in our Split family hotel guide.
- Suites
- Yes
- Pool
- Yes, indoor, heated
- Kids' club
- Yes
Dubrovnik, for the walls and a resort week
Dubrovnik City Walls
Dubrovnik
The walk around the top of the walls is two kilometers, past sixteen towers, and kids from about six can do the whole loop. With younger ones, one adult can do the walls while the other takes them to the playground at Park Pile, which is shaped like a miniature old town.
- Free entry
- No
Dubrovnik Cable Car
Dubrovnik
Both stations are step-free, so the stroller comes along without a fight, and the ride up Mount Srđ takes four minutes. From the top the view takes in the whole walled city and the islands.
- Free entry
- No
Lokrum Reserve
Dubrovnik
Ten minutes by boat from Dubrovnik's old harbor, Lokrum is an island nature reserve with a botanical garden and a playground. Peacocks wander under the pines, and kids can swim in the shallow salt lake called the Dead Sea.
- Free entry
- No
Valamar Tirena Hotel
Lapad, Dubrovnik
Valamar Tirena has two connected bedrooms with two bathrooms and an outdoor pool with slides, and the Maro World play center is nearby. Lapad is where Dubrovnik's resort hotels are, with kids' clubs, baby pools and a bus into the old town. More Dubrovnik hotels are on the city's Play Day page.
- Connecting rooms
- Yes
- Pool
- Yes
- Free breakfast
- Yes
Sun Gardens Dubrovnik
Orašac, north of Dubrovnik
At Sun Gardens, a baby concierge handles cribs and potties, and the apartments have full kitchens. There's a kids' club too. Orašac is twenty minutes up the coast, so the old town becomes one outing in a week at the resort. None of the Split hotels has a baby concierge.
- Cribs
- Yes
- Connecting rooms
- Yes
- Suites
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Kitchenette
- Yes
- Pool
- Yes, indoor
- Laundry
- Yes
- Kids' club
- Yes
More in Split
The best family hotels in SplitPhoto credits
Bacvice Beach: dronepicr (CC BY 2.0) · Riva Promenade: dronepicr (CC BY 2.0) · Split from the path up Marjan hill: dominkod (CC BY 3.0) · The Peristyle, Diocletian's Palace: TimeTravelRome (CC BY 2.0) · Sunset over the sea at Podstrana: Sergei Gussev (CC BY 2.0) · Dubrovnik City Walls: Yamen (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Dubrovnik Cable Car: dronepicr (CC BY 2.0) · Lokrum Reserve: Bernard Gagnon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Lapad Beach, Dubrovnik: Jules Verne Times Two (CC BY 4.0) · Sun Gardens Dubrovnik: Boubloub (CC0)