New Year's Eve in Split: the Riva concert and alternatives
- Published
- 27 October 2026
- Reading
- 5 min read
- Where
- Split, Croatia
- Prices checked
- 28. Oct 2026.
A guide to New Year's Eve in Split: the concert on the Riva, how the 2025/26 edition unfolded, when to arrive, how to get home and what to expect on 1 January.
Croatia is said to have given up on city fireworks at New Year, and one headline from a past winter did count dozens of towns that went without. Split was not among them in the 2025/26 edition, when the sky above the harbour lit up at midnight. That is the NYE this guide plans around, with one caveat up front: the programme for 2026/27 has not been published, so everything below describes the last edition and promises nothing for the next. The place to watch for the announcement is visitsplit.com.
The Riva
The main public celebration takes place on the Riva, the waterfront promenade that runs along the harbour under the southern wall of Diocletian's Palace. Locals call the night Silvestrovo, and for most of them it means this stretch of stone and sea. In the 2025/26 edition the concert opened with Baby Lasagna and went on with Željko Bebek, who came back for a second part of his set, while the electronic duo Vanillaz played with MC ME after midnight. Start of the concert: 21:30 (2025 edition).
The edition before that, 2024/25, put Dubioza Kolektiv on the same stage with a programme from around 9 pm. Whether the Riva asks for a ticket or puts up a fence is something the sources never mention, so nothing here claims either. The organisers' details will appear on visitsplit.com once the new programme is out.
Fireworks and drones
At midnight in the 2025/26 edition the Split fireworks went up over the harbour, followed by a New Year choreography of drones that one report called one of the most striking moments of the night. Drones in the show: 190 (2025 edition). How long the fireworks lasted is not documented, so plan to watch them rather than to time them.
The setting does most of the work. The water doubles the light, the cathedral bell tower stands in the frame and the palace wall closes the scene behind you. None of this is promised for 2026/27, which is why the midnight plan below leaves room for a second option.
When to arrive
The Riva concert began in the evening, at around 9 pm in 2024/25 and at the hour given above in 2025/26. Getting there before the first act is simply sensible, since it is the difference between a spot near the stage and a place at the back of the promenade. Earlier in the day the Pjaca, officially Narodni trg, held its own programme in the 2025/26 edition: the klapa Ispod ure first, then DJ Cico and DJ Zrine at a Flashback party powered by Balinjera. The sources give no hours for it, so treat the Pjaca as an afternoon stop and the Riva as the evening.
Getting around that night
The sources say nothing about how buses run on the night of 31 December. Promet Split, the city operator, publishes its timetable at promet-split.hr. The old town is pedestrian anyway, so a room in the centre, or within walking distance of it, solves the question before it starts. For buses on the days around the night, a 24-hour ticket costs €12.
Alternatives to the crowd
- A second stage in Roberta Visiani park: in the 2025/26 edition Matija Cvek and The Funkensteins played there, followed by the DJ duo Djobi Djoba.
- The Pjaca on 31 December itself, with the daytime klapa and DJ programme, a calmer part of the day before the Riva fills up.
- The Advent zones: in the 2025/26 edition almost every one ran its own programme for adults and children, and they stayed open over New Year.
- Restaurants and clubs with set dinners and parties, tickets sold in advance: prices and programmes change from year to year, so reserve early.
Customs
The sources describe a programme and no rituals, so there are no invented customs here. What they do show is local flavour: a klapa, the Dalmatian tradition of singing in a group, opened the daytime programme on the Pjaca in 2025/26 before the DJs took over. For anything beyond that, ask the person who serves your dinner.
1 January
1 January is a public holiday. Most shops, cafés, restaurants and banks are usually shut, small groceries stay open and public transport runs a reduced timetable, so plan the day as a walk. The Riva and the lanes of the old town are public space, and Marjan, the forested park above the harbour, is the natural second stroll. The Diocletian's Palace Cellars and a guided tour of the palace are better kept for another day, since no source lists holiday hours for them.
A ticket with a chosen time slot, booked ahead.
Where to sleep
The Riva sits beside the old town, so staying in the old core means a short walk home after midnight. Rooms inside the walls are noisier, while a room just outside them trades a little distance for sleep. A 3-star hotel averages about €75 per person in a double room over the year, and the end of December is usually dearer. Book early.
Go to the Riva if you want fireworks and the sea at midnight, and wait for the 2026/27 programme on visitsplit.com before booking anything.
Check the same room on both sites: price and cancellation terms can differ.
Croatia, in brief
What now
If this sounds like your trip, start here.
Split
→A Roman palace people still live in today, with house numbers built into the emperor's walls
Split in 2 days
→The palace from the cellars to the Golden Gate by noon, the sea in the afternoon, and on day two Marjan, Meštrović and Kašjuni.
Day trips from Split
→Trogir for half a day, Brač for a swim, Hvar for a whole day, Krka instead of Plitvice, and Vis for those who stay the night.
Where to stay in Split
→Five quarters within walking distance of the palace, and the one difference between them that you only hear after midnight.
What Split costs
→Croatia is in the eurozone, so nothing in Split needs converting: price by price, from a hostel bed to a ticket for Hvar.
Split once the six-sight list is done
→The north gate with a luck legend, a domed entrance that sometimes sings a cappella, a park on the point, and a costume museum almost no one gets round to.
What to eat in Split
→Black risotto and pašticada are the main courses, soparnik from the Pazarić market is the cheapest thing on this list, and a Split konoba typically has no set lunch, just a menu.
The best time to visit Split
→Split month by month in numbers: July is both warmest and driest, November wettest, and June and September strike the best balance of heat and crowds.
Getting around Split
→The airport is west of the city, the bus reaches the centre in 50–75 min, traffic-dependent, and from there everything, from the cellars to Marjan, is on foot.
Mistakes everyone makes in Split
→The wrong day for the museum, too little time for Hvar, and swimming in the wrong part of Krka, all of them mistakes that cost half a day or a table here.
Croatia
→A thousand islands and one road that looks down on all of them
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