Best Breakfast in Split: Cafés and Brunch Spots Worth Getting Up For
A practical guide to breakfast in Split, from courtyard brunch spots and bagel bars to plant-based bowls, with what to order and how the morning menu works.
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Split now has a proper breakfast and brunch scene, with options running from courtyard eggs benedict inside the old town to plant-based bowls and bagel sandwiches near the waterfront. This guide names the cafés and restaurants worth planning a morning around, says what to order at each, and explains the trade-offs between convenience in the centre and a calmer sit-down on the edge of town.
Proper cooked brunch dishes, vegetarian cooking and plant-based bowls are now part of Split's morning offer, so you can pick the style of breakfast you want. If coffee is the priority rather than food, see Coffee in Split for where to drink it.
What breakfast in Split looks like now
A traditional Split morning is a coffee and something small from a bakery counter, which survives because it is quick. Sitting down to eggs, pancakes or a full plate is the newer habit, and it clusters in the centre and along the Riva. If you want espresso and a pastry rather than a table with a menu, the same choice runs through the city's coffee culture and its bakeries.
A written guide to morning food in the city describes brunch as a recent growth area, with places spread from the Riva into Diocletian's Palace and out towards Marjan Park. Addresses inside the old town put you a few minutes from the ferry port and the main sights, while spots beyond the walls sit in quieter streets.
Kat's Kitchen: organic, seasonal plates near Marjan Park
Kat's Kitchen cooks around organic and seasonal ingredients, some grown in its own garden, and the menu leans on eggs, grains, vegetables and homemade spreads. The signature is the oven-baked omelette, with a free-range egg version and an egg-white version served with smoked salmon; the sweet side covers vegan sweet pancakes made from chickpea flour with seasonal fruit and coconut nectar, and a sweet toast with nut butter. The restaurant sits at Antuna Mihanovića 33, outside the old town near Marjan Park.
Order the sweet croissant with homemade chocolate and hazelnut spread if you want something small, or the lunch bowl with grains, beans and vegetables when the morning has run into midday. It is a daytime stop only — the kitchen serves Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 16:00 and is closed on Sundays — so plan it as a breakfast or lunch visit. The restaurant takes orders for doughnuts and raw cake boxes by phone on 021 582 880.
Brasserie on 7: brioche French toast and eggs benedict on the Riva
Brasserie on 7 on the Riva is one of the city's longest-running brunch addresses, and the cooking draws on Australian café habits rather than a Croatian morning menu. Expect brioche French toast, eggs benedict and homemade English muffins, which makes it the simplest choice if your hotel is near the waterfront.
The trade-off is footfall: the Riva is the busiest stretch in Split, so a table here is about convenience and people-watching more than an escape. Treat it as the easy option on a day when the ferry, the market or the old town is already on your route.
Fig: vegetarian burritos and poached eggs inside Diocletian's Palace
Fig opened in the heart of Diocletian's Palace in 2019 after its success in Hvar town, and it is the one address here where you eat within the Roman walls. The kitchen is vegetarian-leaning, with a vegetarian breakfast burrito, California toast and spicy steam-poached eggs among the morning dishes, which suits anyone staying in the old town who wants a proper sit-down without leaving the maze of streets.
Location is the whole point and the main compromise: you gain the atmosphere of the palace and lose the quiet of the outskirts, so it works best as a stop on a morning already spent walking the centre. Pair it with a wander through the palace and the surrounding streets rather than treating it as a destination in itself.
Ciri Biri Bela: courtyard benedicts and sourdough toast behind the theatre
Ciri Biri Bela occupies a romantic courtyard just behind the theatre, which makes it a pleasant sit-down choice for a slow morning within the centre. The menu runs through farmers' fresh omelettes, benedicts from classic to royal, homemade waffles and rustic sourdough toast topped with avocado cream and wild salmon.
Choose it when the courtyard matters as much as the food, for instance a relaxed weekend breakfast before a day of walking. It is a short step from the old town and the ferry port, so it fits neatly into a day when you are staying centrally and do not want to cross the city for breakfast.
The Daltonist: a full cooked morning plate and shakshuka
The Daltonist serves a morning menu that runs from truffle benedict to shakshuka, with the Full Daltonista as its take on a cooked English breakfast, built from pork sausage, ham, fried egg, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, greens, black beans and homemade bread. It is the address for anyone who wants one substantial plate rather than a pastry and coffee.
The cooking is heavier than the fruit-and-granola end of this list, so plan a lighter lunch if you order the full plate. It sits comfortably in a day that starts late and runs straight into the afternoon, and the menu covers both eggs and substantial cooked dishes, so there is something for most appetites.
Pandora Greenbox: smoothie bowls and plant-based milk coffees
Pandora Greenbox is the plant-based option, with iced coffees made on plant-based milk, vegan protein smoothies and smoothie bowls built on raw cacao, banana and crunchy peanut butter. It suits a lighter start, a hot morning, or anyone travelling with a vegan in the group.
What you give up is the cooked breakfast: this is fruit, cacao and cold drinks rather than eggs and potatoes. That makes it a good second stop after a savoury breakfast elsewhere, and an easy choice when the day's plan is a slow morning in the shade.
Brooklyn Bagel Co.: bagels and shmears for a quick morning stop
Brooklyn Bagel Co. makes its own bagels and shmears and turns them into hearty bagel sandwiches, which is the answer when you want something filling to eat on the move. It is the pick before a ferry, a bus or an early start, when a table and a menu would cost you time.
The trade-off is a short, focused menu: you come for the bagel, not for a long brunch. Take it away and eat by the harbour, or use it as a fallback when the sit-down places near the Riva are full.
Chops, Zinfandel and Bepa: more morning addresses around the centre
Chops serves breakfast from 8am to 11am with avocado toast, croissant sandwiches, toasties and American-style pancakes, and its breakfast sandwiches are also sold next door at Paradiso. Zinfandel, better known as a wine bar, opens in the morning for Florentine-style eggs, Turkish eggs and a gourmet breakfast baguette. A 2022 guide records these details, so treat them as that year's picture rather than a guarantee of today's menu.
Bepa, No Stress and Bokeria are named in or near Pjaca, and make an obvious stop if you are staying in or near the old town. Ka Doma, described as on the outskirts of the centre, is the quieter alternative for a local-feeling morning. The Split green market is where a morning of coffee and shopping naturally begins.
How to choose: old-town convenience vs a quieter spot outside the walls
Decide first how far you are willing to walk. A table inside the old town, at Fig or near Pjaca, saves time and puts you among the sights; the Riva addresses such as Brasserie on 7 are equally central. Kat's Kitchen near Marjan Park sits outside the walls and rewards the extra walk with a quieter street.
Then decide how much time you want to give the meal. A bagel from Brooklyn Bagel Co. fits a ferry departure, while a courtyard breakfast at Ciri Biri Bela or a cooked plate at The Daltonist is a slower affair. If you want a sweet finish afterwards, see Ice Cream in Split for a cold one, and a good coffee is never far away.
Breakfast vocabulary: what to expect from a Croatian morning menu
Croatian menus use a small set of words worth recognising. Kajgana is scrambled eggs, jaja na oko are fried eggs, and omlet is an omelette; pršut is cured ham, sir is cheese and kruh is bread. A pecivo is a small bread roll, and a pekara is the bakery that sells it, which is where the traditional quick breakfast comes from.
When you see doručak on a sign, it means breakfast, and a meni za doručak is a set morning menu. Smoothie bowls, granola and eggs benedict appear in English on the brunch menus listed above, so the vocabulary only matters at bakeries and older cafés. Coffee comes as espresso or with milk, and drinking it standing at the bar is still the fastest way to start the day.
Which breakfast in Split should you book first?
Start with Kat's Kitchen if you want seasonal cooking and a quieter street outside the walls, remembering it serves only until 16:00 and is closed on Sundays, or Brasserie on 7 and Ciri Biri Bela if a central table and a proper brunch plate matter more than the walk. Fig is the one for eating inside Diocletian's Palace, and Brooklyn Bagel Co. is the practical answer on a morning with a ferry to catch.
Where a menu, a morning time slot or a booking matters, it is worth confirming ahead directly with the restaurant.
Explore more Split guides
Sources
Notes on eating well in Croatia
Optional updates to our food guides.
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