Twenty-three of Croatia’s 68 registered coastal routes touch the Split terminal, more than any other port. Ten are state lines contracted to sail all year; thirteen are commercial and carry no such obligation. Which islands work as a day trip is decided by that split.
Everything the Split terminal reaches
Almost every day-trip list for Split is written from a map. The register is written from what sails, which produces a different and much shorter answer, because several of the islands that look close are served once a day by a boat nobody is obliged to run. Here is the terminal counted properly.
| Island | Routes from Split | Of those, state lines | Take a car | Ports served |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brač | 10 | 4 | 1 | Bol, Milna, Supetar, Sutivan |
| Šolta | 2 | 2 | 1 | Rogač |
| Hvar | 16 | 6 | 2 | Hvar, Jelsa, Stari Grad |
| Vis | 3 | 2 | 1 | Vis |
| Korčula | 8 | 3 | 1 | Korčula, Prigradica, Vela Luka |
| Lastovo | 2 | 2 | 1 | Lastovo/Ubli |
| Mljet | 1 | 0 | 0 | Pomena |
The state-line column is the one to read. A commercial route may be excellent, fast and frequent in August and simply absent in April, and thirteen of the twenty-three routes at Split are in that category. An island with two or more state lines is a year-round proposition; an island whose entire connection is commercial is a summer one, whatever the map says about how near it is.
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routes from Split will carry a vehicle — all five of them car ferries
The car column matters more than it looks on a day trip. Every catamaran from Split is foot-passenger only, and the catamarans are the fast services. Taking a car on a day trip therefore means taking the slow boat both ways, on a route with fewer sailings, and paying a vehicle fare for the privilege. On most Split day trips the car should stay where it is parked.
The return sailing decides the day, not the outward one
A day trip needs two things from a timetable: a departure early enough and a return late enough. On a line with two sailings a day, the second of those is the constraint, and it moves with the season. Line 602 to Vis is the only Split route whose 2026 timetable sits in this site’s source bundle, and it shows the mechanism exactly.
| Published period | Sailings a day each way | Last departure from Vis | Last departure from Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Jan – 28 May and 28 Sep – 31 Dec | 2 | 15:30 (14:00 on Fridays) | 18:30 (17:00 on Fridays) |
| 29 May – 2 Jul and 21 Sep – 27 Sep | 2 Mon–Thu, 3 Fri–Sun | 15:30 Mon–Thu, 18:00 Fri–Sun | 18:30 Mon–Thu, 21:00 Fri–Sun |
| 3 Jul – 20 Sep | 3, except 2 on Tuesdays | 18:00 (15:30 on Tuesdays) | 21:00 (18:30 on Tuesdays) |
That table is the whole Vis question. In high season the island takes three sailings a day and the last boat off it leaves at 18:00, so a day there is comfortable. Off-season it takes two, the last departure from Vis is 15:30, and the same trip becomes a rush or an overnight stay. Nothing about the island changed; the timetable did. Read every candidate day trip that way and the list reorders itself.
Choosing the island first and the sailing afterwards
The usual sequence is to pick somewhere appealing, then look for a boat, then discover the return is at three in the afternoon. On a route with two sailings a day there is no second chance: miss it and the day trip is an overnight stay with no booking.
Reverse the order. Start from the ten state lines, which are contracted to run; check the last departure back; and only then decide where you are going. The islands with several state routes — Brač and Hvar in particular — forgive a missed sailing in a way that Vis and Lastovo do not.
A few specific notes the table cannot carry. Brač is the easy one, with more registered routes from Split than any other island and several arrival ports. Hvar is dense but has three separate ports, which is handled on the Split to Hvar page. Šolta is the quiet one and the closest. Vis is the one this page has just shown you how to judge. Korčula and Lastovo are reached from Split by lines running the length of the chain, and are better treated as stays than as days out. Mljet appears on this list once, on a single commercial boat with no obligation to sail, which is the clearest possible signal that it is not a day trip from here.
What do you need to work out next?
The menu is set. These decide which day you actually get.
Where to stay
Should I sleep near the terminal?
All twenty-three of these routes leave from the same port.
Getting around
Is Vis really a day trip?
In high season the last boat off leaves at 18:00; off-season, 15:30.
When to go
When do the commercial boats stop?
Thirteen of the twenty-three Split routes carry no obligation to sail.
Planning
Have I only got five days?
Line 634 crosses from Dominče to Orebić in 20 minutes.
Ferry data: Agencija za obalni linijski pomorski promet (ZOLPP), 2026 state coastal line register and per-line timetables.