Hotel Luxe

Opened in July 2010, this design-oriented four-star hotel is both good to look at and fun to stay in. Local architects Vjeko Ivanišević and Lea Aviani were responsible for the overall design, a sleek slab of grey built on the site of a former factory. The interior is anything but industrial: walls and surfaces are sparklingly white, carpets and other fabrics feature strong blues and purples. The rooms themselves all face south towards Split’s harbour – ones on the lower floors won’t have much of a view, but those higher up provide an exciting sense of Split’s passenger-port bustle. ‘Superior’ doubles are slightly more spacious than the regular rooms and also boast small balconies. With only 30 rooms the Luxe preserves an intimate boutique feel, and the location adjacent to both port and palace couldn’t be bettered. There’s a wellness centre in the basement with gym, sauna, and an atmospherically domed lounge with a jacuzzi pool. There is free wifi throughout, and parking is available in a nearby side street.