ACI Marina Split
- Location
- Uvala Baluni 8, 21000 Split, Croatia, on the west side of the city port north of the Sustipan peninsula
- Position
- 43 30 08.6 N, 016 25 46.3 E, per Dockwalk
- Operator
- ACI d.d. (Adriatic Croatia International Club), founded 1983, listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange since 1997, about 79 per cent held by the Republic of Croatia
- Chain
- twenty-two ACI marinas and one anchorage from Umag to Dubrovnik, eighteen of them open all year, per the 2026 ACI price list
- Berths
- 318 wet and 15 dry per ACI; third-party listings range from 318 to 364 wet and 15 to 60 dry
- Vessel range
- up to 90 m LOA on a daily berth. The annual limit is disputed by ACI itself: the marina web page says 26 m, the 2026 ACI price list quotes annual rates to 50 m
- Maximum draught
- 5 m per Dockwalk; ACI publishes no depth figure and other listings give anything from 3 m to 9.5 m
- Mooring
- Mediterranean style on laid mooring lines, berth allocated by a marinero on arrival
- VHF
- channel 17 for the marina, channels 10 and 16 for the Split harbourmaster
- Included in the berth price
- electricity and water for normal boat use, and waste collection. Split is not one of the ACI marinas with consumption meters
- Fuel
- no fuel berth inside the marina. The station is about 0.05 nautical miles north in front of the Hotel Marjan, and there is no duty-free fuel anywhere in Croatia
- Yard
- 15 dry berths and a crane quoted at 10 tonnes; the dry berth and crane tariffs stop at 14 m
- Open
- all year. Reception 07:00 to 22:00 in July and August, 08:00 to 21:00 in the shoulder months, 08:00 to 18:00 in winter
- Accreditation
- Blue Flag, and the Croatian ministry's Naturally Yours award for sustainable tourism
- Airport
- Split, about 19 km west of the city centre and roughly 26 km by road from the marina, 3.88 million passengers in 2025, second busiest in Croatia, one seasonal long-haul route
- Next door
- the Port of Split, the largest passenger port in Croatia and the third largest in the Mediterranean, with eight island ferry lines and nine further passenger lines
Where the berth actually is
ACI marina Split sits in Uvala Baluni on the western side of the Split city port, just north of the wooded Sustipan peninsula. Dockwalk gives the position as 43 degrees 30 minutes 08.6 seconds north, 016 degrees 25 minutes 46.3 seconds east. This is a city berth in the literal sense. Diocletian's Palace, the late Roman core that the whole city grew out of and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is about twenty minutes on foot along the waterfront or a few minutes by water taxi. The Split Lungomare, the seafront promenade that runs west under Marjan hill, begins at the marina gate. ACI's own description of the basin is that it is protected by a solid rock breakwater from southerly winds and rough seas, with the harbours of two sailing clubs alongside it.
The other half of that position is a working transport hub. Split is the largest passenger port in Croatia and is generally described as the third largest passenger seaport in the Mediterranean, moving in the order of six million passengers a year, with eight island ferry lines and nine further passenger lines running from the city quays a few hundred metres east of the marina. The consequences are permanent rather than occasional. Ships leaving the port have right of way in manoeuvring and ACI advises in plain terms not to disrupt them. Anchoring anywhere in the port is forbidden except in an emergency. On a July afternoon the basin takes a steady procession of ferry and fast-catamaran wash. You are berthing inside the traffic, not beside it, and no breakwater in the world stops that.
The chain you are actually buying into
ACI stands for Adriatic Croatia International Club, founded in 1983, and its 2026 price list describes a network of twenty-two marinas and one anchorage running from Umag in Istria to Dubrovnik. Eighteen of those marinas are open all year, Split among them; the four seasonal marinas and the Zut anchorage open from 1 April to 31 October. The company has been listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange since 1997 and roughly 79 per cent of it is held by the Republic of Croatia through the ministry responsible for state property. That ownership matters to a buyer for one unglamorous reason: a state-controlled listed company publishes its tariff. Where a private superyacht marina answers a rate enquiry with a proposal, ACI prints a number for every metre band in every season, for every marina in the chain, and puts the document on its website.
In practice you are joining a system rather than renting a slot. Berths come in five contract categories: daily, monthly, semi-annual winter, semi-annual summer and annual, subject to availability. An annual berth is reserved by paying 30 per cent of the annual rate in advance; that booking is valid for one year and, if you change your mind or do not turn up, ACI states plainly that the advance is not refunded. Holders of annual contracts automatically become ACI members and carry the ACI Card, which brings a parking space at the marina where space allows, discounts across the chain, and loyalty awards at ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five and forty years of unbroken annual berthing. Moving an annual contract to a different ACI marina during its term requires written approval from the ACI board and a surcharge if the new marina sits in a higher price category, with no refund if it sits in a lower one.
ACI's web page caps the annual berth at 26 m. ACI's own price list quotes an annual rate at 50 m. Same company, same year, two published answers.
What a berth costs, to the metre
The figures below are from ACI's own 2026 price list for marina Split, effective 1 April 2026, quoted in EUR and inclusive of 25 per cent Croatian VAT. Daily wet berth in high season, 1 July to 31 August: EUR 138 for 10 m, EUR 168 for 12 m, EUR 204 for 15 m, EUR 298 for 20 m, EUR 568 for 24 m, EUR 858 for 30 m, EUR 1,280 for 40 m, EUR 1,670 for 50 m, EUR 2,088 for 60 m and EUR 3,308 for 90 m, which is the top of the table. Shoulder season, 1 April to 30 June and 1 September to 31 October, is a little cheaper: EUR 160 for 12 m, EUR 284 for 20 m, EUR 816 for 30 m. Winter, 1 January to 31 March and 1 November to 31 December, is cheaper again at EUR 142 for 12 m and EUR 260 for 20 m. A jet ski pays EUR 62 a day in high season.
Two surcharges change those numbers materially. In July and August the daily rate rises by 10 per cent on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, which is exactly when a charter crew wants the berth. And catamarans and trimarans pay 100 per cent more at Split, on every berth category, wet or dry, all year. That is the top of ACI's multihull scale, shared with eight other marinas in the chain, and it puts a 12 m catamaran on a July Saturday at over EUR 360 a night. Longer contracts price better. Monthly wet berth for 2026 runs EUR 3,800 for 12 m and EUR 6,750 for 20 m between 1 April and 15 October, falling to EUR 2,508 and EUR 4,456 from 16 October to 31 March. Annual wet berth is EUR 9,592 for 12 m, EUR 12,850 for 15 m, EUR 21,178 for 20 m and EUR 29,388 at 26 m. Six-month summer contracts sit at about three quarters of the annual figure and six-month winter contracts at about three fifths.
The 26 metre line that ACI's own price list contradicts
The single most important structural fact about this marina is that ACI answers the question of how big a boat can contract a season here in two incompatible ways. The ACI marina Split web page gives a maximum vessel length of 90 m for a daily berth and 26 m for an annual berth, and third-party listings repeat the 26 m figure. ACI's own 2026 price list says otherwise: the wet berth table headed YEARLY runs every metre from 8 m to 50 m, at EUR 36,304 a year for 30 m, EUR 59,356 for 40 m, EUR 72,326 for 45 m and EUR 85,294 for 50 m, with a six-month summer and a six-month winter rate printed beside each one. The monthly table on the page before it runs to 90 m, not to 26 m. Yotters is not going to average those two answers or guess which one is the drafting error, because nobody can berth on an average; get it in writing from the office which document the marina will honour before planning a season. What is not in dispute is what sits behind the berths: fifteen dry berths, a crane quoted at 10 tonnes, and dry-berth and crane tariffs that stop dead at 14 m. Whichever number wins, there is no refit and no wintering-ashore proposition here for anything substantial, and the marina reads as a place to stop for three days in the middle of a Dalmatian cruise, change guests, clear in and give a crew a city.
Charter operators pay for the privilege of being here. ACI's 2026 terms add 20 per cent to the monthly, semi-annual and annual berth fee for vessels used commercially at Split, Trogir, Slano and Dubrovnik, against 15 per cent at most other ACI marinas and nothing at Umag and Cres. Two smaller rules are worth knowing before you plan an arrival. Half-day berths, charged at 50 per cent of the daily rate, are offered across the chain but explicitly not at Split, Umag, Supetarska Draga or Trogir, so a lunch stop here costs a full day. And electricity, water and waste collection for normal boat use are included in the berth price at Split; the metered exceptions in the ACI system are Rovinj, Slano and Dubrovnik for power and Rovinj and Dubrovnik for water. For a boat sitting on shore power all winter that inclusion is worth real money and it is easy to miss when comparing a Croatian rate card against an Italian one.
The approach, the lights and the corner nobody surveyed
ACI's own approach notes are unusually detailed and worth reading before you go in. The port entrance is wide and marked by lights and daytime markings. The landmarks are the bell tower of the Cathedral of St Domnius, Cape Sustipan, and the seafarers' monument, a lighted stone obelisk showing Fl(2) W 20s 54m 10M. On the port hand, stony Cape Sustipan carries a red tower, Fl R 6s 9m 5M. On the starboard hand, the head of the main breakwater carries a prominent green lighthouse, Fl G 6s 11m 10M, with a fog signal and a thirty second horn. The inside breakwater at the eastern entrance to the marina is marked by a red tower with a column, gallery and light, Fl R 2s 6m 3M. ACI recommends Croatian Hydrographic Institute charts 101, 300-33, INT3412, 100-21, 100-26, MK-16, MK-18 and Plan 47. Work VHF channel 17; the Split harbourmaster is on 10 and 16.
Then the traps, which ACI also publishes and most guides do not. The newly built western waterfront has never been hydrographically surveyed, so berthing there is forbidden except when approaching the fuel station. Approach the marina and the small ports west of it by steering close to the head of the inside breakwater. The fuel station is not inside the marina: it lies about 0.05 nautical miles north, in front of the Hotel Marjan, and a cruising source warns of unmarked rocks below the waterline on the direct line between the marina entrance and the fuel berth. Reception hours move with the season, from 07:00 to 22:00 in July and August, 08:00 to 21:00 in the shoulder months and 08:00 to 18:00 through the winter. Depth is the one number nobody agrees on, and it is not on ACI's own page at all.
Clearing into Croatia, the vignette and the tourist tax
A foreign vessel entering Croatian waters notifies its arrival through the ministry's eNautika service and takes the shortest route to a port open to international traffic; Split, with its international ferry links, is one of them, and ACI lists customs among the services beside the marina. What Croatians still call the vignette is formally the fee for the safety of navigation and protection of the sea from pollution, plus lighthouse dues, and it is charged on length overall and engine power. Two things about it catch people out. It cannot be bought for a short period: whenever you pay it, it runs only to 31 December of that year, so a yacht arriving in October pays the same as one arriving in April. And the tariff is not published as a simple table anywhere an owner can read it. A Croatian agent's worked examples give EUR 43.40 for a 9.5 m sailing boat with 20 kW, EUR 108.10 for a 14.5 m sailing yacht with 81 kW and EUR 390.54 for a 16.5 m motor yacht with 1,100 kW; another agent publishes a formula that produces figures several times higher, so price it from the official calculation and not from anybody's table.
Separately, the crew and passenger list has to be certified at the harbourmaster's office or one of its branches, and charter operators file crews through the eCrew system before every charter. The nautical sojourn tax is a third, distinct payment, made through the Croatian National Tourist Board's nautika.evisitor.hr portal. It can be paid by vessel length or, for a short stay, per person per night at EUR 1.33, whichever is cheaper. By length, a 12 to 15 m boat pays EUR 27.87 for three days, EUR 111.49 for fifteen days, EUR 185.81 for thirty days and EUR 557.44 for a full year; a boat over 20 m pays EUR 796.34 for the year. Boats under 7 m are exempt. Those rates have been in force since 1 January 2022 and were still the published rates on the portal in August 2026, which is unusual stability by Mediterranean standards.
Charter VAT, cabotage, and what Croatia does not give you
Croatia charges a reduced VAT rate of 13 per cent on the yacht charter fee against a standard rate of 25 per cent, and that is the single biggest reason the eastern Adriatic charter fleet is the size it is. The reduced rate applies to charters starting in Croatia, and to the days spent in Croatian waters where a charter starts outside the European Union. It covers the hire of the yacht and its crew and nothing else. Ancillary services and onboard purchases fall outside it, and money spent from an advance provisioning allowance during a charter, on fuel, food and guest services, cannot be invoiced against a Croatian VAT number, so there is no recovery on it. Budget the APA gross.
The flag matters more here than in most of the Mediterranean. An EU-flagged yacht needs VAT registration in the owning company's name and eCrew registration, and guests may embark and disembark freely. A non-EU-flagged yacht needs all of that plus a cabotage licence, valid for one year and issued first come, first served, with registration taking around a month. For any yacht over 45 m, EU or not, appointing a Croatian ship agent is mandatory. Clearance in and out is at a port open to international traffic, and the authorities watch AIS and penalise yachts that linger after clearing out. And the thing Croatia does not offer at all: there is no duty-free fuel, and no duty-free supplies or services. A yacht that has just come up from Tivat, where fuel is sold at zero VAT and zero excise, feels the difference at the first bunkering.
The jugo, the bura and what a breakwater does not stop
Three winds govern a season here. The maestral is the friendly one, a northwesterly thermal that runs about 10 to 15 knots on a normal July day, starts building late morning, peaks between 14:00 and 16:00 and dies at sunset, which is why afternoons are choppier than mornings and why the local advice is to move the boat early. The bura is the violent one, a cold northeasterly katabatic that arrives in gusts rather than as a steady wind. It is a winter feature but it turns up in summer too, usually for a day or two, and a forecast of 25 knots can gust 40. It builds a short, steep sea in the channels, including the water between Split and Solta that every departure from this marina has to cross, and it does that in clear, beautiful weather, which is precisely what fools people.
The jugo is the one that matters to a berth rather than to a passage. It is a warm, humid southeasterly that builds slowly over a day or two behind falling pressure and cloud, and it leaves a rolling swell that goes on working long after the wind has eased. ACI states that the marina is protected from southerly winds by its rock breakwater, and in terms of safety that is true; a yacht is not in danger here in a jugo. Comfort is another matter, and cruising reports are consistent that southerly and southwesterly winds put swell into the area, with the outer moorings toward the ferry terminal feeling it most. Treat the breakwater as a guarantee against damage and not as a guarantee of a still night, and if a jugo is forecast for a week, ask for a berth deep inside the basin rather than on an outer finger.
What is wrong with it
The complaint that recurs across years and across languages is the state of the shore facilities relative to what the berth costs. Reviewers on mySea, writing in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025, describe the sanitary block as dirty, old, small and smelly, with hot water that could not be regulated, queues at weekends, too few parking spaces despite a paid reservation, and marineros who were curt about all of it. One review called it the worst marina the writer had used in Croatia and singled out how tight the lanes are for larger boats. Tripadvisor reviewers add noise, with concerts and restaurant sound carrying into the early morning, and report oil film and rubbish in the harbour basin. Some of this is a city-centre marina being a city-centre marina. Some of it is a chain that publishes an excellent tariff and then under-invests behind the reception desk.
The rest of the honest case against it is structural. This is one of the largest charter home ports in Dalmatia, and on a Saturday, with check-out at 09:00 and check-in at 17:00, the basin, the fuel berth, the showers and the car park all saturate at once; a visiting yacht should simply plan around that day. There is effectively no refit capacity: fifteen dry berths, a 10 tonne crane and tariffs that stop at 14 m mean anything substantial goes elsewhere. The published depths do not exist, and the third-party numbers that do exist range from 3 m to 9.5 m with a maximum draught quoted at 5 m, so a deep-draught yacht has to ask the marina in writing. And the berth count itself is unsettled: ACI says 318 wet and 15 dry, one charter base says 318 and 30, mySea's own text says 355 and 30 while its data panel says 330, and another charter operator claims 364. When a chain this transparent about price is this vague about capacity, book early and get the berth confirmed by number.
A terra, accessi e prenotazioni
- Getting there
- Split airport at Kastela is about 19 km west of the city centre and roughly 26 km by road from Uvala Baluni, which is 25 to 40 minutes in normal traffic and considerably longer on a July Saturday. It handled 3.88 million passengers in 2025 and is the second busiest airport in Croatia, but it is a short-haul and low-cost airport in character: the runway is 2,550 m and the only long-haul service is a seasonal United flight to Newark, so intercontinental guests connect through Zagreb, Frankfurt, Munich or Vienna. Fixed-price private transfers from the airport to the marina are quoted from EUR 45 per vehicle by more than one operator. The city bus and the airport shuttle both stop in central Split, from where it is a fifteen to twenty minute walk or a short water taxi ride. Split is also the end of the A1 motorway and has direct road links up the coast to Trogir and Sibenik.
- Arriving by sea
- Call the marina on VHF channel 17; if no marinero appears at the berth, ask for one on 17. The Split harbourmaster works channels 10 and 16. Approach on the landmarks ACI publishes: the bell tower of the Cathedral of St Domnius, Cape Sustipan, and the seafarers' monument obelisk, Fl(2) W 20s 54m 10M. The red tower on Cape Sustipan is Fl R 6s 9m 5M to port and the green lighthouse on the main breakwater head is Fl G 6s 11m 10M to starboard, with a fog signal and a thirty second horn. The marina's own inside breakwater carries Fl R 2s 6m 3M. Give way to departing ferries, which have right of way in the port, and do not anchor anywhere in the harbour except in an emergency. Berthing along the new western waterfront is forbidden because it has not been hydrographically surveyed, and there are reports of unmarked rocks below the waterline on the direct line between the marina entrance and the fuel berth. ACI recommends Croatian Hydrographic Institute charts 101, 300-33, INT3412, 100-21, 100-26, MK-16, MK-18 and Plan 47.
- Clearing in and the annual paperwork
- Notify your arrival through the ministry's eNautika service and clear at a port open to international traffic; Split qualifies and customs sits beside the marina. The vignette, formally the fee for the safety of navigation and protection of the sea from pollution plus lighthouse dues, is charged on LOA and engine power and always runs to 31 December of the year it is issued, whatever month you buy it. Certify the crew and passenger list at the harbourmaster's office. Charter vessels file through the eCrew system for every charter. The nautical sojourn tax is separate and is paid online at nautika.evisitor.hr, either by boat length or per person per night at EUR 1.33 for a short stay. On departure, clear out with the harbourmaster and leave by the shortest route; AIS is monitored and yachts that linger after clearance are penalised. Any yacht over 45 m, EU-flagged or not, must appoint a Croatian ship agent.
- How you actually reserve a berth
- Daily berths are booked and paid in advance through the ACI mobile app or the ACI Online Booking system on aci-marinas.com, and the reservation is valid only for the day you have paid for. Anything longer goes through the marina office at [email protected], on +385 21 398 548, or through ACI's central berth enquiry form. Contract categories are monthly, semi-annual winter, semi-annual summer and annual, all subject to availability and all paid in advance. An annual berth is reserved with a 30 per cent advance payment; the booking is then valid for a year and the advance is forfeited if you do not take the berth up. Two timing rules from ACI's 2026 terms decide what a night actually buys. A boat entering between 07:00 and midnight holds the berth until 14:00 the following day; a boat entering between midnight and 07:00 holds it only until 14:00 the same day, which catches night arrivals and costs them a second daily fee. Staying past expiry is permitted until 18:00 subject to availability and charged at 50 per cent of the daily rate. Book high-season nights well ahead and avoid arriving on a Saturday, which is charter turnaround day across the whole base.
- What a berth costs
- All figures from ACI's 2026 price list for marina Split, effective 1 April 2026, in EUR and including 25 per cent VAT. Daily wet berth, high season 1 July to 31 August: 10 m EUR 138, 12 m EUR 168, 15 m EUR 204, 20 m EUR 298, 24 m EUR 568, 30 m EUR 858, 40 m EUR 1,280, 50 m EUR 1,670, 60 m EUR 2,088, 90 m EUR 3,308. Shoulder, 1 April to 30 June and 1 September to 31 October: 12 m EUR 160, 20 m EUR 284, 40 m EUR 1,216. Winter, 1 January to 31 March and 1 November to 31 December: 12 m EUR 142, 20 m EUR 260. Add 10 per cent on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in July and August. Catamarans and trimarans pay 100 per cent more on every category, all year. Monthly, 1 April to 15 October: 12 m EUR 3,800, 20 m EUR 6,750, 45 m EUR 33,300; from 16 October to 31 March, 12 m EUR 2,508 and 20 m EUR 4,456. Annual: 12 m EUR 9,592, 15 m EUR 12,850, 20 m EUR 21,178, 26 m EUR 29,388, 30 m EUR 36,304, 40 m EUR 59,356 and 50 m EUR 85,294, which is where the annual table ends. Note that ACI's Split web page caps the annual berth at 26 m while this same-year price list quotes annual and six-month rates to 50 m; the two cannot both be right and only the marina office can say which it will apply. Commercially chartered boats add 20 per cent to monthly, semi-annual and annual rates here.
- Fuel, water, power and what is extra
- Electricity and water for normal boat use are included in the berth price at Split in every contract category, and so is waste collection; Split is not one of the three ACI marinas that meter power or the two that meter water, so there is no consumption bill to argue about at the end of a winter. Water for washing the boat is charged separately by length under the marina's internal price list. Fuel is not in the marina: the station is about 0.05 nautical miles north in front of the Hotel Marjan, it queues badly on charter turnaround days, and Croatia offers no duty-free fuel, supplies or services to any yacht, which is a direct and expensive contrast with Montenegro a day's steaming south. Dry storage and lifting are small-boat scale: 15 dry berths, a crane quoted at 10 tonnes, and a single crane operation, which the table defines as one movement and so one lift or one launch rather than both, costing EUR 164 at 8 m, EUR 338 at 12 m and EUR 468 at 14 m in 2026, with nothing published above 14 m. Half-day berths are offered at most ACI marinas but not at this one. A tender or chase boat lying alongside the mother vessel is not charged, but on a berth of its own it needs its own contract and costs 50 per cent of the commercial berth price.
- Where to eat, and after dark
- Zrno Soli is on the first floor of the marina building itself, a seafood room with a panoramic terrace looking across the basin to the old town, and it is listed in the Michelin Guide. There is a grocery store, a chandlery, an ATM and a laundry on site, which covers a turnaround without leaving the gate. Beyond that you walk: fifteen to twenty minutes east along the waterfront brings you into Diocletian's Palace and the full range of the old town, from konobas to pizzerias to the fish market west of the historic centre and the fruit and vegetable market on its eastern side, or you take a water taxi across the harbour. After dark the marina itself is the problem rather than the solution. Reviewers report live music from the marina's own venues and neighbouring restaurants running loudly into the early hours in season, so a light sleeper wants a berth away from the reception end of the basin.
- The fixed dates that fill it
- The date that matters most is weekly, not annual. Split is one of the largest charter home ports in Dalmatia and the fleet turns over on Saturdays, with check-out at 09:00 and check-in at 17:00, so the berths, the fuel station, the showers and the car park are all at capacity from Friday evening to Saturday night through the season. The single biggest calendar event is Ultra Europe, which returns to Split on 10 to 12 July 2026 with a Destination Ultra week running to 15 July, filling the city and the island ferries with tens of thousands of visitors. The Croatian regatta calendar puts a scatter of events in the Split channel and around Brac, Hvar and Solta through the summer, but published dates for the local classics move from year to year and Yotters could not verify them from two independent sources, so confirm any regatta week with the marina before booking around it.
- What is NOT published
- Depth. ACI's Split page gives a berth count and a maximum length but no depth at the entrance or alongside, and the third-party numbers contradict each other flatly: Dockwalk lists a maximum draught of 5 m, mySea gives 9.5 m, a cruising wiki says the berths lie in depths of up to 3 m and a charter operator quotes 9 m. Get it in writing from the office before committing a deep hull. The berth count is not settled either, running from 318 to 364 wet berths and 15 to 60 dry depending on who is counting. There is no published tariff for a superyacht above 90 m, no published ISPS status, no published per-kWh or per-cubic-metre rate because consumption is bundled, and no waiting-list information for annual contracts. The vignette is also effectively unpublished: it is set by regulation on length and engine power, and the two agents' figures Yotters could find differ by a factor of several, so calculate it officially rather than from anybody's table.
Cosa riferiscono armatori ed equipaggi
The shore facilities are the recurring complaint, not the berth
Reviews posted across 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025 describe the sanitary block as dirty, old, undersized and smelly, with hot water that could not be regulated and shortages of water at times, queues at weekends, and marineros described as unfriendly. One reviewer called it the worst marina he had used in Croatia and singled out how tight the space is for larger boats and how bad the parking situation is; another reported paying in advance for a guaranteed week's parking and finding no space on return, and being told that was his problem.
mySeaNoise and basin cleanliness draw specific criticism
Visitor reviews report concerts at venues inside the marina and at neighbouring restaurants running extremely loud until the early morning, and describe oil film and floating rubbish in the harbour basin. The marina nonetheless holds a Blue Flag and the Croatian ministry's Naturally Yours sustainability award, which is a gap between accreditation and reported experience that a buyer should weigh for himself.
TripadvisorIt is run first and foremost as a charter base
Multiple charter operators list Split as a home base with their fleets on named piers, and publish the same turnaround: check out Saturday 09:00, check in Saturday 17:00. One base describes berths across piers A, B and E. The practical reading for a private yacht is that Friday evening to Saturday night is the worst possible window to arrive, and that the marina's staffing and services are sized around fleet handovers rather than around individual visitors.
Angelina and Split Yacht CharterThe eating is better than the plumbing
Zrno Soli sits on the first floor of the ACI marina building with a panoramic terrace over the basin and the old town, and is listed in the Michelin Guide. It is one of the few cases in the Adriatic where the marina's own restaurant is a reason to take the berth rather than a fallback.
Michelin GuideThe paperwork burden scales sharply with flag and size
A non-EU-flagged yacht chartering in Croatia needs a cabotage licence on top of VAT and eCrew registration, issued for one year on a first come, first served basis and taking around a month to obtain. Appointing a Croatian ship agent is mandatory for any yacht over 45 m regardless of flag. Yachts must clear at a port open to international traffic and leave by the shortest route after clearing out, with AIS monitored and penalties applied for delay.
Praxis Yacht Services
Cosa convince e cosa va valutato
Punti di forza
- A published price for every metre from 8 to 90ACI prints a full tariff by length, season and contract type for every marina in the chain, updated 1 April 2026 and inclusive of 25 per cent VAT. Almost no marina at this end of the market does, and it means you can budget a Croatian season to the euro before you leave home.
- Power, water and waste are in the berth priceSplit is not one of the ACI marinas with consumption meters, so electricity and water for normal boat use and waste collection are bundled into every category, daily through annual. For a boat wintering on shore power that is a material saving and it removes the usual end-of-season argument.
- You berth inside a UNESCO city, not outside oneDiocletian's Palace is twenty minutes on foot or a short water taxi away, the Lungomare promenade starts at the gate, and the airport, the ferries and a full provisioning market are all within half an hour. Very few Adriatic marinas put a real city that close to the passerelle.
- Open all year, in a chain that works as one systemOne of eighteen ACI marinas open year round, with a single contract, a single card, app booking, loyalty awards at ten to forty years and the option to move around twenty-two marinas from Umag to Dubrovnik.
- Real transparency about its own hazardsACI publishes the light characteristics, the recommended charts, the ferry right-of-way rule, the anchoring ban and the fact that the western waterfront is unsurveyed and must not be used. That is more honest approach information than most marinas give.
Da valutare
- ACI does not agree with itself on how big an annual berth it sellsThe marina web page caps the annual contract at 26 m. ACI's own 2026 price list prints annual and six-month wet berth rates for Split every metre to 50 m, and monthly rates to 90 m. Both are current, both are ACI's, and a buyer at 40 m cannot tell from either whether a season here is on offer. Behind them sit 15 dry berths and a 10 tonne crane whose tariffs stop at 14 m, so whichever answer holds there is no refit proposition at this marina for anything substantial.
- The shore facilities do not match the priceReviewers across four years describe the sanitary block as dirty, old, undersized and smelly, with weekend queues, too little parking and curt staff, at a marina charging EUR 168 a night for 12 m in July, and EUR 184.80 on the July Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays when a charter crew is actually there.
- Ferry traffic, wash and noise are permanentYou are berthed inside the third busiest passenger port in the Mediterranean, moving around six million passengers a year. Departing ships have right of way, anchoring is banned throughout the harbour, and reviewers report live music from the marina and neighbouring restaurants running into the early hours.
- The jugo puts swell in despite the breakwaterACI's rock breakwater is stated to protect against southerlies and it does keep the boat safe, but southerly and southwesterly weather is consistently reported to put swell into the area, and the jugo's rolling sea persists after the wind eases. The outer berths toward the ferry terminal feel it most.
- Charter churn owns the weekend, and multihulls pay doubleSaturday check-out at 09:00 and check-in at 17:00 saturate the berths, the fuel station and the car park across the whole base. Catamarans and trimarans pay a 100 per cent surcharge at Split on every category, and commercially chartered boats add a further 20 per cent to monthly and longer contracts.
- Depths and capacity are not publishedACI gives no depth at the entrance or alongside and third-party figures range from 3 m to 9.5 m with a 5 m maximum draught quoted elsewhere. The berth count varies from 318 to 364 across sources. A deep or large yacht has to get both confirmed in writing.
A chi si rivolge: An owner or charterer cruising Dalmatia who wants to walk into a Roman city from the passerelle and will accept ferry wash, weekend crowds and a tired shower block to get it, rather than an owner of anything much over 26 m looking for a season base, at least until ACI reconciles a web page that caps the annual berth at 26 m with a price list that quotes annual rates to 50 m.