Split

The two are not fast and slow versions of the same thing.

• Catamarans (Krilo, and Jadrolinija's fast craft) carry foot passengers only, run to a fixed seat count, and land you in the middle of the town you are going to.
• Car ferries take vehicles, cost less per person, and often dock at a working port some way from the old town — Stari Grad rather than Hvar Town, Vela Luka rather than Korčula Town.

So a catamaran that costs more can still be the cheaper option once you price the bus at the far end. Book the car ferry if you have a vehicle; otherwise start from where you want to be standing when you step off.

Supetar is the main car-ferry port on the north coast. Bol is on the south coast, next to Zlatni Rat, and the road between them crosses the island. Booking Supetar because it had more sailings, when your hotel is in Bol, adds a bus ride and most of an hour.

The same trap exists on Korčula (Korčula Town versus Vela Luka) and on Hvar (Hvar Town versus Stari Grad). On all three, check which end of the island your ticket lands on.

The terminal sits on Obala Kneza Domagoja, immediately east of Diocletian's Palace — roughly a 10-minute walk from the Old Town, with the bus and train stations on the same stretch. Catamarans use the passenger piers at gates 1–4, with Jadrolinija and Krilo signage; car ferries use the larger berths further along.

This is unusually convenient for a port handling this volume. It also means the quay is crowded in July and August, and that the walk from a late catamaran into the centre is short enough to do with luggage.

Jadrolinija is the national operator and covers most of the car-ferry network. Krilo runs the fast passenger catamarans, including the long coastal run to Dubrovnik. TP Line and SNAV appear on specific routes.

Several islands are served by more than one of them, which is why the same crossing can show two very different durations and prices in a search — you are looking at two different kinds of boat, not two prices for the same trip.

If you want to see three or four islands in a week, base in Split and treat them as day trips or one-nighters: the fan means every island is a direct sailing rather than a connection. If you want one island properly, go to it and stay — inter-island links are far thinner than links back to Split, and a Hvar–Vis hop can involve returning to the mainland.

The mistake is the middle path: booking a different island every night without checking whether they connect to each other.

The Split–Dubrovnik catamaran takes about 4 h 30 m and calls at islands on the way, which makes it a scenic day rather than a transfer. The bus is quicker; the boat is the better journey.

Note it is a seasonal, once-daily service in our timetable, so it does not offer a second chance if you miss it. See the Dubrovnik guide for what happens at the other end.

The catamaran network is the seasonal part: Krilo's coastal services and the fast links to Hvar, Korčula and Vis thicken from roughly May and thin out after September. The Jadrolinija car ferries to Supetar, Stari Grad and Vela Luka run year round, because people live on those islands.

That asymmetry is worth planning around: in October you can still reach every major island from Split, but you may be doing it on a slower boat that lands somewhere other than the postcard harbour.