By the Dalmatia Express crew — skippers running the Split–island routes daily, 24/7. Updated July 2026.

I get this question every day. People ask on the dock, on WhatsApp, and at two in the morning after a late flight. Here is the straight answer. in 2026, a private water taxi from Split costs between €250 and €1,700 per boat, one-way. The price depends on the island and the class of boat. The one long-haul exception is Hvar to Dubrovnik, which runs €1,500–2,600. One thing matters more than anything else on this page: the price is per boat, not per person. It does not matter if you are two people or twelve. The quote covers the whole boat. Skipper, fuel and port fees are included.

Below you will find our full 2026 route table. We explain what is inside the price and what moves a quote up or down. We show the cost per person. We list what other Split operators charge — real numbers we checked. We compare a private boat with the Jadrolinija and Krilo catamarans. We also explain how paying works. Where the ferry is the better buy, I will say so.

Water taxi prices from Split in 2026: every route

Per boat, one-way, all-in. The low end of each range is our compact speedboat outside the peak weeks. The high end is our largest closed-cabin boat in peak season.

What’s included in every price

• The whole boat — private. No strangers, no seat-selling.
• Licensed skipper and crew — people who cross these channels every day of the year.
• Fuel — the biggest single cost of running a speedboat, and it’s in the price, never a surcharge.
• Port and berthing fees at both ends.
• Your luggage — normal holiday bags travel free. Bikes, dive gear, a pram, or a wedding dress that needs its own seat? Tell us in advance. We will plan the space.
• On airport routes: gate pickup. Our driver meets you at the arrivals exit. He drives you a few minutes to the dock. The boat leaves when you are aboard. Flight delayed? We track it and wait, free.

Why can a 55-minute boat ride cost more than your flight to Croatia? A transfer speedboat burns more fuel in one hour than most cars burn in a month. A licensed skipper’s day and commercial passenger insurance are not cheap. And every stop at a quay in Hvar in August is paid to the harbour authority. That is the honest cost base. Very cheap quotes leave these costs out. They quietly add them back later as “fuel surcharges” and “port fees”.

What moves the price inside those ranges

A range like “€370–900 to Hvar” is honest. But it is only useful if you know what moves the price. Five things matter, in order of impact:

1. Boat class

The big one. Our Lolivul 9 is the compact option. It is quick and agile, perfect for couples and small groups on short trips. It sets the bottom of each range. The Great White 35 and Great White 39 sit in the middle: closed cabins, shock-absorbent seats, real luggage space. The Great White 49 is the top of the range. It is a fully enclosed cabin boat for up to 12 passengers. It can sail in rough seas that keep open boats tied to the dock. On a 30-minute Šolta hop in July calm, the small boat is all you need. On the 80-minute Korčula crossing with wind against you, the big cabin boat is worth every euro.

2. Season

July and August are peak — demand and our costs are highest, so quotes sit in the upper half. May, June, September and October are where the bottom-of-range prices actually live. Same boats, same crew, softer numbers, emptier islands.

3. Night runs

We run 24/7. Night navigation is harder for the crew and the schedule. Departures between about 22:00 and 06:00 cost extra. A premium of 20–30% is normal across Split operators. Some apply it from as early as 19:00. With us, this is already inside your fixed quote. It is never added at the dock.

4. Extra stops

Want a swim stop in a quiet bay? A second pickup? Drop half the group in Milna and the rest in Bol? All of this is possible. We price it clearly when you ask. A short stop adds a modest fixed amount, not a second fare.

5. One-way vs return

Everything in the table is one-way. A return trip with the same boat is usually cheaper than two separate one-way trips. Same-day returns are the best value, because the boat waits for you. Ask for the round-trip quote. It is often a pleasant surprise.

Skipper’s tip: if anyone in your group gets seasick, book the morning. The Adriatic is usually calm and flat until early afternoon. Then the maestral — the regular afternoon wind — builds and makes the sea choppy. Morning departures are smoother. They are also more often quoted at the low end of the range. A closed cabin with shock-absorbent seats softens the waves that are left.

What that means per person

Because the price is per boat, the per-person cost collapses as the group grows. Worked examples with typical mid-season quotes:

Are you five people landing at Split Airport at 21:40 with a lot of luggage? Then read the family column twice. It means €110 per person, from the gate to Hvar harbour, in about one hour. Nobody queues for anything. This is the trip our service was built for. We explain the whole journey in our Split Airport to Hvar guide.

Want one exact number instead of a range? Send us your route, date and group size. You will get a fixed all-in quote in writing. In season, it usually arrives within one hour.

What other Split operators charge (an honest look)

We’d rather you compare than guess, so here’s the market as we checked it in early July 2026. Published prices change, so treat these as snapshots:

• SeaYou (Split): advertises private water taxi transfers from €450 per boat, with the final price based on nautical miles.
• Taxi Boat Split: publishes fixed prices. When we checked: €425–475 to Šolta depending on the harbour, €450–550 to Brač, €550 to Hvar Town or Stari Grad, €875 to Vis.
• GetMyBoat and similar marketplaces: Split–Hvar listings around €580 per boat for up to 12 passengers, with small open boats advertised from roughly €250. It is a marketplace. The boat, the licence and the crew behind each listing vary. Check carefully what you are booking.
• Hvar–Dubrovnik market: other operators typically list €1,200 for an 8-person open boat up to €1,800–2,200 for a 12-person cabin boat.

So why does one company quote €425 for a route another quotes €650? Almost always one of three reasons. Open RIB vs closed cabin: an open inflatable boat is cheaper to run. On a calm 30-minute trip it is fine. On a longer crossing it is wet, loud and bumpy. It is also the first boat cancelled when the wind gets stronger. Capacity: a boat licensed for 12 people with real luggage space costs more than a six-seater. But per person, it often costs less. Who you’re booking with: a reseller adds a margin on top of the boat owner’s price. Booking direct usually gets you the same boat for less. You also get a clearer answer about the weather.

None of the cheaper options are scams — they’re different products. Do two things before you compare numbers. First, convert every quote to a total per boat — a “€95 per person” offer is €570 for six people. Second, ask directly if fuel and port fees are included. If the advertised price disappears when you name a real August date, it was bait, not a price.

Water taxi vs catamaran in 2026: the real numbers

Let us be clear. For a solo traveller or a couple with time and flexibility, the public catamarans are excellent value. We will tell you so at the dock. Here are the published 2026 high-season one-way fares per person, at the time of writing. Confirm the fare for your date with Jadrolinija or Krilo, because fares change:

On price per seat, the catamaran wins nearly every time. It is a scheduled public line that carries hundreds of passengers. What it cannot sell you is time and control. Catamarans leave when the timetable says. There are only a few departures a day. Popular summer sailings sell out. They dock only at the main harbours. And there is no catamaran waiting when your delayed flight lands at 23:50. A water taxi leaves when you want, from where you want, to the exact jetty you want.

Here is the simple guide we give people on the riva (Split’s seafront promenade): if you are one to three people with flexible plans, take the catamaran. If you are four or more people — with luggage, a tight connection, a late arrival or a specific drop-off point — the private boat makes clear money sense, not just comfort sense.

Skipper’s tip: combine both. Many of our guests take the water taxi out on arrival day, when they have luggage and exact timing. They take the €10–25 catamaran back on departure day, when a fixed schedule is fine. One-way private, one-way public is the best-value combination on this coast. And no, suggesting it does not offend us.

How to get an exact quote (and how paying actually works)

Ranges are for articles; your booking gets one fixed number. To get it, send us five things through the contact page, WhatsApp or email:

1. Route and direction — one-way or return
2. Date and preferred departure time
3. Number of passengers, children included
4. Luggage — roughly how many bags, plus anything oversized
5. For airport pickups: your flight number, so we can track it

You’ll get back a fixed price for a specific boat, everything included, in writing. What you see is what you pay — no fuel supplement, no port-fee surprise at the dock.

Payment reality: serious Split operators, us included, take a deposit to confirm the booking. You pay the rest on the day — by card, PayPal, bank transfer or cash. Marketplaces and tour platforms usually charge the full amount upfront instead. Whoever you book with, get the total and the payment terms in writing before you pay anything.

Cancellation reality: if the skipper cancels for weather, you should never lose money. With us, that means a free rebooking or a full refund of everything paid. You choose. Any operator worth booking offers the same. Our fleet has closed cabins, so we sail safely on days when open boats stay in the harbour. Weather cancellations are rare for us.

Frequently asked questions

Is the price per person or per boat?

Per boat, always — with us and with every legitimate private water taxi in Split. One fixed price covers the boat, skipper, fuel and fees, up to the vessel’s licensed capacity. If a quote from another company is per person, it is a shared shuttle or a tour, not a private taxi.

Why is a water taxi so much more expensive than the ferry?

You are not buying one seat among several hundred on a public line. You are buying the whole boat. That includes more than 100 litres of fuel on a longer crossing, a professional skipper’s day, berthing fees and insurance. It also buys full control of the schedule, door to door. Divide the price by a full group and the gap shrinks fast. Eight people to Hvar is about €63 each, against €25 on the peak-season catamaran.

Do I have to pay a deposit?

Usually, yes. Direct operators confirm with a deposit and take the balance on the day; online platforms typically charge everything at booking. A deposit is normal in high season — a total price that exists only verbally is not. Insist on written confirmation.

What happens if the weather cancels my transfer?

If we cancel for safety, you choose. Move the transfer for free, or take a full refund including the deposit. Closed-cabin boats like ours run in conditions that cancel open RIB boats. So if your date cannot move — a flight, a wedding — the cabin boat is the safer booking.

Can we split the cost with another group?

Within your own booking, absolutely — that’s the whole per-boat logic. Two couples splitting a €500 Hvar transfer pay €125 per couple. What we don’t do is sell your spare seats to strangers; a private taxi stays private.

What’s the cheapest water taxi route from Split?

Split to Šolta, from €250 for the 30-minute trip. Cheapest per person is a different question. Fill a 12-seat boat to Hvar or Brač. Then the price per person comes close to a catamaran ticket, with none of the queuing.

Is there a night surcharge?

Across the Split market, yes — typically 20–30% for departures roughly between 22:00 and 06:00, some operators from 19:00. We run genuinely 24/7 and build any night premium into the single fixed quote upfront, so a 2 a.m. airport pickup never produces a surprise at the dock.

The bottom line

For 2026, plan on €250–450 to Šolta, €270–900 to Brač, €370–900 to Hvar (€400–900 from the airport), €460–1,000 to Vis, €800–1,700 to Korčula, and €1,500–2,600 for Hvar–Dubrovnik — per boat, everything included. Cheap? No. Fairly priced for a private, door-to-door boat with a professional skipper, on your schedule? We think so. The numbers above let you judge for yourself.

Tell us your route, date and group size, and we’ll send a fixed, all-in quote today. If the catamaran is honestly the better option for your trip, we’ll tell you that too. Vidimo se na rivi — see you on the waterfront.

Related guides

• Split Airport to the islands — how to reach the islands straight from Split Airport.
• Wedding guest transport for Hvar and Brač — how to move wedding guests between Split and the islands smoothly.
• Ferry cancellations: your backup plan — what to do when your ferry is cancelled or delayed.
• Split Airport to Hvar — the fastest options from Split Airport straight to Hvar island.
• Hvar transfers in rough sea or at night — what happens to your transfer when the sea is rough or the ferry runs late.

Part of our island transport series — see also the complete Split–Hvar ferry guide.