Hvar — a 68km-long island of limestone hills, lavender fields, olive groves and pine forests in the middle of the Dalmatian archipelago — is Croatia's most fashionable and most beautiful island destination: a place where Venetian Gothic architecture in the old town harbours a vibrant café and restaurant culture, where celebrity yachts anchor in the same water as fishing boats, where ancient hilltop fortresses overlook some of the Adriatic's finest beaches, and where the nightlife (particularly at Carpe Diem on the Pakleni Islands, a short water taxi ride from Hvar Town) has established the island as the Croatian equivalent of Ibiza. Hvar also has the highest sunshine hours of any island in the Adriatic — a claim backed by meteorological records — and the lavender harvest in June creates a landscape and fragrance that make the island briefly among the most beautiful in the Mediterranean.
Hvar Town — the island's main settlement, dominated by the 13th-century Venetian fortress (Fortica) on the hill above the harbour — is the most sophisticated town in Croatia: the main square (Trg Svetog Stjepana), the largest square in Dalmatia, is flanked by the 16th-century Cathedral of Saint Stephen and the Venetian arsenal (which houses the first public theatre in Croatia, opened in 1612), the harbour is lined with the finest restaurant terraces on the Adriatic, and the warren of stone lanes behind the waterfront conceals boutiques, galleries and excellent local wine bars serving plavac mali (the local red wine from which zinfandel is descended).
Hvar Town & the Fortress
The Fortica fortress (also called the Spanish Fortress, though it predates Spanish involvement, dating to the 13th century with Venetian renovations) rises 90 metres above Hvar Town and provides the finest panorama of the island and the Pakleni Islands chain across the water. The 15-minute climb through the stone lanes above the town arrives at the fortress walls (entry €8) with views that explain immediately why Hvar has attracted visitors from the Venetians onwards. The old town around the main square rewards slow walking — the Renaissance loggia, the Cathedral of Saint Stephen's campanile (open for climbing), and the stone alleyways east of the square are all worth exploring without a specific plan.
Beaches & the Pakleni Islands
Hvar's beaches are generally pebble or rock (with the finest sand at Dubovica, 4km east of Hvar Town by road, and at Mlini near Stari Grad) rather than sand, but the water quality is exceptional — the Adriatic around Hvar is some of the clearest sea water in Europe. The Pakleni Islands (Paklinski otoci) — a chain of 16 wooded islands directly in front of Hvar Town, accessible by water taxi every 15–20 minutes (€3–5 per person) — have excellent swimming coves, nudist beaches, the famous Carpe Diem beach club (the most glamorous party venue in Croatia), and several good restaurants. The water taxi to Palmižana (Sveti Klement island) is the most popular excursion — the sheltered bay has clear water and the excellent restaurant of the same name.
The Lavender Fields & Stari Grad
The island's interior plateau (Hvarsko Polje) is covered with lavender fields — most intensely so around the villages of Velo Grablje and Humac — that flower in June when the island is briefly purple and fragrant. The harvest takes place by hand in traditional fashion; the essential oil produced (the basis of Hvar's famous lavender products) is distilled in village stills that visitors can observe during the harvest period. Stari Grad — the older settlement at the island's eastern end, founded by the ancient Greeks (it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Croatia) — is quieter and more genuinely historic than Hvar Town: the Tvrdalj (a Renaissance castle with a fish pond, built by the 16th-century Croatian poet Petar Hektorović) is the finest Renaissance building on the island. The Stari Grad Plain (Ager Pharensis) — the geometric Greek land allotment system of the 4th century BCE, still visible in the field patterns — is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
