Hvar Island Travel Guide

Why Hvar is Croatia's Most Complete Island

Hvar's reputation as a party island — justified by its concentration of yacht bars, beach clubs and summer nightlife — represents only a fraction of what makes the island exceptional. The old town of Hvar (Hvar Grad) is one of the finest examples of Venetian urban planning anywhere in the Adriatic: built over three centuries from the 13th to 16th, it contains the largest open piazza in Dalmatia, the oldest municipal theatre in the world still in its original location (Arsenal Theatre, 1612), and a Franciscan Monastery with a collection of Renaissance paintings that would be notable in any European capital.

Above the town, the Spanish Fortress (Fortica) rises to 100m above sea level with panoramic views across the Adriatic to the Italian coast on clear days — and down to the Pakleni Islands archipelago that stretches from Hvar's western cape. The Pakleni Islands are the most consistently beautiful swimming destination in Dalmatia: nine wooded islands with natural bays, clear water and depths perfect for snorkelling, connected by regular water taxis from Hvar harbour.

The island's interior is a completely different world — lavender and rosemary fields, dry stone walls, abandoned hilltop villages and vineyards producing the Plavac Mali red grape from which the world's most expensive Croatian wine (Dingač, from across the channel on Pelješac) is descended. The village of Vrboska has been described as "the Dalmatian Venice", and the town of Stari Grad (the island's oldest settlement, founded 384BC by Greeks from Paros) has its own UNESCO-listed agricultural landscape — the oldest continuously cultivated field system in Europe.