Island Hvar – Your place for best holiday

Hotel Pharia

Description and contents

* Vehicle access to the property

Distances

Beach:
100 m
Center:
800 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel AMFORA grand beach resort

Luxurious accommodation
Suitable for youth

Tucked into a tranquil bay, surrounded by a lush pine grove, and only a short ten-minute walk from the historic city of Hvar, Amfora is the most exciting new resort in the Adriatic.

Description and contents

* Vehicle access to the property
* Exchange office
* Laundry service
* No.of meeting halls:1
* Safe on reception desk
* Beauty salon
* Hairdressers
* Open swimming pool
* Swimming-pool for children
* Sauna
* Massage
* Fitness club

Distances

Beach:
50 m
Center:
200 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel ADRIANA marina hotel & spa

Perched on the promenade, facing the old city center, the view from Adriana, Croatia’s first and only member of The Leading Small Hotels of the World, combines the Cathedral, the Arsenal, the Venetian piazza, the yacht harbor and the bay all in one soft sweep of the eyes.

Description and contents

* Exchange office
* Laundry service
* Safe on reception desk
* Beauty salon
* Hairdressers
* Indoor swimming pool
* Sauna
* Massage

Distances

Beach:
200 m
Center:
100 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel RIVA yacht harbour hotel

Hovering on the waterfront promenade in the heart of the medieval Hvar Town, Riva – Hvar Yacht Harbor Hotel, Croatia’s first and only member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, offers you the finest in Adriatic ambiance.

Description and contents

* Exchange office
* Laundry service
* Safe on reception desk

Distances

Beach:
200 m
Center:
10 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel PALACE

As the oldest hotel in Hvar, The Palace—Hvar is a grand dame framed by gothic and renaissance architecture. History lovers will particularly enjoy its central location, which provides romantic views of the ancient piazza and neighboring buildings such as St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Description and contents

Distances

Beach:
300 m
Center:
20 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel DALMACIJA

Dalmacija, hvar villa hotel, is an antique Hvar-stone building that sits on the waterfront promenade in a small cove just around the corner from the town centre. A prominent view of the Franciscan Monastery, the Paklinski Islands and Hvar’s bay.

Description and contents

Distances

Beach:
200 m
Center:
50 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel PHAROS bayhill hotel

Perched on a small hill approximately five-minutes walking distance from the centre of Hvar and the seashore, Pharos has a postcard perfect view of the bay and Paklinski Islands.

Description and contents

* Vehicle access to the property
* Open swimming pool

Distances

Beach:
100 m
Center:
200 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel DELFIN harbourcourt hotel

Located on Hvar’s one and only waterfront promenade, Delfin is a clean, two-star hotel. With stunning views of the fortress, yacht harbour, and the old city, Delfin boasts classic Adriatic ambiance.

Description and contents

* Exchange office
* Laundry service

Distances

Beach:
200 m
Center:
100 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
20.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel Park

Park Hotel is situated in the heart of the town, between the one time Rector’s Palace and St. Mark church, which is disclosing to your eyes the signs of its long existance and the grand view of the south port and the Pakleni islands.

Description and contents

* Section for nonsmokers
* Exchange office
* Laundry service
* Safe on reception desk
* Hairdressers

Distances

Beach:
200 m
Center:
10 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
18.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel Podstine

Podstine is a peaceful and family-friendly place, a picturesque resort with one of the best spas in Europe, it has an excellent restaurant, a terrace and café bar overlooking the sea, Wellness “Spalmaris”, swimming pool, massage bath tubs, gym, sauna.

Description and contents

* Vehicle access to the property
* Section for nonsmokers
* Exchange office
* Laundry service
* Safe on reception desk
* Wellness centar
* Open swimming pool
* Sauna
* Massage
* Fitness club

Distances

Beach:
20 m
Center:
700 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
18.00 km Stari Grad

Hotel Croatia

Hotel Croatia is located in the city of Hvar at the so-called island, only about ten minutes walk from the old city centre and city port. It is situated by the sea in the beautiful park of pine trees. It is built in 1936 and reconstructed in 1997. Hotel Croatia is family runned hotel.

Description and contents

* Vehicle access to the property
* Fitness club

Distances

Beach:
30 m
Center:
1200 m
International airport:
70.00 km Split
Ferry-port:
18.00 km Stari Grad

Hvar

Hvar is the sunniest place in Europe. It has 2700 hours of sunshine a year. During winter, if it snows guests have a free stay during snowy days…

The origins of the Tudor name in Milna

According to the legend, an English war ship sank near Hvar and one member of the English Royal family Tudor saved himself swimming ashore. He could have gone back to England, but wouldn’t have left the beauty of Hvar.

The name of the island

Is Greek in origin, from Pharos and from it the Romans derived the name Pharia. The Dalmatian Romans, under the influence of Croatian pronunciation in the medieval documents spelt the name as Quara. In the 11th century the Italians called it Lesina. This was derived from an old Croatian word les meaning wood. The Venetians called the island Liesna which meant “awl”. It is probably because of the form of cutting edge of the eastern part of the island…

Stari Grad

Stari Grad is the oldest town in Europe founded by the Greeks from the island of Paros in 384 BC.

The roman Taurida

The roman Taurida stood on the site of the present-day islet of Scedro. Just in front of that islet in 47 BC there was a historical battle in which Caesar’s fleet beat the Pompey’s fleet…

The oldest depiction of ship

The oldest depiction of ship in Europe is on the pottery fragment found in the Grapceva spilja. Some people believe that the Grapceva spilja was a place where Odysseus fought against Cyclops. The fragments from the legend: “…That was the land of the Cyclops about which Odysseus knew nothing. He just moored and saw a cave overshadowed by a laurel tree and a huge stone protected the entrance. There lived Cyclops, all by himself…”

The first meteorological station

The first meteorological station was founded in 1858. It was established in the tower of the monastery of Veneranda. Today we have one of the most beautiful disco clubs inside the monastery.

Ivan Vucetic

Ivan Vucetic a police official from Hvar, was the first person in the world to perfect dactyloscopy, the identification method by fingertips, the basics for forensics.

Heraklea

Some archeologists suppose that a still unidentified Heraklea might have existed on the site of present-day Hvar town, as could be indicated by the coins founded bearing the name of that town…

Astronomical observatory in Hvar

Hvar has the astronomical observatory in the fort of Napoljun, built by the Emperor Napoleon in 1811…

Theatre in Hvar

Hvar has the oldest communal theatre in Europe built in 1612..

The benedictines

The benedictines in Hvar are very famous for making lace out of agava threads. There is a legend connected to the agava threads saying that the Neolithic man, who inhabited the Grapceva spilja, caught fish by a net made out of agava threads…

The last supper

One of the most famous paintings of the last supper is the one by Matteo Ponzoni, in the Franciscan monastery in Hvar… In the collection of the Franciscan monastery is also the atlas of Ptolomej from 1525 year…

The square of Hvar

The square of Hvar is the largest and perhaps the most beautiful town square on the Adriatic…

Lavander

Hvar is also the island of the pink fields of lavander. From the first twigs found in Velo Grablje, this aromatic plant developed all over the fields of Hvar. It blossoms in June, July and August. The medical part of the plant are flowers which should be picked as soon as they blossom.

As a well-indented, with numerous hidden bays and nearby islets, the island of Hvar represents a real heaven for naturists… It is not only the beaches for naturists, but many isolated bays, so beautiful that take your breath away…
The islet of Zecevo is situated at the very entrance to Jelsa. The intact nature, pebble beaches overshadowed by pine trees, only 15 minutes by a taxi boat which takes you every day from Jelsa…

On the opposite side of the islet there is the Glavice peninsula, far and wide known among both naturists and other swimmers. Everyone can find its own peaceful spot, away from the bustle of the city. Near the Glavice, ashore, there is a nudist camp – NUDIST-Vrboska.
In front of the Hvar port extends the archipelago of 11 islands called the Pakleni otoci. They are destination for many excursionists who wish to relax amid the intact nature and the crystal blue sea. You can reach them by taxi boats which travel every day from the town of Hvar. Jerolim, Stipanska and Palmizana are among favorite naturist beaches on the Pakleni islands.

In front of the Hvar port extends the archipelago of 11 islands called the Pakleni otoci. They are destination for many excursionists who wish to relax amid the intact nature and the crystal blue sea. You can reach them by taxi boats which travel every day from the town of Hvar. Jerolim, Stipanska and Palmizana are among favorite naturist beaches on the Pakleni islands.

The health tourism on the island of Hvar has a long tradition. Due to favorable climate with lots of sun, warm summers and mild winters, health tourism was developed even in 1868.

That was the year when “The Hygienic Society” was established in order to promote tourism and catering.That was also the first tourist society in Europe.

We have this tradition even today. Crystal blue sea, oasis of the intact nature, odour of lavander and the sun make this island irreplaceble for health tourism…

As well as other islands of the middle and south Adriatic the island of Hvar is rich in autochthonous grape sorts out of which high quality wines are being produced in a traditional way. Manual work, no pesticides used and small yiels per wine-stock turn a grape into a drop of gold… (more on wine production…)

In the 4th century B.C. the Greeks started an organized production of grape during the colonization of the island of Hvar. The very beginning was on Stari Grad plain due to the vicinity of commercial and administrative town of Pharos.
Having conquered the whole island two centuries later, the Romans began to spread the area of viticulture on every piece of fertile land and therefore upgraded wine production. From that time to the present day the grape has a direct influence on development on the island and remains an unavoidable companion of a man being his food, drink and joy.

It is no coincidence that the wine production on the island of Hvar has developed beyond imaginable. The island of Hvar has an Adriatic climate influenced a great deal by the Mediterranean, mild winters, warm summers with long insolation. Favorable precipitation throughout a year and low humidity in the period of ripening have a good influence on the growth of grape and at the same time prevents the plant disease. Nowhere in this part of Europe there is a place that has a total sum of temperature during vegetation period so high as the island of Hvar has (294 days of vegetation × 20,4°C average temp. = 5936).
Long insolation of the island of Hvar is also significant for the growth of grape.
Top quality wines are being produced out of the sort plavac mali from the slopes on the southern part of the island. A yield of grape from this area is not more than 0,7 kg per wine stock. Top quality wine plavac has a characteristic intensive dark ruby red colour, rich essence, relatively high percentage of alcohol, moderate sourness (freshness), fullness and harmony of taste.
Quality wines plavac are being produced from the vineyards of the central part of the island. Those wines are also exquisite and of intensive ruby red colour, pleasant, fresh and finely made.
Along with top quality and quality wines, dessert wines (prosecco) and porto wine of 17 to 19 % of alcohol are being produced.

Take a walk along the sunniest Mediterranean island and enjoy the scent of spices and taste of fruits enriched in traditional Mediterranean kitchen by diligent Hvar people…
Authenticity and unpolluted environment of the island of Hvar are the guarantee of top quality products and at the same time, blessing to the development of traditional Mediterranean kitchen. With so much love for the natural resources and a little bit of creativity your meal becomes a hedonistic ritual…
Enjoy your meal! (more on culinary art)

Traditional dishes on the island of Hvar, and in Dalmatia in general, are recognized by modern nutritionists.
Food not overcooked, fresh fish and sea food, virgin olive oil, vegetables and wild grown plants out of an untoxicated area, when we take into consideration highly toxicated food in highly developed industrial countries, fit in Hippocrat’s basic norms: “Let the food be your medicine, and your medicine to be the food you take”.

Fresh sea fish (dentex, sea bass, gilthead, grouper, mackerel, pilchard) grilled, cooked or marinated; squids, cuttlefish, octopus, crabs (shrimps and lobsters), shellfish (mussels, oysters, Noah’s ark) prepared as a fish soup or risotto, Dalmatian smoked ham (prsut) served with fresh or dried goat cheese, green and black olives, caper and small onion, lamb cooked or roasted, famous pasticada with gnocchi… these are some of the dishes you can taste and enjoy in numerous restaurants in Hvar.

Boiled vegetables are favorite dish (Swisschard with potatoes, tomato sauce).
Very often you can have a mixture of vegetables and wild grown plants with olive oil and basil vinegar served with cooked lamb.

Typical desserts in Hvar will enchant you with its simplicity and rich taste. Common ingredients are Mediterranean fruit (dried fig, raisins, almond), honey and fresh eggs; and rafioli, mandulati, smokvenjaci, paprenjaci and rozata (traditional names of cakes) can be taken with prosek (sherry), a sweet product of wine.

Variations of dishes prepared according to the traditional recipes, virgin olive oil and high-quality wines are simply irresistable and will guarantee you the highest gastronomic pleasure.

Since Hvar lay in the middle of the main sea routes, history has left here many traces, maybe more than on any other Adriatic island. Constant fights over the island can only confirm its importance and value of its territory.. Each of the conquistadors left their traces in the history, a mark for the future…
The history of the island goes back into the prehistoric period, and the finds from two most important caves prove that: Grapčeva and Markova špilja (caves) substantiate the existence of life on the island 6000 years old. Characteristic examples of painted pottery enabled us to identify the so-called Hvar culture (around 3500 to 2500 BC). The oldest depiction of a ship in Europe was found on a pottery fragment in Grapceva spilja.

The town of Pharos was founded in 385 BC by the Ionian Greeks, the Parans, predominantly as an agrarian colony. The map of land division of the fertile plain of Stari Grad is an exceptional document 2500 years old and belongs to that period. It is today one of 3 oldest plains in the world with preserved Greek land division.

After the fall of the Syracuse Empire in the middle of the 4th century BC, Pharos was without protection from invasion by the Illyrians. Pharos came under the rule of the Romans in 219 BC and was called Pharia. In the period of the Roman rule villae rusticae were built over the whole island, mostly in the town of Hvar, Stari Grad and around the present-day Jelsa.

In the early Middle Ages Hvar was under Croatian auspicies. In 1420 Hvar came under the Venetians and remained so until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. Hvar became the main Venetian port in the eastern part of the Adriatic. Later on Hvar came under the Austrian rule (1797) until the arrival of the French (1806), and their constant fight marked that period.

The Austrians reoccupied the island in the 2nd half of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century bringing a period of relative prosperity. Around that time all the island ports were rebuilt. Its prominence in nautical and trade domination became quite large, so in that period there were four consulates in the town of Hvar: Greek, Parmesan, Papal and Napolitan.
The first meteorological station in Croatia was established in the tower of the monastery of Veneranda in 1858. Weather conditions helped to promote tourism on Hvar. As a result, the first tourist society in Europe was founded in 1868.

In 1918 the Italian army occupied the island and the occupation lasted until 1921, when Hvar, along with the whole of Croatia, joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, succeeded by the Republic of Yugoslavia after the Second World War.

Hvar obtained a new administrative position in the territorial reorganisation that took place after the recognition of Croatia as an independent state (1992)…

Outstanding palaces and churches, valuable paintings and sculptures, important literal and music works have been created over a long period, and still the artists find the inexhaustible inspiration in the beautiful island…
Hanibal Lucic, Petar Hektorovic, Vinko Pribojevic, Miksa Pelegrinovic… only a few of the protagonists of the Croatian culture who lived and worked on the island.

Hvar Island has always attracted a cosmopolitan mix. Its position on the Adriatic made it a coveted staging post for trade, and its bright blue coves and hills carpeted with pine, sage and lavender made it an easy place to stay. It’s been fought over by the Greeks (as early as 300 BC), Illyrians, Romans, Venetians and Ottoman Turks.

It’s still a melting pot. Over an early morning cappuccino at Loco cafe in Hvar Town’s main square, I do some people-watching, noticing plum-accented British yachties, Dutch, Russians and slick Italians who look as if they’ve been spray-tanned and stepped straight from a cologne advert. Even the Serbs have started to return.

I feel a little under-dressed – this is undoubtedly fashionista territory. But behind the glitzy sheen of yachts and flashy restaurants there’s still a local culture – rugged fishermen singing love songs over their seafood, old timers selling crochet wares, sombrely dressed nuns with wise faces trudging up and down hillside steps from the Benedictine monastery.

Not so long ago, in the early 90s, Croatia was a war-torn country, and places as close as Dubrovnik were no-go areas. Even before that, the Communist tendrils of the UDBA (Secret Police) reached as far as Hvar and locals were wary of chatting about politics to outsiders for fear of reprisals. So what I first think is guardedness I gradually understand to be a by-product of the past. Look behind the initial reserve and you’ll find a truly Croatian warmth and cheekiness.

A short walk to the outskirts of town, past the 15th-century Franciscan Monastery, brings me to a little beach: the jetting-off point for Hvar Adventure, who take me on a day’s easy kayaking around the neighbouring Pakleni Islands. Patcho, our group leader, and his assistant Sylvia are charming, easy-going types who set a relaxed pace (our group ranges from 20 to 60 years old). We glide across the bay and find a quiet spot on wooded Jerolim to swim under the scrutiny of some die-hard nudists. By midday we’re on another island: Stipanska, where we stop for a lunch of spaghetti bolognaise and light white wine.

But the real highlight is our final stop, the tiny island of Galisnik. Just a stone’s throw from Hvar town harbour, it’s the perfect place to slake our salt-caked thirst. A restaurant on the summit of the island is home to strutting roosters, two randy dogs and a donkey called Mercedes who’s been called as witness at a number of hush-hush weddings. Strangely, nobody seems to know about Galisnik. Apart from you, me and the donkey.

By around 7pm the dusk is closing in and the town square becomes a sunset-lit runway for the evening parade. At busy Restaurant Posteni, over delicious fried bass, I resume the people-watching.