After years of visiting Croatian islands on day trips from Split this year I finally decided it’s time to sit in my car and head to Hvar island for a few days of exploring.
Each day was set up in a way I would spend the morning enjoying the beach while evenings were for exploring charming little towns and oh boy was it a good plan.
Since it was highs season it’s hard to avoid people completley but early morning start and a bit of effort to find some bit more secluded beaches brought success and a couple of times we had beach to ourselves for good 30mins before someone would show up. True zen moments to remember.🌞
Evening and afternoon explorations were reserved for Jelsa, Vrboska, Hvar town and Stari Grad. Each one of the towns has it’s own vibe with Vrboska being the most chill, Hvar town most posh and busy and Jelsa and Stari Grad a bit of combination of both. My personal favourite is Jelsa, that towns is a gem.
Temperatures were crazy high walking around 35 celsius so I avoided doing any serious hikes including to Hvar fortress but having been there before I focused more just on relaxation.
Upon arriving to Stari Grad we stopped at a large supermarket to buy food and mostly cooked lunch in our airbnb. We ate out one evening in Stari Grad and had delicious pizzas, salad and drinks for 2 for 50€ which seemed reasonable. We also ate out in bakeries which are very affordable, ate a lot of ice cream (ice cream fruit cup on one of the photos was 12€ and it was huuuge) and drank coffee in caffes for 2-3€ a cup.
Biggest downside is misbehaviour of tourists: on some of the hidden beaches we would occasionally find trash left by visitors whichs is really sad. Also got into a fight with an Italian dude who decided to jump in the water with his 2 large dogs, completley disregarding the fact that it’s not a dog beach and that my pregnant wife can’t swim next to dogs because of sensitivity to bacteria.
As a summary, it was a short but amazing holiday and a recovery I needed. As Hvar locals would sa: pomalo! 🐚🌞🌊
Photos 1, 4, 9: some of the beaches I swam in
Photos 2, 3: Jelsa church tower and procession
Photo 5: small vilagge
Photo 6: Hvar town
Photo 7: Jelsa
Photo 8: souvenir
Photo 10: roadside view
Photo 11: Hvar town
Photo 12: Petar Hektorović castle
Photo 13: somewhere on the island
Photo 14: Jelsa
Photo 15: Fruit ice cream cup
Photo 16: Stari Grad
Photo 17: Vrboska