About Hvar

Hvar sits in the central Adriatic between Split and Dubrovnik, part of a cluster of islands that also includes Brač, Vis and Korčula. At 299.6 km² it's the fourth-largest island in the Adriatic, and at 68.2 km long it's also the longest, which is why so many visitors explore this coast by private gulet charter instead of trying to cover it by car and ferry.

History

Long before Greek settlers arrived, people were already living on Hvar. Excavations at Grapčeva Cave, above the village of Grabovac, have turned up pottery and hearths dating back to roughly 6000 BC, and the distinctive painted ware found there gave its name to the wider Hvar culture recognized across the Adriatic Neolithic. Millennia later, in 384 BC, Greek colonists from Paros founded the settlement of Pharos at what is now Stari Grad, dividing the surrounding plain into rectangular plots bordered by dry stone walls — a layout that has survived largely intact for over two thousand years and is still farmed today. That plain, the Stari Grad Plain, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 as the best-preserved example of ancient Greek land division anywhere in the Mediterranean.

Centuries later, Hvar became an important Venetian outpost, ruled from Venice between 1420 and 1797 and serving as one of its main ports in the eastern Adriatic; the Venetians also brought vine cuttings from the Veneto that helped establish the island's wine tradition. That period shaped much of the town's architecture: St. Stephen's Cathedral, built mainly between the 16th and 18th centuries with a bell tower completed around 1549–1550, replaced an earlier church that had served the diocese since the bishopric moved there from Stari Grad in the 13th century. Just off the main square, the Hvar Theatre opened in 1612 inside the Arsenal building and is considered one of the oldest surviving public theatres in Europe — unusually for its time, it was open to all citizens regardless of social class. Lavender was once a major local crop too, grown and distilled for oil after the island's vineyards declined in the 20th century — though today the old lavender terraces have largely given way to pine forest, so the postcard fields of purple are harder to find than the photos suggest.

After a brief spell under Napoleonic French rule, Austria retook the island in 1813 and governed it into the 20th century, a period that brought new roads, rebuilt ports, lighthouses and, in 1868, the founding of the Hvar Hygienic Society — an early health-tourism initiative for foreign visitors that is often cited as one of the first organized tourist associations in Europe. Marketed at the time as the "Austrian Riviera," Hvar became easier to reach once the Vienna–Trieste railway opened in 1857, cutting a journey that once took days down to around twelve hours by rail and boat.

Geography & Nature

The town of Hvar, on the island's south coast, is its largest settlement, with a population of just under 4,000 (10,678 across the whole island, per the 2021 census). The island is known as one of the sunniest spots in Europe, with an average of roughly 2,700 hours of sunshine a year. Its interior is a mix of vineyards, olive groves and pine forest crossed by old stone-walled footpaths, while the coastline drops into some of the clearest water in the Adriatic. Just offshore, the Pakleni Islands — a chain of small islets and reefs — are the most popular day-trip destination from Hvar Town, known for quiet coves and clear water. Above the town, the hilltop fortress of Fortica looks out over the harbor and the islands beyond, and is worth the climb if the heat allows it.

Culture & Modern Hvar

Wine remains central to island life: the sun-facing slopes on Hvar's southern coast produce robust reds from the Plavac Mali grape, while the central plain is better suited to whites, a split in styles that goes back to the terrain the Greeks first parceled out on the Stari Grad Plain. Local cooking leans on what the sea and the terraces provide — fish, olive oil, rosemary and other wild herbs — in the same understated Dalmatian style found across the coast. Hvar was also a literary center during the Croatian Renaissance, producing poets such as Petar Hektorović, and several of its churches still hold artwork attributed to Venetian painters. That mix of history and scenery, combined with a reputation for lively summer nightlife built up since the mid-20th century, has made the town one of the busiest stops on the Adriatic in July and August — one more reason travelers who want a quieter pace often prefer to see the island from the water rather than fight for a berth in the harbor.