Hvar

What it is

Hvar is the long, lavender-and-vineyard island south of Split, its old town one of the best-known names on the Adriatic since long before package tourism existed. The town itself — a fortress over a harbour full of yachts, a car-free centre of stone lanes — draws the crowds; the rest of the island, forty-odd kilometres of it end to end, is mostly vineyards, pine and quiet coves.

Who it suits

Two different islands share one name. Hvar town is the nightlife and yacht-harbour end — bars, a fortress, day trips out to the Pakleni islets — and it prices and books like a place with no real off-season in summer. Stari Grad, Jelsa and the quieter north coast are the other Hvar: a working harbour town, family-run hotels, coves you can still get to yourself. Neither is more "real"; they suit different trips.

When to go

June and September give the swimming weather without July and August's crowds and prices; April, May and October suit walking and wine more than the sea. In peak season, book the Split crossing ahead — the foot-passenger catamarans fill up days in advance in August. The current timetable and fares are read straight off croatianferries.com below, not typed from memory, so check them again close to your date.

How to get there

Hvar has one true car ferry and it isn't the short hop at the eastern tip: Split–Stari Grad (Jadrolinija, about 120 minutes) is the main way to bring a car onto the island, docking at Stari Grad rather than Hvar town. Drvenik–Sućuraj, at Hvar's far eastern end, is the other car crossing — short, and it queues like every other car line on this coast in summer. Everyone bound for Hvar town or Jelsa without a car arrives on one of the passenger catamarans out of Split — the full list of crossings, operators and durations is below, built from the live timetable each time this page is rebuilt.

Crossings serving Hvar

Built from the ferry spine at build time — operator, vessel, typical duration and the current one-way passenger fare range, one row per real choice (a repeated timetable line is grouped in, not listed again).

Port queue

None of Hvar's ports — Hvar, Stari Grad (Hvar), Jelsa (Hvar), Sućuraj (Hvar) — carry a live queue camera today.

Nearby on the water

From nautivia.app's places database, within about 6–12km of Hvar's ports.

• 11 marinas
• 105 anchorages
• 2 fuel docks
• 15 harbours
• 34 buoy fields
• 15 jetties

• ACI Marina Vrboska
• City Marina Vrboska
• Luka Jelsa
• Marina Zlatan Otok
• Borovac North
• Doca uvala
• Duboka
• Gračišće
• INA Hvar
• INA Vrboska-marina

See it on the source sites

• Hvar
• Stari Grad (Hvar)
• Jelsa (Hvar)
• Sućuraj (Hvar)
• nautivia.app

Today on the Adriatic · Author & How the queue light works