Hvar

Swimming is the centre of a summer on Hvar. The water is very clear, and it is warm enough from June to late September, reaching about 25°C in August. The shore is pebble and rock almost everywhere, so expect coves and flat stone ledges, not long sandy strands. Taxi boats run from Hvar Town harbour to the Pakleni Islands just offshore, where Palmižana, Jerolim and Stipanska have pine-backed bays. Jerolim is known for naturist bathing.

The south coast below the mountain spine has quieter coves, such as Dubovica, Zaraće and the bays near Sveta Nedjelja, and most are reached by steep tracks or by boat. For calmer, shallower water, stay on the north side around Jelsa, Vrboska and Stari Grad. In July and August the best-known bays fill with anchored yachts.

Hvar eats the way Dalmatia does. The staples are grilled fish, gregada (a fish stew with potatoes and olive oil), lamb or octopus slow-cooked under a peka bell, and pašticada on feast days. The island makes serious wine. Plavac Mali grows on the steep south-facing slopes around Ivan Dolac and Sveta Nedjelja, white Bogdanjuša comes from the plain behind Stari Grad, and many family cellars will pour a tasting. Olive oil, honey and lavender all come from the island too.

The best meals are often in konobas in the inland villages of Velo Grablje, Brusje and Pitve, where lamb and vegetables come from the owners' own land. Hvar Town has the island's most ambitious kitchens and also its most tourist-oriented harbour menus. Outside summer, much of the island closes.

Hvar Town is a compact Venetian port. Its large main square is paved in white stone and opens onto the Renaissance Cathedral of St Stephen and its bell tower. The Arsenal was built for the Venetian fleet, and its upper floor holds a theatre dating from 1612, one of the oldest public theatres in Europe. The Fortica fortress stands above the town and looks out over the harbour and the Pakleni Islands. The Franciscan monastery by the sea has a quiet cloister and a large painting of the Last Supper.

Stari Grad feels different. Greek settlers founded it in the fourth century BC, and its Tvrdalj is a Renaissance poet's fortified house built around a fishpond. Behind the town lies the Stari Grad Plain, a UNESCO-listed landscape where the fields still follow the boundaries the Greeks laid out. Jelsa and Vrboska add fortified churches. Together it makes a rewarding set of sights, though a modest one, and two or three unhurried days are enough to see it.

In summer, Hvar Town is one of the Adriatic's best-known places to party. The evening starts with sundowners on the waterfront and around the main square, then moves to the cocktail bars along the harbour and up the stepped lanes, which are packed with yacht crews and young travellers. Day parties run at beach clubs on the Pakleni Islands and continue into the night, with taxi boats carrying people back and forth. Much of the noisiest dancing happens offshore because of noise limits in the town.

The scene runs from June to early September and is at its most intense in July and August. It is glamorous, crowded and expensive. Jelsa has some livelier bars, while Stari Grad and the villages go quiet early.

Hvar is a long, narrow ridge of limestone. The south coast is steep and wild, while the north side slopes more gently. Sveti Nikola, at 626m, is the highest point, and the walk up from Sveta Nedjelja ends with wide views over the sea towards Korčula and Vis. Inland are abandoned stone villages such as Malo Grablje, dry-stone terraces, pine and maquis, and lavender fields around Velo Grablje, which flower in late June and July.

The Pakleni Islands are the island's water playground, good for sea kayaking, sailing and snorkelling over clear rocky bottoms. Spring and autumn are best for cycling the island's quiet roads. It is a pleasant outdoor setting rather than a dramatic one, and summer heat limits walking to early morning.

Fast catamarans make the neighbouring islands and the mainland easy to reach. Split, with Diocletian's Palace, is about an hour from Hvar Town. Korčula's walled old town lies to the south, and Vis, with its quiet harbour towns of Vis and Komiža, is roughly an hour away. Brač, with Bol and its long pebble spit, can be reached from Jelsa's side of the island.

On Hvar itself, the island's towns make good outings from one another. Stari Grad, Jelsa and the small harbour of Vrboska, built along a narrow inlet, each have a distinct character. Every trip off the island depends on boat timetables, so outings take some planning, and choice is thinner outside summer.

Hvar works for families who are happy with simple seaside days. The north-side towns of Jelsa, Stari Grad and Vrboska are the right bases. They have calm, shallow bays, a few beaches with fine gravel, promenades for evening walks and a relaxed, safe feel. There is nothing made especially for children, such as aquariums, parks or attractions. Water shoes are useful on the pebbles and rocks, and boat trips to the coves are the main excitement.

Hvar Town is less suitable. Its lanes are steep steps, it is crowded in July and August, and its nights belong to the party crowd. Midsummer heat also makes the middle of the day hard work with small children.

Each town is small and easy to cover on foot, though Hvar Town climbs in steps. Getting onto the island takes a boat. Car ferries from Split land at Stari Grad, and passenger catamarans run to Hvar Town and Jelsa. Local buses link the main towns along the island's spine but run infrequently. Taxi boats from Hvar Town harbour do the work of a bus for the Pakleni Islands and nearby coves.

To reach the south coast, the hill villages and the eastern end, a car or scooter makes life much easier. The roads are narrow and winding, the tunnel road to the south is single-lane, and parking near Hvar Town is tight in summer.

Shopping on Hvar is mostly about what the island makes. You can buy lavender oil and sachets from stalls along the harbour, local olive oil, honey and wine from family cellars, and lace made by Benedictine nuns in Hvar Town. Hvar Town's lanes also have resort boutiques selling linen, swimwear and jewellery to the yacht crowd. Beyond that there is little to look for.

In high summer, Hvar Town is one of the most expensive places on the Croatian coast. Harbour-front rooms, cocktails, beach-club loungers and taxi boats are all priced for a well-off yacht crowd. A visitor can keep costs down by staying in a family-run apartment in Jelsa, Stari Grad or Vrboska, eating at village konobas and buying wine straight from the cellar. Even then, July and August are not cheap. Prices fall sharply in June and September.

The 1612 theatre above the Arsenal is a remarkable building, but it does not host a regular season. In summer there are evening concerts of classical and chamber music in Hvar Town's churches, the Franciscan cloister and the squares. You may also hear klapa, the Dalmatian tradition of unaccompanied harmony singing, at village feasts and in the harbour towns. Outside the summer months there is very little to attend.

There is no bathing or spa tradition on Hvar. Wellness comes from the larger hotels in Hvar Town and Jelsa, along with massage and yoga offered seasonally. The island's real restorative quality is its pace away from Hvar Town. In Vrboska, Stari Grad and the hill villages, days follow the sun, long lunches and the evening walk along the waterfront, and the air smells of pine and lavender. For a calm stay, avoid Hvar Town in July and August, or come in June or September when the whole island slows down.