Morgens in der Bucht · Vrboska

Most days here need nothing more than a towel.

Vlaška lies below the apartment, and if you want to go further, you walk along the shore to Soline. At the rocks of Ploče the water is clear enough for snorkelling — mask and fins are all the gear you need. SUP boards and kayaks can be rented in the village; the bay is long, narrow, and sheltered from the wind. Paddle it out once and you've seen the village from the water, with the stone houses rising straight up from the waterline.

And then there's the evening that isn't really an outing at all: across the bridges to the other side, once around the harbour basin, past the boats to the marina and back. A quarter hour, if you don't stop. You stop.

Out on the water

A boat for the day

The marina lies at the southern end of the harbour basin, a few minutes on foot — one of the larger ones on the island. A boat for the day can be arranged here, with or without a skipper, and for a group, this is the outing that feels the least like it needed organising: cast off, find a bay that no road reaches.

The big loop is Bol on Brač — the neighbouring island sits right across the water all day in clear weather. Smaller and closer: the uninhabited islets off the north coast, reachable by taxi boat from the neighbouring harbours in summer. The Pakleni Islands are reached from Hvar Town — those are on „Surroundings".

BY BIKE

Through the plain

The island's only flat route starts right behind the village.

Bikes are available in the village. From Vrboska you roll into the Stari Grad Plain without a single climb — the Greek plot grid, in use for two thousand four hundred years: dry-stone walls, vineyards, olive groves, with small stone huts as shelter in between. Stari Grad and back is a morning; with a break in town, a full day.

Everything that leads out of the plain goes uphill: the island is a ridge with two coastlines. If you like that, you'll find routes for a whole week; if you want it flat, stay between Vrboska and Stari Grad.

Three trails worth the walk: one for the morning, one for half a day, one for people looking for empty landscape.

Purkin Kuk Above Stari Grad lies one of the island's largest prehistoric hillforts. The trail starts at the town park and climbs steadily; at the top you have the bay and the entire plain in view at once — the best explanation for why these fields look the way they do.

Sveti Nikola The island's highest point, 628 metres, with a 15th-century chapel and a stone cross. The climb also starts near Stari Grad and takes half a day — not one for a hot afternoon, but ideal for a clear morning.

Kabal The peninsula northwest of Stari Grad: unpaved trails, one bay after another, views of Brač — and hardly any shade. The trail for a day when you don't want to run into anyone.

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Purkin Kuk · Sveti Nikola · Kabal

Hvar is a wine island — and on the north coast, the food comes from the sea.

The island's wine is mostly Plavac Mali, and wineries offering tastings are scattered across the whole island. An afternoon there is the quiet version of an outing: no opening hours to worry about, a table in the shade, and someone explaining why the wine from this particular slope tastes different. Where the wine-growing areas are is on „Surroundings".

In the village itself, the konobas sit along the waterfront, and the north coast's signature dish is Gregada: fish with potatoes, slow-braised, with a wine from the island alongside. Ask for it — it's not always on the menu.

Above the harbour basin stands the fortified church of Sv. Marija. After the attack of 1571, the church of St Mary was rebuilt for defence — the only fortified church in the archipelago, almost windowless from the outside, with two towers. Inside it's bare; the reason to climb the tower is the view: the bay, the channel, the bridges, and the pines beyond.

A few steps further, the fisheries museum. Nets, tools, photographs from the days when a sardine factory stood here and wooden boats were built. Half an hour, not more — but afterwards you understand why the village is built the way it is.

In the end, it's the short distances that matter: a swim, a paddle, a morning in the plain — and the evening starts on the bridge again.