Dalmatian Coast and Hvar
Seven days from Split's Roman palace out to Hvar and Vis, and down to Dubrovnik.
Island Escape · 7 days · May, Jun, Sep, Oct
Dubrovnik takes almost all of Croatia's attention and gets almost all of its cruise traffic, which leaves the middle of the coast to everyone else. Starting in Split - where the old town is literally inside a Roman emperor's retirement palace - and working south through Hvar and Vis puts three island days in the middle of the week. Vis was a closed military island until 1989 and is still the least developed of the big ones. Dubrovnik goes last and gets one full day, walked on the walls at eight in the morning before the ships tie up.
Day by day
- Day 1
Split
A Roman palace with a city grown inside it, best walked in the evening.
16:00Diocletian's Palace and the Peristyle
An emperor's retirement complex from around AD 305 that never stopped being lived in; three thousand people still have addresses inside the walls.
The substructures under the palace are ticketed and are the clearest surviving Roman layout in it.
19:00Marjan Hill
A wooded peninsula that is the city's park, with the whole palace, the harbour and the islands laid out from the first terrace.
Steps up from the west end of the Riva, then pine paths along the ridge.
- Day 2
Trogir and the Cetina
A day either side of Split before the ferries take over the week.
09:30Trogir old town
An island town on a Hellenistic street plan with a Romanesque cathedral whose west portal, carved by Radovan in 1240, is the finest in the region.
Twenty-five minutes west of Split, and close to the airport. The cathedral bell tower is a steep climb.
15:00Klis Fortress
A fortress on the pass into the interior, held in turn by Croatian kings, the Ottomans and the Venetians, with Split and the islands below it.
Fifteen minutes above Split with almost no shade on the ramparts.
- Day 3
Across to Hvar
The catamaran out, and the fortress above the town on the first evening.
14:00Hvar town and the Fortica
A Venetian fortress above the harbour, with the Pakleni islands strung out below it and the whole channel visible at sunset.
Twenty minutes uphill from the main square, on steps through the old walls.
17:30Pakleni islands
A chain of pine-covered islets ten minutes off the town, with the swimming that Hvar town itself does not have.
Water taxis run constantly from the harbour front and stop early in the evening; check the last return.
- Day 4
The island's other half
Inland to the plain and the wine villages, which is where Hvar actually lives.
09:00Stari Grad Plain
Greek colonists divided this plain into stone-walled rectangles in the fourth century BC, and it has been farmed on the same lines ever since.
Best seen on foot or by bicycle on the field tracks; there is no single viewpoint.
13:00Zavala and the south coast road
The south-facing slope is where the plavac mali is grown on terraces above the sea, and the road along it has the emptiest beaches on the island.
The Pitve tunnel is single lane, unlit and genuinely narrow. Wait at the mouth for oncoming traffic.
- Day 5
Vis
Two hours further out to the island that was closed to foreigners until 1989.
09:00Blue Cave on Bisevo
Sunlight enters through an underwater opening and reflects off the white floor, so the whole cave and everything in the water turns blue.
Entry is capped and only between about eleven and noon in calm seas; it closes entirely on swell. Book a licensed boat.
15:00Komiza and Stiniva
A collapsed sea cave whose entrance narrowed to a few metres, leaving a pebble beach enclosed by cliffs on every side.
The land route is a steep twenty-minute scramble down; most people arrive by boat.
- Day 6
South to Dubrovnik
The long coastal leg, broken at the town that claims Marco Polo.
11:00Korcula old town
A fortified peninsula town laid out to manage its own wind, with St Mark's cathedral in the middle and a Venetian sea wall round it.
The street plan is a herringbone: straight on the west side to let the maestral through, curved on the east to block the bura.
16:00Peljesac and Ston
Five kilometres of defensive wall built by Dubrovnik in 1333 to protect its salt pans, which are still worked by hand.
The oyster beds in Mali Ston bay are the other reason to stop; they are eaten straight off the boat.
- Day 7
Dubrovnik
On the walls at eight, and up the cable car when the ships have gone.
08:00The city walls
Up to six metres thick, never breached, and the circuit shows you the whole city from above: red roofs, the port and the open Adriatic.
Two kilometres, one-way, with a lot of steps and no shade. Cruise passengers arrive from about nine.
12:00Rector's Palace and the Stradun
The republic elected a rector for one month at a time and he could not leave the building during it, which tells you most of what you need to know about how this place was run.
The Franciscan pharmacy on the Stradun has been dispensing since 1317.
18:30Mount Srd cable car
412 metres directly above the old town, with Lokrum and the Elafiti islands, and the best sunset on this coast.
The fort at the top held out through the 1991 siege and there is a small museum about it.
Questions
- How long is the Dalmatian Coast and Hvar itinerary?
- The Dalmatian Coast and Hvar itinerary runs 7 days and covers 15 stops across Split, Hvar, Vis, Dubrovnik.
- When is the best time to do the Dalmatian Coast and Hvar itinerary?
- May, Jun, Sep, Oct is the best window for the Dalmatian Coast and Hvar itinerary.
- What happens on day one of the Dalmatian Coast and Hvar itinerary?
- Day one is split: A Roman palace with a city grown inside it, best walked in the evening.
Sources
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