An Afternoon on Hvar, Croatia | Notes from the Archive

aka: the perfect daytrip from Split

May 16, 2012

*SHARED TO THE BLOG IN OCTOBER 2025.

ARCHIVE / aar•kive / (noun): a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people.

Welcome to a new Notes from the Archive post, a series in which I am sharing some of my old & well documented travel notes to the blog. I’ve been keeping detailed notes and journals from my travels abroad long before I ever started sharing that content to this little corner of the internet. For some reason, it only dawned on me recently that, although not as thorough as my note-taking and journaling of today, this information could a. be useful to someone out there planning a trip, b. offer a glimpse into my travel days of yore, or c. just be fun for me to relive briefly under the pretense of being useful — so I figured why not share them here!

If you have stumbled across this post on a deep-dive through the blog archives, hello! I have done my darndest to make sure every piece of information shared here is just as relevant today as it was the day it was scrawled in my journal. I would also like to take a moment here to apologise in advance for any poor-quality photographs. You have been warned.

Today’s Notes from the Archive post — An Afternoon on Hvar, Croatia — covers everything myself and my then-boyfriend got up to one day on our 2012 inter-railing trip. For a change of scenery, we decided to take a daytrip from Split to the nearby island of Hvar, where we did very little and, in doing so, fully embraced the Croatian mindset.

Listed below is all the legible information I could garner from my old journal. Enjoy!

getting there

looking back towards split from the ferry

Here’s how we made the journey to Hvar island:

from Split, we boarded a Jardolinija ferry to Hvar. The journey to the island took 2-hours, and, at the time of our visit, a one way ticket cost us 39kn/€5.15 each. *Sidenote: in 2012, the currency in Croatia was the Croatian Kuna, written as HRK or kn. I have noted in my journal that, at the time of our visit, €1 was equal to about 7.5kn, hence how I was able to come up with the €5.15 price tag for our ferry tickets. I just love how nerdy my journal-ing self is 🤓
the ferry left us off at Stari Grad Faros Ferry Port — which, unbeknownst to us, was on the opposite side of the island to Hvar town. Seeing as this was before the days of phone data or having maps on our phones, we accepted our fate and boarded a little shuttle van into the nearby town of Stari Grad instead, which took 10-minutes.
later in the afternoon, we took a bus from Stari Grad to Hvar. I believe we were able to buy tickets on board, and the journey took 30-minutes. For more information about buses on Hvar island, this website seems very useful.
when we were ready to leave the island, we were able to get on a bus in Hvar town that brought us directly back to the ferry terminal in Stari Grad. The ferry back to Split was largely the same as on the way out, except that the weather was worse, so the journey took an extra half hour.

where we touristed

Due to the aforementioned issue of us arriving into the wrong port terminal, we actually got to explore more of the island than we had initially planned. We spent our first half of the day in the town of Stari Grad, and the second half of the day in the town of Hvar. Listed below is everything we got up to!

stari grad town

Stari Grad Riva // aka: the town’s beautiful waterfront promenade. We took a long stroll along the length of the Riva, admiring the old buildings, fancy-looking restaurants, colourful stalls, and little fishing boats. We also spotted a cute cafe, which brings me to our next stop… Address: Riva, 21460, Stari Grad

PHAROS STREET FOOD // for ice-cream! There’s just nothing better than an ice-cream on a hot summer’s day. I apparently devoured a cone with scoops of chocolate / hazelnut and vanilla. Address: Riva 26, 21460, Stari Grad

Stari Grad Old Town // I’ve never met an ugly old town, and Stari Grad’s one felt especially beautiful. Winding narrow laneways, historic archways, ancient white-stone alleyways; it felt similar to the old town in Split — except more weathered, uneven, and, somehow, peaceful. Address: Stari Grad, Hvar

hvar town

Španjola Fortress // aka: the Spanish Fortress. I’m pretty sure this is the main thing to do on the island of Hvar — other than clubbing, which is clearly not why I was interested in visiting! — so you better believe we dragged our butts all the way up the 156-steps that lined the winding path to the top... Only to get there, be appalled by the price of the tickets, promptly take some photos of the view, and walk all the way back down again. Address: Ul. Biskupa Jurja Dubokovica 80, 21450, Hvar

Hvar Green Market // we stumbled across this market by chance, but there were loads of lovely stalls: fresh fruits, lavender, honey, veggies, etc. We ended up buying some fruit for snacking. Address: Dolac 2, 21450, Hvar

Hvar Pjaca // aka: St. Stephen’s Square, or the main town square. We spent a little while browsing the boutiques and restaurants that lined the square before heading for the bus back to the ferry. Fun fact: this is the largest square in all of Dalmatia! Address: Trg Sv. Stjepana, 21450, Hvar