Partying in Hvar

Hvar Town is Croatia’s party place, just an hour by hydrofoil from its second city, Split, and increasingly attracting affluent island-hoppers.

The town is also a prime stop on the backpacking trail. It’s also popular with families who come by plane and ferry for the cheap accommodation, innumerable coves and small pebble and shale beaches lapped by calm waters.

The locals are laid back, seemingly unspoiled by tourism. One landlady asked us to pay for our one night stop in the old town when we left the next day: “Just put the cash in my letterbox.” She didn’t say which one.

But such attitudes can’t last. The town is buzzing most nights from May to September (especially in August, when the Italians arrive).
 
Bars and restaurants line the large Venetian piazza and continue down the quay to the Carpe Diem club, Croatia’s not so hidden gem, probably its most famous club (and very possibly its most expensive, full of windburnt yachties and sunburnt backpackers dancing to Eurotrash anthems or lounging on Moroccan cushions in the alcoves).

The vibe is reminiscent of a pre-superclub Ibiza Town, albeit smaller, more picturesque and more friendly. Or possibly a pre-Bardot St Tropez. Not surprisingly, the island’s dominant hotel chain, Suncanihvar (Suncanihvarhotels.com), has already cottoned on to the possibilities with makeovers to attract more high-spenders.

The Riva (aka the Hvar yacht harbour hotel), Suncanihvar’s first makeover, is a trendy four-star venture, its sofas set under cream canopies dominating the quayside.

You can while away the hours, perfecting the 100-yard stare across the seductive harbour of bobbing yachts and fishing boats. Don’t forget your George Michael Raybans and a white jumper over the shoulders.

The Adriana marina hotel and spa across the harbour is aimed at A-listers judging by the bar of swanky chrome stools, black marble bartop and chic sofas.

Then there’s the sleek Bonj Les Bains, a spruced-up 1930s bathing deck of stone cabanas and wooden jetties. Suncanihvar also runs ‘the only four-star campsite in Dalmatia’, at Camp Vira.

Not all Hvar Town is as ostentatiously stylish as the Suncanihvar hotels and bars. There’s a newly-revamped hostel, the Green Lizard (greenlizard.hr), which the Canadian, Scottish and Aussie backpackers proclaimed clean and cheap, without chores or curfew.

But the best bargains are private apartments, a welcome hangover from communist times. As in Greece, touts greet you at the bus depot or jetty, with picture books of apartments, most at a few dinars per night off-season. For the real deal, look for ‘books’ with guests’ comments.

We settled for a split-level three-star apartment, with all mod cons, balconies overlooking the bay, TV and en suite for BD24 per night – ‘apartment tutti frutti’, run by the anglophile, BBC drama-loving Anka Popovic, who happened to be the local travel agent’s mum.

It was near the ‘beach’. Well, rocky cove. When Croatians say beach, they mean ‘area of land by the water’. The nearest thing to a beach is on the outlying islets Pakleni Otoci, a pine-forested archipelago buffering the town’s harbour, by water taxi. The best beach is on Parmizana, with sandy stretches flanked by restaurants, its small bay dotted with yachts mooring for lunch. Idyllic and reasonably priced.

In Hvar Town itself independent restaurants abound, especially by the piazza, flanked by bars and eateries, serving the ubiquitous pasta and pizza, but also local Dalmatian delicacies such as octopus salad, black risotto, boiled langoustines, brodetto fish stew and lobster pasta, usually sided by aubergine and pepper.

Hvar Town’s lack of sandy beaches could be its saving grace. There are no package tour hordes. Most visitors hire a small boat for the day and find their own pebbly cove.

Getting there: Fly to Split. Split-Hvar ferries cost £3 per person. Further information: tzhvar.hr, happyhvar.com and Adriatica.net