If You Travel to Hvar in Croatia, Don’t Miss the More Tranquil Ambiance of Stari Grad

During my summer hiatus from backpacking in Central Florida, I’ve decided to spend the next several weeks posting about the towns and islands my family and I visited during our weeklong sailing trip in June on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. If you’re interested in learning more about what it’s like to charter a sailboat in the Adriatic (including costs of renting a sailboat and hiring a skipper), check out my latest article in Go World Travel, “Why a Croatian Sailing Charter is the Perfect Family Vacation.”

This week, I’ll discuss Stari Grad on the island of Hvar.

The island of Hvar, the fourth largest in the Adriatic, was in many ways the focal point of our sailing trip, as we moored on our third night near its most famous port, the scenic but touristy town of Hvar, and then spent our fourth night in the serene Pakleni Islands just off Hvar’s southwestern shores. But the town we may have enjoyed the most during our trip was Stari Grad, the island’s original capital lying at the end of a a long bay on the island’s northern coast.

Translating in Croatian to “Old Town,” Stari Grad and its home island share a rich history, dating back to the Neolithic tribes who settled the island more than 5,000 years ago, then to the Greeks who colonized the island in the 4th century B.C. before ceding it 150 years later to the Romans. In the ensuing millennia, the island considered so important to trade and invading navies bounced back and forth between rule by numerous foreign occupiers, from Byzantines to Venetians to Turks, Hungarians, Austrians, the French under Napolean, and even the Italians under Mussolini. Like the rest of the region, the island finally became part of the restored Republic of Croatia in the 1990s and is celebrated by Croatians as the former home of 16th century poet Petar Hektorović.

These days, Stari Grad is Hvar’s main seaport and third largest town with roughly 2,800 of the island’s 11,000 residents. But for the visiting tourist, Stari Grad’s harborside town is best known for its collection of picturesque cobblestone alleys leading uphill to medieval churches and to the fertile farmlands in the Stari Grad Plain that were first farmed by the ancient Greeks and are now protected by UNESCO.

Sadly, we weren’t able to tour the countryside and confined our exploration to the old town surrounding the harbor (after topping off our provisions at the local grocery store). But we hardly felt cheated. We spent hours on our afternoon there wandering—seemingly in circles—up and down the cobbled lanes with their pretty shops and apartments adorned with flowers.

After the sun began to beat down, we returned to the boat to put on swimsuits and head to one of the town’s several bayside swimming spots. Though technically called a beach, Oslić Beach is, like many Croatian swimming spots, more of a leveled rocky outcropping beside crystal clear water accessible to swimmers by ladder. Most of the boaters tied up near us closer to town seemed to find their way there at some point in the day.

I suspect the reason we most loved Stari Grad was the evening we spent there having dinner by the waterfront facing the setting sun, nestled among the limestone homes we’d enjoyed earlier in the day. While feasting on fine seafood at Blue Doors (an excellent restaurant recommended by our skipper), Kara, Claire, and I each took breaks to go watch the sun setting and the stars rising over the bay. After Kara and I finished an extra glass of wine before leaving, we walked past strolling families and children selling seashells on the riva.

Stari Grad is often overlooked by visitors who rarely stray past the town of Hvar, which certainly has its own charms, including its hilltop fortress overlooking the town that provides spectacular views of the harbor and islands below. But at ground level, Hvar seems a bit too frenetic, perhaps because of the jet setters who go there in summer to party all day and night at beach bars.

By comparison, Stari Grad is sleepy, laid back, and content to stay anchored in the past. But it’s certainly a great place to spend a day and night if you’re sailing near Split.