I have an upcoming trip to Dubrovnik and Hvar and need some help.

What is the best way of getting around Hvar island? I'm having trouble getting a feel for how large it is. I do not want to bring a car onto the island. Can you see a lot of the island just by walking or is it too big? Do I need to rent a bike or scooter? I've never ridden a scooter and am not sure how I feel about that, but I do a lot of biking.

Also, in Dubrovnik, can anyone recommend the Atlas Montenegro tour vs. The Atlas Montenegro "Blue" tour? I want to do one, but wasn't sure which. I think the "Blue" one is new, so maybe it's too soon for anyone here to have already done it.

I had the same question and got no help from Atlas (they just referred me to their website). When I took out a map of Montenegro and plotted the cities that each tour visits, I realized that the Blue tour stays on the coast and does not visit Cetinje, the capital city. The original tour may have more history but phrases like, "through towns," "short stop above...," made me think that more time is spent on the bus or at overlooks. The Blue tour says it "stops" in several towns and lunch is included. They run on different days, so that may make a difference to you, too.

Hvar is much too big to see walking. And if you're looking for a intense work out - then bicycling is the way to go. You can rent a car on the island - but then you have parking tio deal with. There are buses in between the main towns. I've rented a scooter with no problems (I had a bad experience on a scooter when I was a child and didn't get on one until I visited Rome) The roads are in good condition - go slow - take your time.

Spent 10 Days in Hvar this month. We spent most of the time wandering around Hvar town which you definately do not need a car to do. This is the best way to spend 90% of your time.

Twice we too water taxi to island of Palmizana (30 minute ride 50Kn) which is a great place to go swimming nice restaurant or 2 (we didn't try restaurant)

For diversion we took public bus (30kn maybe) to Stari Gard which gave us a view of the island, walked around the town and took bus back.

It also seemed like scooter and car rental available in town. But again depending on how long you are there I would say you might only want to do that 1 day.

Check out restaurant Lucculus we really enjoyed.

Hvar is in the region of 40 km / 25 miles long, and quite narrow, most of the towns (Hvar town, Stari grad) are gropued at the west of the island, and are relatively close together. Buses do go between Hvar & Stari Grad, however they can be reletively infrequent. We were there this summer and rented an open top VW Beatle for a day (cost 300 Kn) which was a cool way to see the island, the rental place is located near the bus station - we certainly saw all we needed to see in that time. I would prefer this to a sctooter, particularly is you've never driven one.

As you move east on Hvar, it gets more rural and the road is also quite windy and narrow, however the scenery is superb.

Lucculus Sfmaster mentions is a nice restaurant, there are plenty of restaurants there that are cheaper than Dubrovnik. Marineros is also nice.


Also visited Dubrovnik, didn't take any trips with Atlas, so don't know...

Thanks for the info everyone! Another question: are there areas on the island where you can go for short hikes? I'm not sure if Hvar is conducive to hiking in the hills or along the shoreline, since I haven't read anything about it in guidebooks or on this board. But I generally like to do that sort of thing.

Also, to Gavan: was the car rental place in Stari Grad or Hvar town? I kinda like the VW beetle idea...

lots of hiking trails, some that go along the coastline, some that go through the interior.

also - I saw the VW beetle type cars in Hvar town, near the bus station

Mark

The VW rental place is in Hvar town, at the bus station. To find it: walk away from the sea (where the ferry from Split drops you), through the main square, towards the big church (has a tall spire). It's to the left of this - not hard to find. The rate I quoted I think was for a half days rental, as we decided to rent later in the day, so we had the car from 13.00 - 20.30. He also had covertible 2CVs (Citreon).

Hvar is certainly hilly, there's a central ridge that appears to run the length of the island, so looks like plenty of walking possibility there, although I personally have no experience of this.

http://www.hvar.hr/ is a good website - pretty full of info.

We rented a scooter recently on Hvar. My husband drove & it was great. We took the old highway to Stari Grad and it was very quite road.
We took the Blue tour to Montenegro. As you said it is the coastal tour and the other one is more inland. We loved seeing the scenery of Mont. It was a full day (7:15-7:45pm). I would recommend it if you have enough time. Dubr is great and you can spend a 2 days seeing it.