ckwald

We'll be going from Split to Hvar on Oct. 12. I think we'll be dealing with Jadrolinja's fall ferry schedule, but I can't get them to tell me what that will be. Nobody's answered my emails.

So my question is this: we expect to be using a car for our week on Hvar. Are we better off renting it in Split, and then probably being more limited to one ferry per day, whenever that might be, or should we wait to get to Hvar and rent the car then?

My dilemma is that I don't know what time we'd arrive on Hvar & whether or not car rental would still be open, or accessible to the ferry landing in Stari Grad. Our landlord said we would need a car (we're staying in an apt. outside the Hvar town center), but did not seem to understand my question otherwise.

romandub

ckwald--we just returned from Hvar and in all honestly, it is not a place conducive to cars. I am not sure how far you are staying outside of town, so that might be a determining factor. Hvar Town itself is a pedestrian only zone, so you would get no benefit from a car there. There are frequent and easy bus transports from Hvar Town to Stari Grad. You can also get taxis to take you to other parts of the island. In my opinion, you would be wasting your money to have a car on the island. Again, I don't know how far you are staying from town, so you may have a need for a car, but the island is definitely geared to pedestrians. Hope that helps!

ReddVelvet

Renting a car in Split would be cheaper. We have a home on an island and we always rent a car while we are there. The village is also not conducive to driving however we park just outside but yet still a short walking distance away. Yes there are buses but we like the convenience of being able to just get up and go whenever we want. I keep telling my husband that we don't need a car but he does not want to be at the mercy of a bus schedule . We visited alot of places along the Croatian coast last year but left Hvar, Brac, Korcula for next summer.

Images2

I loved renting a car for 1 day while on Hvar. I don't think you can take a rental car from Hvar to the mainland and drop it at another town. The bus schedules are poor, don't rely on them. We rented our car from Hertz. There isn't a "Hertz" office, but they are located inside Pelegrini Travel, right at the Harbor. The man working there is always there in the morning, and if he knows you are coming, will have your car. It's cheaper to reserve ahead, but you can also just rent one while you are there. There are also other rental companies around the town. The TI can tell you where they are. I think it would be easier to rent it while you are there, renting a car in Split is not to easy. We did it at the downtown office. They have few cars available, so you must reserve it there, and know what time you will get it. We arrived early for our pick up and they didn't have a car yet. Also check the hours they are open Hertz is closed all afternoon. Alamo/National is open. The problem with having a car when you arrive on Hvar, is that the transportation options to and from the island are much fewer than if you can just go by catamaran to Spilt.

As for ferry landing in Stari Grad, you can take the bus to Hvar Town to rent your car. There is no gas station in Stari Grad. You must get gas in Hvar Town, or Jelsa.

We also stayed outside Hvar town center, but it was still walkable. We stayed in an apartment very close to Hotel Podstine and it was a 20-25 minute walk to the town square area.

traveltomorocco

Images2: we will also be on Hvar in late August staying in Hvar town at Hotel Riva for 4 days. I would love to rent a car for one day whilst there - where did you drive to and what are the highlights of the island? Did you visit any sandy beaches? Thanks!

GeoffHamer

Jadrolinija has three sailings a day from Split to Stari Grad all year. The schedule in October should be much the same as in late September. This is the main ferry route to the island. The Stari Grad ferry terminal is about a mile from Stari Grad town. Buses and taxis wait at the ferry quay when ships arrive.

Images2

We rented our car from Hertz which was located at Pelegrini Travel Agency, which is right by Hotel Riva. We went in a day before we wanted the car and told them we would need the car the next day at 9 a.m. They were ready for us when we arrived, and walked us to the rental car, about 5 minutes away. We didn't need to pay for the rental ahead of time, but we wanted to so it was clear we were using the insurance from our CC. We paid 465 kuna for the car for 1 day. It had no a/c. Hertz gave us no map of Hvar, so we were very happy to have one from the TI. We needed it.

We drove to Stari Grad first on the new road. It's an excellent road. We spent about an hour looking around, and visiting Tvrdalj, the summer house and walled garden of Petar Hektorovic. We also enjoyed the narrow stone streets and walked to the Dominican monastery. We prefered the atmosphere of Hvar Town but noticed that Stari Grad would be more peaceful. Next we stopped in Jelsa, a town with a maze of alleys, another peaceful town. There is a gas station here if you need one, and none in Stari Grad. From here we drove towards Vrboska. We didn't take the turn off to Vrboska but parked down the road a bit across from the sign to Uvala Rapa. This is a rocky trail down to a beach. The sign says it's 300 meters but we think it's probably a 600 meter walk. The path gets steep and is rocky, red soil. It doesn't look to nice, but when we arrived we walked to the right, over some large, flat rocks and found a small cove, with excellent water access, and a large area perfect to lay in the sun on our towels on the rocks. No sand here. We really enjoyed about 1 1/2 hours here. The water was so refreshing. There was no shade, but a wonderful view of Brac across the water. We were here alone. The hike back up the trail was easier than coming down. This area is not far from the FKK camping area.

Next we drove to Pitve which is a quaint stone village, with not many people around. There is a small parking area. Park here and walk through the small village. Here you will find Konoba Dvor Dubokovic, a restaurant and winery. What a neat place! Ivica Dubokovic, the owner, met us and invited us to stay for drinks. He doesn't serve lunch, only dinner from 18:00 to 1 or 2:00 depending on which sign is correct! He makes his own red and white wines and showed us the facilities. He had jars of cherries fermenting on the stone walls. He's been working on this property for 3 years. We stayed, sitting on the small terrace at the top, overlooking the grapes growing on a pergaloa and the island of Brac. It was silent, so, so peaceful.

Next we headed through more vineyards to the tunnel that leads for Zavala. The signal works, so you can drive through this very dark, rough, one way tunnel safely. Just wait for the green light! You will drive down the switchbacks to Zavala.

Parking at the end of the road in Zavala is tight. We found one tiny spot at the bottom and parked. Walking past the tiny outdoor Konoba we walked down the path finding nice beach areas, under a wonderful forest of pine trees. Easy water access also. There is plenty of room here. We had a nice time relaxing here, but the day was getting late, so we couldn't continue onto Sveta Nedjelja.

It was tempting to stop again in Pitve for dinner at Konaba Dvor Dubokovje, but we didn't want to keep our car overnight.

On the return trip we stopped in Vrboska and walked around this tiny town, enjoying the small bridges over the inlet. It looked like a canal. We had some ice cream and then returned to Hvar Town, again, on the new road.

We needed to fill the car with gas, and thankfully, when you reenter town there is a sign of a gas pump. Follow this sign to the one gas station. There was a line of cars waiting and you need to make a U turn to exit the station. The gas was about $1.40 US per liter for gas. We put 6 liters in the car.

We had an excellent day, although there were no sandy beaches where we went.

For a sandy beach, we went to Bol where the beach is long, wide and all sand!