If you ever find yourself in Hvar, {we were staying at this really great value, super family friendly beautiful green resort - see my full review here} then you have to visit Hvar old town and the Pakleni islands just across the water are unmissable if you want to see some of the clearest, most beautiful water in Europe. Here’s a mini guide of everything we did to take a water taxi for just 10 euros return compared to spending hundreds on skippering a boat…

First up, getting to Hvar. We were staying near Stari Grad {read the first post for all of the details on taking the ferry to Hvar Island} so we drove half an hour and parked on the road by this beach called Pokonji - it turned out to be a really special bay and even had some sand {not many Croatian beaches have sand}. From here it was a really pleasant, flat walk around the coast with water the whole way to get to Hvar town, it was around a half an hour walk maybe? And it was buggy friendly. We could have parked closer and paid for parking but it was so scenic and nice to get some exercise in. We stopped at a playground along the way. We hadn’t actually planned to go to the Pakleni islands, as much as I was desperate to and had seen so many photos, because we thought it might be too long for the kids, but as we walked around the harbour and saw the signs for water taxis that would take us there and back without having to stay all day, the kids really wanted a boat trip so we spontaneously said, let’s do it!

There are so many signs for the boats if you walk around the harbour, it’s 10 euros return per adult, children go free and the boat will go as soon as there are enough people. It’s worth looking up which islands you want to visit. We went to the closest one which the skipper told us was best for children. If we’d have had more time then I would have loved to have gone further to some of the others, there are famous beach bars on a lot of them too - Carpe Diem. We checked that we would get brought back around lunchtime rather than having to stay all day and off we went! Just make sure you clarify a time as a lot of them take a lunch break.

It was only around a 10 minute boat trip to reach the island, we stopped at Jerolim - which we didn’t actually know was a nudist beach! But we didn’t see any. It was around a 5 minute walk across the island to reach the beach. The water really is stunning here, that’s the main appeal. There was a small hippy style bar but it was fairly quiet. Our children LOVED exploring the rockpools and spent ages in and out, climbing across the rocks, watching the fish and studying the sea anemones {obviously not touching or stepping on them} and we had a swim.

If you have more time, we only had 4 nights in total and wanted to spend the majority of our time at our resort, then Palmizana Beach was the island I’d researched and really wanted to go to. It would be really fun to island hop around.

You can hire a boat for a day but unless you have a boating licence, you’ll need a skipper as well so it would work out around 200-300 euros for a day.

Back in Hvar town we wandered around the harbour and got an ice cream before walking back around the peninsula back to our car but vowed to come back and explore it all further. When I was researching it all though, the fortress is meant to be an amazing climb up to and has incredible views down over the old town and across to the islands and there’s a park and playground here.

It was such a memorable, idyllic day and really made our trip! Hvar old town was just stunning too but hot, even in May!

TOP TIPS

Hvar Town seemed expensive, we’d come to Croatia quite a few years back {admittedly it was a long time ago} and it was one of the cheapest places in Europe. It’s definitely not anymore. Especially for things like ice cream etc.
Take supplies with you to the islands, some do have beach bars and restaurants but definitely worth taking suncream/as much water as you can carry!
Be aware that the skippers take a couple of hours break over lunch so plan your day accordingly, especially with children if you don’t want to be stuck on the islands all day.
Not many beaches are sandy in Croatia in general, take water shoes if you/your children don’t want to walk out on the stones
Stony beaches always make great painting beaches! Take a set of paints and a brush if you remember
Be careful of urchins in the sea, but the water is so clear that they’ll be easy to spot - they’re black and spikey!

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