Croatia Island Sailing: Split and Hvar

We left Budapest on the afternoon of June 27th and boarded a train towards Croatia. We were super excited as this marked the start of our week long Croatian island sailing portion of our trip.

Our whole journey took us about 17 hours (two train rides totalling 14 hours and a 3 hour stopover in Zagreb), but the journey was well worth it once we finally arrived in Split the following morning.

Split is a city on the shore of Croatia. It was also the starting point for our Contiki tour that would take us sailing through the Croatian islands, living on a boat for 7 nights. Split is a beautiful city, with amazing cafes and restaurants, both by the sea and also along the narrow streets of the city.

Split is also beautiful because it’s right along the water, and walking along the seaside provides gorgeous views!

Once you enter the historical part of town there are only walking streets, and these streets are really narrow (and cute!). It’s easy to walk around for hours through the little streets, and stop in the little shops and restaurants along the way.

I loved walking through the streets and it was interesting to see old historical architecture completely blended in to the scenery. It’s almost as if the locals took the old buildings (that were partly in ruins) and built around them and on top of them. I was surprised not to see some sort of fences or preservation techniques around the ruins, and instead I saw people sitting on them and cafes amongst them.

We also had the chance to check out one of the Split beaches and enjoy some time in the sun (preparing ourselves for the week ahead of us aboard our boat).

The following morning we boarded our Contiki boat, and our new home for the next 7 days. Our group had 25 people in it, all between the ages of 19 and 30, plus our boat crew (cook, captain, etc) and our Contiki tour manager. Our group consisted of mainly Australians and South Africans; there was 1 American and we were the only Canadians. We had a private cabin for the 2 of us with bunk beds and a private bathroom. At the top of the boat was a large deck with chairs for sunbathing.

Our boat left Split and took off for Hvar, but of course along the way we had time to hang out with our new friends on board.

Hvar is one of Croatia’s most famous and popular islands (it is also one of the most expensive!). It is famous for having an amazing nightlife, and the harbour is lined with gorgeous yachts belonging to the rich and famous from around the world.

The town is also beautiful, and since it’s quite small it’s easy to walk around to take in the sights.

Like Split, Hvar also has lots of cafes and restaurants with tables outside. These restaurants are located in the large square and also along small side streets.

Hvar also has a large hilltop fortress, and climbing up the hill to the fortress provided us with a gorgeous view of the city and harbour.

The fortress itself was quite small, and it was also hard to take photos of because they were setting up for a wedding in the fortress. But while we were up there we were able to check out the prison, and see the small cells that people used to be held in. The photo below is of the hallway, and within each arch is another cell. The photo following that is of one of the individual cells.

In all, I really enjoyed Hvar, it is beautiful, has a great vibe, an awesome nightlife and is definitely a place I would visit again!