The peoples' democratic blog of Matt Hayward

Lo and behold, Hvar must the be the only true pirate down of the Dalmatian coast. Because before they came, it probably had some beige name like Port Berkshire or something. But pirates mandate rolling Rs, so Hvarrrrrr it is!

The the old castle walls of Hvar.Worth the price of admission alone.

All your Lovely Planet guide books describe Hvar as party heaven. In summer it may well be. But we’re walking past empty bars playing Tina Turner type tracks in Croatian to the dulcet tones of cicadas chirping into the night. So there’s no better time to be there than now. Unless you’re single and the party type. grinding your teeth through the week until the next rave, choking down disco biscuits and grooving to crap dance tracks.

Hvar truly has it all. Bikers ride down for the weekend for the twisty windy roads, millionaires come to show off their yachts and we came to gorge ourselves on the great food and take in the beautiful Adriatic sea.

Hvar also connects to Bol, a tick on a flies arse island that just happens to have the most postcard friendly beach in the world Zlatni Rat (below). Its a proper pebbly Euro beach, but what a beach. Not a surf beach by any stretch of the imagination, but no one comes here for that. If you want to pull up a glass of beer and a sun bed by the crystal clear Adriatic and do N-O-T-H-I-N-G for a week, just come here. Plenty of people are content to do just that. It’s quite simply the most amazing beach I have ever seen in my life. It does have casinos and anything your heart desires if you get bored. Frankly, we didn’t need it.

Arguably Croatia's best beach: Zlatni Rat. The water is always that clear!

Not quite as wicked as Zlatni Rat is Pak Micana (pronounced like parmigana). A beach all the locals go to. Yours for a ten Kuna ferry ride.

It’s worth mentioning that Hvar is very millionaire yacht and resort friendly. There are plenty high class funky bars, a great old town, and an awesome castle to see. It’s worth the 45 minute walk to the top just to hear the obese, old American tourists whine and cop out half way up! Despite all that, it’s cheaper than Dubrovnik and we found an excellent B&B for 30 Euros a night for a double. Although it may be an all together different proposition in peak season, but still well worth it!

Dead set, Hvar would be packed in summer. But right now during the shoulder season, it’s at its chilled finest. A definite highlight of the journey so far.