Field note · Croatia · Dalmatia, Split-Dalmatia County

Hvar

Hvar is one island with two front doors and they are 20 km apart. Fast passenger catamarans from Split land in Hvar Town at the western tip – three competing operators, about an hour, no cars carried. The car ferry lands at Stari Grad, which is not Hvar Town: it is a separate town on the north coast, 110 minutes from Split, and from there you still need a bus or a taxi. Buses are timed to meet the ferry and there are few of them otherwise, so missing one is expensive. A third way in exists for anyone driving down the mainland coast road: the short Drvenik–Sućuraj ferry onto the island's eastern tip, followed by a long drive west. Everything doubles in frequency for July and August and collapses again by late autumn, and the bura and jugo winds can stop all of it without notice.

Researched: 22 September 2026
Reviewed: not yet
Ways of moving: 8, 27 sources
Not confirmed: 10
Fares seen: 2026

The place

Hvar is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea, located off the Dalmatian coast, lying between the islands of Brač, Vis and Korčula. Approximately 68 kilometres (42.25 mi) long, with a high east–west ridge of Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, the island of Hvar is unusual in the area for having a large fertile coastal plain, and fresh water springs. Its hillsides are covered in pine forests, with vineyards, olive groves, fruit orchards and lavender fields in the agricultural areas. The climate is characterized by mild winters, and warm summers with many hours of sunshine. The island has 10,678 residents according to the 2021 census, making it the fourth most populated of the Croatian islands.

Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. The place page has what to see, do and eat, and every way there from the planner.

How transport works here

8 ways of moving, each with its rule

We confirmed eight ways of moving to, from or around Hvar: six by water, one by road and one hired or on demand, from 27 sources. One of them runs only on demand or when the seats are full, so there is no timetable to show; the rule is written where the timetable would be. One needs a phone call or a message before you turn up.

The fares were seen in 2026; a fare from an older year is a floor, not a price. Three fares carry no year, because they could not be confirmed and the field says so. We rate 4 of the 8 high confidence, our own judgement of the sources. The entry was checked on 22 September 2026, and ends with ten things we could not confirm.

6 ways

By water

boat

Split to Hvar Town catamarans

Split ferry port to Hvar Town harbour, run by Jadrolinija (line 641), Kapetan Luka / Krilo, and TP Line (lines 652 and 661)

All three leave from the Split waterfront terminal beside the main ferry port, a few minutes' walk from Split railway and bus stations. These are passenger-only fast ships – you cannot bring a car. They dock in Hvar Town itself, on the Riva, so you walk off into the old town. Each operator sells its own tickets: Jadrolinija at shop.jadrolinija.hr, Krilo at krilo.hr, TP Line at webshop.tp-line.hr, and all three also appear on the Hvar Tourist Board's combined timetable sheet, which is the only place the three are shown side by side. Jadrolinija and Krilo tickets are tied to a named departure, so a ticket is also a seat reservation. In July and August the popular morning departures sell out a day or more ahead.

When: Around 54 sailings a week across the three operators. On the 21 September 2026 timetable there are roughly 7 departures Split to Hvar Town and 7 back on a weekday. Krilo's own Split–Hvar line runs twice daily in spring (09:00 and 15:00 out), six times daily 1 May to 20 September (09:00, 10:00, 11:10, 12:00, 15:30, 18:00), and twice daily again from 21 September. Jadrolinija 641 runs twice daily. TP Line 652 runs three times daily in shoulder season and twice daily at peak
Takes: 50 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes
Fare 2026: Jadrolinija 641 €25.00 one way, extra baggage €5 per piece (2026). TP Line 652 €25.00, children 3–12 half price (2026). Krilo €25.00 on its direct Split–Hvar and Split–Hvar–Korčula ships, but only €10.00 in summer and €6.40 in winter on the Split–Milna–Hvar–Vis ship, which is the cheapest way across (2026)

SeasonYear-round, but the summer timetable roughly triples the winter one. Krilo's high-frequency Split–Hvar schedule runs 1 May to 20 September. BookingOnline with each operator or at the Split terminal counters. Book ahead for July and August. Hvar port authority has cut the approach speed into Hvar harbour, so minor delays are normal. Run byJadrolinija, Kapetan Luka (Krilo), TP Line.

boat

Split to Stari Grad car ferry, Jadrolinija line 635

Split ferry port to Stari Grad port, which sits about 2 km west of Stari Grad town and 20 km from Hvar Town

This is the only way to get a car onto the western two thirds of the island. It leaves from the vehicle ramps in Split's main ferry harbour, not the catamaran quay. Arriving, you do not land in Hvar Town: the terminal is a working ferry pier on the Stari Grad bay with a car park, a couple of kiosks and a bus stand, and the onward road to Hvar Town takes about 20 minutes. Buy online at shop.jadrolinija.hr or at the Split ticket hall; a ticket on this line is also a reservation for that specific sailing, which matters in August when vehicle space runs out. Foot passengers can use it too and it is far cheaper than the catamaran, but it takes twice as long and lands you in the wrong town.

When: Four sailings a day each way in the shoulder season (Stari Grad 05:30, 11:30, 14:30, 17:30), six a day from early May to late June and through September, and seven a day at the 19 June to 23 August peak, with a 23:00 departure from Stari Grad and a 01:30 from Split
Takes: 110 minutes
Fare 2026: Foot passenger €5.90 low season, €8.40 from 29 May to 27 September; child 3–12 €3.00 / €4.20. Car up to 5 m and under 2 m high €35.60 / €47.60; larger car or van €64.70 / €81.00. Motorcycle €10.10 / €14.00, bicycle €5.70 / €8.10. Island residents pay about half (2026)

SeasonYear-round. Four timetables a year, thinnest from November to April. BookingOnline or at the port. Reserve a vehicle place well ahead in July and August. Run byJadrolinija.

boat

Drvenik to Sućuraj ferry, Jadrolinija line 632

Drvenik on the Makarska Riviera coast road to Sućuraj on the eastern tip of Hvar

This is the back door, and the one that makes sense if you are driving up from Dubrovnik or down the Adriatic Highway rather than coming out of Split. Drvenik is signposted off the D8 coast road between Makarska and Ploče; the ramp is in the village harbour. It is the shortest crossing to the island and the cheapest way to get a car across, but Sućuraj is at the far end of a long, narrow ridge road – budget about 90 minutes of driving to reach Hvar Town, and remember the nearest petrol is roughly 50 km away. In summer the queue at Drvenik can be longer than the crossing.

When: Seven sailings a day each way in winter, rising through nine and ten to eleven a day from 26 June to 30 August, first out of Sućuraj at 05:00 or 06:30 and last around 22:00
Takes: 30 minutes
Fare 2026: Foot passenger €2.40 low season, €4.10 from 29 May to 27 September; child 3–12 €1.40 / €2.10. Car up to 5 m €13.50 / €19.70; larger vehicle €22.50 / €27.90. Motorcycle €4.60 / €7.40, bicycle €2.30 / €4.00. Island residents about half (2026)

SeasonYear-round, six separate seasonal timetables through the year. BookingNot tied to a departure – a ticket is valid for any sailing on the printed date. Buy at the ramp or online. Run byJadrolinija.

boat

Catamarans to Stari Grad and Jelsa

Split to Bol on Brač, then Stari Grad and Jelsa on Hvar's north coast, Jadrolinija line 9603; Krilo also runs Split–Bol–Jelsa

Worth knowing about because most guides only mention the car ferry to Stari Grad. This is a passenger fast ship that serves the north-coast towns directly, so if you are staying in Jelsa or Stari Grad it saves you the Hvar Town bus. It is built around island commuters, not visitors: the useful direction is early morning off the island and late afternoon back, which is the opposite of what a day-tripper wants. Jelsa's harbour is in the middle of the town; Stari Grad's catamaran berth is in the town itself, not at the car ferry pier out on the bay. The Hvar Tourist Board's timetable sheet shows the Stari Grad catamaran as a weekday-only service in the shoulder season.

When: Line 9603 runs daily, leaving Jelsa around 06:00 and Split around 16:30 to 18:00, with a mid-morning Split departure on some days. Krilo's Jelsa service runs Split 10:30 and 16:30 out, Jelsa 06:00 and 17:30 back, calling at Bol
Takes: About 1 hour 5 minutes Split to Bol, and about 1 hour 30 minutes more to Jelsa
Fare 2026: Published tariff for line 9603 is in the €6.40 to €10.00 range per adult leg depending on season and port pair, but the tariff sheet did not extract cleanly enough to quote a single figure with confidence

SeasonYear-round, with separate 1 January to 28 May, 29 May to 27 September and 28 September to 31 December timetables. BookingOnline with the operator. Tickets are tied to the chosen departure. Run byJadrolinija (line 9603), Krilo Shipping Company.

water taxi

Taxi boats to the Pakleni Islands

Hvar Town harbour to Jerolim, Stipanska, Mlini, Ždrilca and Palmižana (Vinogradišće) on the Pakleni archipelago, and along the coast to Mekićevica

Small open boats work the Hvar Town Riva from morning onwards through the summer. Each destination has its own boat and its own spot on the waterfront, with a board showing the next departures; they leave when they have a load rather than to a fixed clock. Palmižana is the busiest and has the most boats. Check when the last boat back runs before you go out – the islands have no other connection and the service stops in the evening. Out of season the taxi boats simply are not there.

When: Through the day from morning, most often in high summer. No fixed timetable
Takes: 10 to 20 minutes
Fare: No official tariff published by the tourist board or an operator could be found

SeasonSummer season only. BookingNone, pay on the boat. Run byIndependent taxi boat owners working from Hvar Town harbour.

boat

Onward catamarans to Korčula, Mljet, Dubrovnik, Vis and Lastovo

Hvar Town to Korčula, Mljet (Pomena), Dubrovnik, Vis, Vela Luka and Ubli (Lastovo); Krilo, Jadrolinija and TP Line

Hvar Town is a genuine hub, not a dead end, and these ships make island-hopping south possible without going back to Split. Krilo's Split–Milna–Hvar–Korčula–Pomena–Dubrovnik ship calls at Hvar southbound in the morning and northbound in the early evening between April and October – it is the only same-day link from Hvar to Dubrovnik. TP Line runs Korčula–Prigradica–Hvar–Split and a Dubrovnik–Korčula–Hvar–Milna–Split line. Vis is the odd one out: a single Tuesday evening sailing in each direction on the shoulder timetable. All of them use the Hvar Town Riva, same berths as the Split catamarans.

When: Krilo Dubrovnik line once daily each way, calling at Hvar 09:00 southbound and 18:50 northbound, 1 April to 31 October. Krilo Split–Hvar–Korčula once daily 1 May to 15 October, Hvar 12:00 south and 15:00 north. Hvar–Korčula has around three departures a day in the shoulder season; Hvar–Vis runs Tuesdays only at 21:00
Takes: About 1 hour 10 minutes Hvar to Korčula, 3 hours 30 minutes Hvar to Dubrovnik, 40 minutes Hvar to Vis
Fare 2026: Krilo 2026: Hvar–Korčula €25, Hvar–Mljet (Pomena) €25, Hvar–Dubrovnik €50, Hvar–Vis €8.50 in summer and €5.00 in winter

SeasonThe Dubrovnik line runs April to October, the Korčula line May to mid-October; Vela Luka and Ubli run year-round. BookingOnline with each operator. The Dubrovnik line sells out in high summer. Run byKapetan Luka (Krilo), Jadrolinija, TP Line.

One way

By road

minibus

Island buses and the Stari Grad port connection

Stari Grad port to Stari Grad town, Hvar Town, Jelsa, Vrboska, Vrbanj, Svirče, Poljica and on to Sućuraj

Buses are run by Čazmatrans-Otok Hvar, whose office is at Ivana Meštrovića 4 in Stari Grad. The important one is the bus that waits on the pier at Stari Grad port for each arriving car ferry and runs straight to Hvar Town; there is no separate booking and you pay the driver, usually in cash. It fills, and late arrivals stand. The island's road runs the length of the ridge, so almost every service threads Stari Grad, Vrbanj and Jelsa; the eastern arm to Sućuraj is a long, thinly served run. Outside the ferry connections the network is sparse – a handful of runs a day between the main towns, fewer at weekends, and much less again out of season. If you are relying on a bus for a boat, check the day's timetable at the bus station or the tourist office rather than assuming.

When: One bus meets each arriving car ferry at Stari Grad port. Between the towns the timetable changes with the season and is thin in winter
Takes: About 20 minutes Stari Grad port to Hvar Town; about 90 minutes Hvar Town to Sućuraj
Fare: Paid to the driver in cash. No current published fare was found

SeasonYear-round, with a much reduced winter timetable. BookingNone, pay the driver. Run byČazmatrans-Otok Hvar d.o.o., Stari Grad.

One way

Hired, booked and on demand

private hire

Taxis, transfers and vehicle hire

Stari Grad port to Hvar Town and anywhere else on the island; car, scooter, quad and boat hire in all the main towns

The Hvar Tourist Board publishes a list of about twenty licensed taxi and transfer operators with mobile numbers, which is the sane way to book one in advance rather than negotiating on the pier. Travellers have long warned that taxis touting at Stari Grad ferry port charge far above the going rate; book by phone beforehand, or take the connecting bus. There is no metered rank in the usual sense. For vehicles, the tourist board's own advice is to arrive as a foot passenger and hire on the island rather than pay to bring a car across on the ferry – rental companies operate in every main town and some will meet the ferry with a car for a day rate. Scooters and quads are widely hired and are the common choice for the island's steep, unguarded roads. Speedboat skippers do private transfers, including to Split airport in under an hour. Note there are only two petrol stations on the whole island, in Hvar Town and near Jelsa, and it is about 50 km from Sućuraj to the nearer one.

When: On demand
Takes: About 20 minutes Stari Grad port to Hvar Town by road
Fare: No current published fares found for taxis or hire. Wikivoyage's figures of about €47 a day for a car and €33.50 for a scooter date from an undated older edit and should be treated as indicative only

SeasonYear-round for taxis; most rental and speedboat operators are seasonal. BookingPhone the operator directly, or through your accommodation. Rental in advance for July and August. Run byAround twenty independent taxi and transfer firms listed by the Hvar Tourist Board; independent rental agencies.

Not confirmed

What we could not find out

10 things the researcher looked for and did not find, in their own words, with where to ask instead. None of this goes into the planner; it stays here until someone confirms it.

01
No current fare could be found for the island bus. The €2 to Stari Grad and €3.50 to Hvar Town quoted on Wikivoyage are marked April 2009 and are worthless now. Čazmatrans-Otok Hvar publishes a general price list PDF and a journey search on cazmatrans.hr but neither returned a Hvar-island fare; its autocomplete endpoint at cazmatrans.hr/en/stops/ returns an empty template rather than data. Ask at the Stari Grad bus station on Ivana Meštrovića, or phone 021 765 904.
02
No island bus timetable could be retrieved. The Hvar Tourist Board links to a Hvar town bus timetable but the link is broken, and the Čazmatrans Hvar timetable page cited by Wikivoyage is dead. The only firm fact is that a bus meets each arriving car ferry at Stari Grad port. Confirm the day's departures locally.
03
No published taxi tariff for the island. The only concrete claim is the long-standing traveller warning that ferry-port taxis overcharge. The tourist board lists operators and phone numbers but no prices, so agree a fare before you get in or use a listed transfer firm.
04
No official price list for the Pakleni Islands taxi boats. The tourist board describes the service and the crossing time but publishes no tariff, and no operator page with a current fare was found.
05
The Jadrolinija line 9603 tariff sheet (Split–Bol–Stari Grad–Jelsa) did not extract into a readable table. Figures between €6.40 and €10.00 per adult leg appear in it but the column order could not be established, so no single fare is quoted here. Check jadrolinija.hr before relying on it.
06
jadrolinija.hr refused direct connections from the research network throughout this session; its pages were read through a text proxy and its PDFs through the Wayback Machine snapshot of 18 May 2026. The 2026 fares and schedules quoted here are Jadrolinija's own documents but were not read off the live site, so re-check before publishing.
07
The Split–Vira catamaran service, which opened a second Hvar Town port in June 2024 with a connecting bus included in the ticket, does not appear on the September 2026 tourist board timetable. It may have been a 2024-only overflow measure. Unconfirmed either way.
08
Wind cancellations are decided sailing by sailing by the harbour master, not by a published calendar. Bura gusts have reached 190 km/h on the coast and routinely suspend ferry lines in winter; jugo affects the exposed southern crossings. Jadrolinija posts live disruptions at jadrolinija.hr/en/obavijesti/stanje-u-prometu/ and TP Line at tp-line.hr/en/stanjelinija. Neither was reachable to confirm a Hvar-specific example.
09
Krilo's published schedule data carries no route numbers, and TP Line numbers its Split–Hvar services 652 and 661 while also running 842 and 9608 through Hvar. The tourist board sheet does not number anything. Matching a specific departure to an operator is easiest on the tourist board sheet, then buying from that operator's own site.
10
No scooter, quad or small-boat hire rates from 2023 or later were found from any operator. The tourist board describes the options but gives no prices.

In the planner

What the planner can route today

The options above live on the place page, not in the departure board: a boat that comes when you phone has no time to show. What the board can do for Hvar is this.

Y: Scheduled flightsSplit (SPU), 44 km
Y: Trains and coachesTransitous carries 21 timetable feeds for this country, 7 with real-time
Y: FerriesStari Grad, 5 km, Jadrolinija; sailings estimated
Y: Driving and taxiOpenStreetMap roads; cab fare from the country band
N: Bike and scooter shareno share feed known
N: Cruisesno open itinerary source anywhere

Y routable now · F found, not yet implemented · N no source known.