One evening on Hvar…
Every visit to Hvar brings another recommendation. A hidden beach, a family-run konoba, a quiet street or a place someone insists you shouldn’t leave the island without seeing.
This time, we decided to do something different. Rather than following our own favourite places, we spent the next few evenings discovering the cocktail scene in Hvar Town through the people who know it best.
Over the past few days, recommendations seemed to find us wherever we went. One conversation led to another, and before long we had a growing list of places locals genuinely love returning to.
Some overlooked the harbour. Others were tucked within the old town. Each came with a reason, a memory or a favourite drink. Somewhere along the way, we stopped looking for Hvar’s “best cocktail”.
We were following people’s favourite evenings instead.
Following the recommendations…
Our first stop wasn’t planned. Someone simply smiled and said, “Start with sunset.” We heard that more than once. For many, that’s where an evening on Hvar begins.
Hula Hula came up often – not because everyone agreed it served the island’s best cocktail, but because it has become part of so many summer evenings. From there, the suggestions took us in different directions.
Some sent us towards Ka’Lavanda, for a Watermelon Mojito and the kind of evening that tends to last longer than planned. Others pointed us towards Back Lane, not only for the cocktails but for the atmosphere and the people behind the bar.
Oasis Yacht Club was another name that found its way into our conversations, and one people felt was well worth a visit for anyone exploring Hvar’s cocktail scene. Then there was Teraca, where a drink comes with a view across Pjaca.
The more people we spoke to, the more we realised that no two evenings on Hvar ever seem to follow the same route. Every recommendation reflected a different evening, a different group of friends or simply a different reason for coming back.
If Hvar were served in a glass…
After a few evenings of asking where to drink, we started asking something else: If Hvar had to be served in a glass, what would it taste like? The answers couldn’t have been more different.
Like a Hugo Spritz finished with rosemary, sunshine and good tequila, each had its own distinct character. A Spicy Paloma quickly found its way into the conversation, while someone else thought the island should have just a hint of bitterness.
Local flavours appeared again and again—lavender, herbs, rakija—but so did something harder to define: the feeling people wanted the drink to leave behind.
Perhaps there was no single cocktail that could define Hvar. Just as there wasn’t one place that could define an evening on the island.
More than what’s in the glass
By the end of our conversations, something else had become clear. People rarely spoke about a cocktail without also talking about where they drank it.
They remembered a favourite terrace, the bartender who already knew what they liked, music drifting through the streets or the friends they somehow always found there.
The drink might be what brings you to the bar. What makes you return is everything that happens around it.
The recommendations we’ll be returning to
By the end of our stay, we realised we hadn’t simply collected recommendations. We had discovered another side of Hvar. One shaped by the people who live here, a sunset they return to and the moments they continue to share.
A bartender they know by name. A favourite table. A drink that somehow tastes better in a particular place, with particular people.
This was never meant to be a list of Hvar’s best cocktails. It was simply one way of following the island after sunset. And as we’ve learned on Hvar, one recommendation usually leads to another. If Hvar has inspired your next journey, Journey2Croatia will be happy to help you experience it for yourself.
