Island Hopping from Split: 7 (and 10) Days Itinerary

Croatian islands are the best idea for your holidays. What’s even better is visiting a few islands during one trip.

Let’s review how you can organise your Croatia island hopping from Split.

You will find here a ready itinerary which is perfect for 7 and 10 days, or even 14 days, if you want to spend more time on one island and visit it more exactly.

How did I choose islands for the itinerary? I visited 11 out of 49 Croatian inhabited islands (and many more not inhabited small islands and islets). In the itinerary I included 3 islands: Brač, Hvar, and Vis. I obviously visited all of them personally, and I just liked them very much.

They also make sense logistically, as they are all located in middle Dalmatia and have direct ferry connections. I did a similar itinerary during my last stay in Dalmatia a year ago.

Why Island Hopping from Split is a good idea

I would say that doing island hopping in Croatia is a little bit less popular than in Greece. What’s very popular in Croatia is island hopping but on the yacht or bigger boats. Yet, you can do it using public ferry connections as well; it’s just important to choose islands well.

Split is a perfect start point due to a few reasons:

• It has an airport and many flight connections during the season
• Split itself is a great, ‘must-see’ city. It’s also very touristic, with a lot of places to stay, eat, do
• The location of the ferry port is very convenient, in the city centre.

The last point is really important, as it makes the trip hassle-free. If you stay in the old town in Split, you can easily just walk from your accommodation to the port. The stop from the airport is just next to the port, so it’s also easy if you travel to islands directly.

More details about the ferry port you can read in this blog post.

In this one, you will read about getting to Split centre from the Split airport.

Visiting Split during the trip

Visiting Split absolutely should be on your list during this trip. One day is enough to get a quick grasp of the most important things; two days is a good time to see the city more properly, but you obviously can stay longer too. You will not be bored: there is a lot of city life, and there are beaches and nice places to visit around the city.

You can incorporate Split into the plan at the start or the end of your trip; it depends on the time of your flights.

During the high season Split is really crowded. Especially when it’s the day when cruises come (which, during the season, happen very often), the old town is busy during the day. Cruise ships usually leave around 4-5 p.m., then it’s getting a little bit less crowded. There are websites where you can check how many cruises arrive to the city (and other cities too) on that day. I don’t know how accurate it is, but maybe it will be a bit helpful when you are arranging your visiting schedule.

Visitors in Split concentrate on Riva and old town, around Diocletian Palace and cathedral, and old town streets. It’s not surprising, as the palace is an amazing monument entered into the UNESCO list.

If you have more time, walk more in the harbour, go up to Marjan Hill for amazing views and visit one of the markets.

I’ve visited Split many times, and it’s definitely one of my favourite cities in Europe. I love it for its architecture and atmosphere.

Ferries and Ports

Ferries

The biggest ferry company in Croatia is Jadrolinija, a public ferry company which has a lot of connections, and many of them are with car ferries. But there are also other ferry companies, for example, Kapetan Luka-Krilo or TP Line, which operate with high-speed catamarans. These 3 companies will be the most useful when it comes to island-hopping around Split.

Obviously, the biggest amount of connections is available during summer. If you travel during the highest season, it’s good to book the ticket in advance.

You can check schedules on the company’s website, but you can also start checks with generic websites which will show you all the available connections, like this one, and then book the ticket at the company website (or in ticket offices in harbours). Schedules vary depending on the month.

Ports

Bigger islands will have more ports, so be careful when booking a ticket – check if the boat arrives at the town you want.

If you are planning to take a car with you on the boat, you will be restricted to the town which has such a port. A good example is the popular Hvar island. The biggest amount of tourists arrive to the capital, but it’s possible only with the passenger catamarans. If you take the car, you need to take a ferry to Stari Grad.

Passenger boats usually arrive at the place that is within walking distance from the town centre (or even in the centre itself).

Split Island Hopping: Itinerary

After all the theory, which I hope is useful and helps you to prepare for the trip, let’s look at the exact itinerary.

This itinerary is best for passengers without cars. If you want to travel with the car, I explain which ports to look at in the text.

Here is the quick summary of the itinerary, and below you will find all the details:

Route: Split-Brač Island (towns: Bol or Milna)-Hvar Island (Hvar town)-Vis-Split

During a 7-day trip: 1 night in Split, 2 nights on Brac, 2 on Hvar, 1 in Vis.

During a 10-day trip or longer: Stay 3 or 4 nights on Brac and Hvar.

Other option: Stay longer in Hvar and take one day trip to Vis; come back to Split from Hvar.

Where to stay:

Brač: Bluesun Bonaca, Hotel Sol, Lifestyle Hotel Vitar

Hvar: Apartments Jurić, Riva Lavanda, premium: Hotel Palace Elisabeth

Vis: Vila Sunce, Vila Tangerine

Start of the Trip

Arrive at Split Airport and take a bus or private transfer to the centre (it’s really easy to commute in this case with an airport bus). Stay in Split and visit the city or take the ferry to the first island.

Island 1: Brač

The first island you will go to is Brač, which is easy to reach from Split. You can take a ferry to 3 towns: Supetar, Milna or Bol. Supetar is the biggest and serves as the island’s centre. However, I think it would be better to go to Bol or Milna; as from there you are able to travel further (unless you want to take a car; then you need to go to Supetar port).

Brač is the third biggest Croatian island, and it has a lot to offer. If you want to travel between towns, you can use public buses.

That’s why you can stay on the island as long as you wish or are able to. If your trip takes 7 days, then probably you should leave it after 2 nights. If 10, stay for 2-4 nights.

About Bol

Bol is a beautiful atmospheric town with a small fisherman harbour. It’s where the iconic beach (Zlatni Rat) is located.

From Brač island, the famous limestone comes. Limestone was used to build the palace in Split, parliament in Budapest, or possibly even the White House. You can buy souvenirs made of this stone.

When I recently visited Bol on Brač, I stayed in this hotel. It had a good location close to the sea and seaside promenade, a nice swimming pool, and you could get good deals for meals included.

The second place I want to recommend in Bol is the atmospheric Stina Winery, which is located just at the seaside.

Island 2: Hvar

The next island on the itinerary is my favourite Croatian island! The island of Hvar is also one of the most famous ones.

From Bol or Milna on Brač you can arrive at towns: Hvar or Jelsa on Hvar. These are passenger ferries only.

If you want to take a car to Hvar, you will arrive at Stari Grad port. In this case, most likely, you will need to go via Split, as Stari Grad doesn’t have a connection with Brač.

There are public buses on Hvar, so you can visit other towns during your stay. If you are in Hvar, I suggest visiting Stari Grad – it’s easy to get there by bus, and it’s a really nice and interesting town considered one of the oldest towns in Europe (Stari Grad means Old Town literally in Croatian).

Stay in Hvar for 2 nights at least.

About Hvar Town

During the summer, especially the main town of the island, called Hvar, is also a pretty posh place with vibrant nightlife. Yet, it still keeps its charm. It’s incredibly picturesque with narrow cobblestone streets, colourful windows and a lot of flowers.

Hvar has a lot of cultural landmarks from 15th and 16th centuries, like City Lodge, St Stephen’s Square and Cathedral, or Fortress, which you can get to by quite a few stairs. Even if it’s a bit of a hassle, don’t miss it (the best time to go is before sunset), as there are amazing views from the Fortress, as you see Pakleni Islands.

Pakleni Islands is another must-visit place for beautiful beaches and turquoise waters. You can take a trip or just water taxi from Hvar harbour.

During my last stay in Hvar I stayed in this apartment and I absolutely loved the place: beautiful terrace with views, clean apartment and very nice and responsive hosts who even picked us up from the ferry.

Island 3: Vis

It’s a little bit more complicated to add the third island to the route than the 2 previous ones because of ferries. They just go less often between Vis and other islands.

But I’m adding Vis Island into this itinerary as it’s becoming a more and more popular island. One of the reasons is Mama Mia movie, which second part was set in Vis (and it was just ‘playing’ the Greek island). From Vis, it is very close to Biševo Island, where you can visit one of the most well-known attractions, the Blue Cave. If you have more time, it’s also worth going to another town on Vis, Komiža, a small town with a yacht harbour, a chilled atmosphere and views (the movie was set here as well).

The ferry port is located in Vis town, the main town of the island. From Hvar you can get here once per week only. So you would have to see if it fits your schedule, the time of your flight, etc.

There are more daily ferries, though, between Vis and Split, so it’s no problem with coming back to Split or going to Vis directly. There is also another option if ferries don’t fit into your schedule or it’s too much hassle for you. You can stay longer on Hvar and just take a one-day boat tour to Vis and the cave

Finish of the trip

From Vis (or Hvar), go to Split. If you have more time in Split, take a half-an-hour bus and visit Trogir, another gem and UNESCO landmark.

There are also other islands that you could take into consideration, like Šolta or Korčula. Korčula is absolutely worth a visit, but it’s quite far from Split, and it rather fits into the islands from Dubrovnik itinerary.

Even if you visit 2 islands with boat trips to Pakleni, it will be a very restful holiday with stunning views. Just be careful, as you will for sure want to visit more islands after this trip😉.