Hvar

Croatia

Hvar is Dalmatia's sun island (2,718 sun hours a year, the most in Croatia), 11,000 residents island-wide and just 3,700 in tiny Hvar Town - clustered around Saint Stephen Square (the largest piazza in Dalmatia), the 16th-century cathedral, the 1612 Arsenal theatre, the Franciscan Monastery on the harbour cliff and the Fortica Španjola fortress on the hill behind, with the Pakleni Islands archipelago a 15-min water-taxi off the western tip, Stari Grad 20 km east (the oldest town in Croatia, Greek Pharos 384 BC) and the UNESCO Stari Grad Plain, lavender ridges around Velo Grablje and Plavac Mali vineyards at Sveta Nedjelja - reached only by Jadrolinija catamaran or car ferry from Split (SPU). Top spots for pets include Saint Stephen Square and the 1612 Arsenal theatre, the Fortica Španjola panorama over the Pakleni Islands, the Franciscan Monastery harbour cliffside walk, the dog-friendly Palmižana and Mlini bays on Sveti Klement, and Stari Grad UNESCO agricultural plain with 16 km of dry-stone-walled vineyard lanes, especially around Hvar Town around Saint Stephen Square and the Fortica hill, the Pakleni Islands archipelago off the western tip, Stari Grad and the UNESCO plain 20 km east, and Jelsa/Vrboska "Little Venice" on the central north coast.