Hvar has a reputation as one of Croatia’s top party destinations, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect when we decided to visit Hvar with kids. Travelling with a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old, we were far more interested in beautiful beaches, scenic walks and family-friendly activities than nightlife. As it turned out, Hvar was one of our favourite stops in Croatia!
We spent three days on Hvar Island as part of our 17-day Croatia with kids itinerary. After exploring Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes National Park and Split, we were ready to slow down and enjoy some time by the Adriatic Sea.
Hvar turned out to be an excellent destination for our family, earning a place among our favourite kid-friendly destinations in Europe, with a charming Old Town, beautiful coastal hiking trails and plenty of opportunities for the kids to play on the beach.
Some of our favourite things to do in Hvar with kids were hiking to quieter beaches along the coast, exploring the historic Hvar Fortress and wandering through the narrow streets of Hvar Town. We especially loved how we could combine sightseeing and hiking with plenty of beach time, which worked well for our young children.
In this guide, we share our three-day Hvar family itinerary, including the activities we enjoyed, our favourite beaches, where we stayed and practical tips for getting around. If you’re wondering whether Hvar is good for families or how many days to spend on the island, we hope that our experience will help you plan your own visit.
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Is Hvar Good for Families?
Yes, Hvar is a great destination for families, with beautiful beaches, scenic coastal walks and plenty of opportunities to explore outdoors. Despite its reputation as a party destination, we loved spending three days in Hvar with our kids, visiting Hvar Fortress, hiking to quiet beaches and exploring the charming Old Town.
Our 3-Day Hvar with Kids Itinerary
We spent three days in Hvar with our kids, combining sightseeing in Hvar Town with two beautiful coastal hikes. Our itinerary included Hvar Fortress, Milna Beach, Mekićevica Beach and a relaxing waterfront walk. Here’s how we organized our days, with plenty of beach time and breaks for our young children.
Day 1: Explore Hvar Fortress
The Hvar Fortress (otherwise known as Fortica or Spanjola) is one of the first things you see when you arrive in Hvar. Sitting dominantly on a hill behind the Old Town, Hvar Fortress must have been formidable back in its day.
Hike to Hvar Fortress (Fortica)
As we love to do on our family travels around the world, we chose to skip the taxi and walk up to the Hvar Fortress. The walk up to the Hvar Fortress is beautiful, with colourful flowers, plenty of greenery and excellent views of Hvar Town and its harbour.
It’s an effort, but if you are in reasonable shape, you won’t have much trouble. Our kids were able to walk all the way to the Hvar Fortress without much help.
Exploring the Hvar Fortress with Kids
The Fortress was one of our favourite things to do in Hvar with kids. They had a ball running around exploring, climbing on stuff and playing with the cannons. The views at the Hvar Fortress are incredible and make the walk up worthwhile.
The views of Old Town and the Adriatic Sea are why you visit the Hvar Fortress, but there are a few other things to do while up there. The Hvar Fortress has a prison deep in its bowels which is fun to walk down and explore. There is also a small museum (mostly ceramics – yawn) and a cafe which sells ice cream and smoothies.
The Hvar Fortress is a reasonably small place and you can see it all in under an hour, but you can take as long as you’d like to soak in those amazing views of Hvar and the Adriatic Sea beyond. If you are wondering what to do in Hvar with kids, we recommend taking the time to see the Hvar Fortress.
Day 2: Milna Beach Hike & Hvar Old Town
On our second day in Hvar with kids, we combined one of our favourite coastal hikes with some time exploring the charming streets of Hvar Old Town. The hike to Milna Beach was a highlight of our visit, with beautiful views of the Adriatic Sea and several quiet beaches along the way.
Hike to Milna Beach with Kids
We left our Hvar vacation rental at 7:30 am to go for a family hike to a popular beach near Hvar Town. We put the kids in their carriers and headed out on our morning hike to nearby Milna Beach.
We expected the hiking on Hvar to be beautiful, but the hike to Milna Beach exceeded our expectations. The trail follows the rugged coastline for much of the way, with incredible views of the Adriatic Sea and surrounding islands.
AllTrails Map
Download the hiking trail from Hvar to Milna beach onto your phone with the AllTrails app.
Leaving Hvar Town on the Seafront Promenade
The walk begins from the Hvar harbour along a paved seafront promenade until you pass the Franciscan Monastery. Here the seafront promenade ends and transitions to a quiet residential road.
Before long, the road turns into a hiking trail, with trees providing some welcome shade from the sun. The terrain varies from flat dirt paths to jagged, uneven rocks, so wear sturdy footwear. We do not recommend flip-flops for this hike.
Passing Beautiful, Secluded Beaches
Along the hike to Milna Beach, you’ll pass several other beaches, many of which were deserted on the day we hiked this trail. It’s hard to describe the tranquil beauty of these isolated Hvar beaches, with their stunning crystal clear water.
It was a hot morning and it was soooooo tempting to stop and jump in, but we had heard Milna Beach was a good kid-friendly Hvar beach, so onward we marched. We let the kids walk for a little bit, but we carried them for most of our hike to Milna Beach. We wanted to get there quickly to give them as much time on the beach as we could.
As we neared Milna, we passed several stunning Hvar beaches and we were getting excited to see the one nearest town, which was our final destination. When we finished our hike to Milna Beach, we were shocked to see a backhoe in the middle of the beach, grooming the pebbles. Groan…
We visited Hvar with our kids the first week of May, so they must have been preparing Milna Beach for the upcoming tourist season. Even after being groomed, Milna Beach wasn’t nearly as nice as the beaches we had passed along the way. Our kids didn’t care and they ran off to play, but we were quite disappointed knowing the amazing, almost secret Hvar beaches we had passed up to come here.
Being so early in the tourist season there was hardly anything open, but we went to a nearby Milna hotel for some ice cream and cake.
Leaving Milna for a Nicer Beach
Afterwards, we walked back to the second-closest beach to Milna. It was much nicer than Milna Beach and even had a small section with sand, which was popular with families with young kids.
Overall, we found the hike to Milna Beach wasn’t too hard, but the footing was challenging at times and slowed us down. The 7.5 km (4.7 mile) hike took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is roughly 30 minutes longer than we’d normally expect for that distance.
Given the hike to Milna Beach took us longer than planned, we abandoned our plan to hike back and took a taxi back to Hvar Town.
We recommend you stop at one of the other excellent Hvar beaches on the way to Milna, instead of going to Milna Beach. When you are done enjoying your special Hvar beach, complete the hike to Milna and take a bus or cab back to Hvar Town. The beaches in Milna are nice enough, but the ones along the hike there were much nicer.
For more practical advice, read our guide to hiking with kids and see the hiking gear for kids we recommend for family adventures.
Read More
With so many amazing family activities along with stunning beach scenery, we’ve included Hvar in our list of the best beach vacation destinations for families.
Explore Hvar Old Town
After our toddler’s nap, we went for a slow walk through Hvar Old Town. We didn’t push the kids too hard and let them set the pace. We walked through many of Hvar’s charming side streets behind the harbor.
The kids loved running ahead to explore, smelling flowers, climbing stairs and discovering new alleys. We walked back through St. Stephen’s Square before looping back up to our Hvar vacation home rental.
Day 3: Mekićevica Beach & Waterfront Walk
Hike to Mekićevica Beach
We had considered a day trip to the Pakleni Islands, but instead, we decided to guarantee ourselves an awesome beach day. We chose to hike back to Mekićevica Beach, which was the most beautiful beach we saw on our hike the previous day.
The hike from Hvar to Mekićevica Beach is along the same hiking trail to Milna Beach. You can find Mekićevica Beach on the AllTrails hiking map at the 4 km mark. It took us about an hour to walk there from Hvar.
We arrived at Mekićevica Beach at 8:30 am and we had the entire beach to ourselves. This small Hvar beach is postcard worthy; it’s exactly what comes to mind when you think of a Croatian beach.
Mekićevica Beach is in a protected cove with dramatic rock formations on either side. The beach is mostly rocky, with small pebbles near the water that gradually get larger farther up the shore. We recommend water shoes for anyone with tender feet.
Mekićevica Beach was a great choice for our family. The sheltered cove had small waves during our visit, and we had the beach entirely to ourselves for almost two hours. It was a wonderful place for the kids to explore.
Our kids spent most of their time at Mekićevica Beach outside the water, playing on the large outer cove rocks, playing with the beach rocks, looking for shells, playing in tide pools, etc. Despite being common in Croatia, we didn’t see a single sea urchin here (keep an eye out for black circles in the water).
Hvar Beach
When it was getting close to lunch, we decided to walk back to Hvar Beach and let the kids play there for a while. Being much closer to town, Hvar Beach was much busier and didn’t have a fraction of the charm of Mekićevica Beach.
We played for a little bit, but it was getting close to lunch and we were tempted by the prospect of seafront calamari at the nearby Mustačo Restaurant. You can keep walking, as we thought the food here was awful.
Walk Hvar’s Oceanfront Promenade
In the afternoon, we could tell the kids were dead tired after two days of playing in the sun on the Hvar beaches, so we decided to let them rest at our vacation rental for the afternoon, while Celine and I took turns exploring the oceanfront promenade.
We each walked for 20-25 minutes down the Hvar oceanfront promenade on the west side of the harbour. This is a very nice family-friendly walk in Hvar Town. It passes several beaches and a playground, making it a great choice for things to do in Hvar for kids.
Can I Visit the Pakleni Islands with Kids?
Yes! The Pakleni Islands are a great option for a family day trip from Hvar Town, with beautiful beaches, clear water and plenty of opportunities for swimming and snorkelling. You can reach the islands by water taxi or join an organized boat tour.
One thing to be aware of when visiting the Pakleni Islands with kids is that some beaches are popular with naturists, particularly on Jerolim Island. However, there are plenty of family-friendly alternatives. Palmižana (Vinogradišće Beach) is a particularly good choice, with a partially sandy and pebbly beach and nearby restaurants. Mlini and Ždrilca are also worth considering for their lovely pebble beaches and clear water.
If you’d prefer to explore several islands without arranging transportation yourself, take a look at these Pakleni Islands boat tours from Hvar. Some tours include swimming and snorkelling stops, making them a fun option for families.
Where to Stay in Hvar with Kids
Due to its popularity, accommodation in Hvar can get very expensive. Hvar Old Town is pretty small and hotel options are limited, forcing prices upwards. Those travelling to Hvar on a budget can find options just outside of the Hvar Old Town, but this typically involves climbing many stairs up the hill which backs onto Hvar.
We rented a two-bedroom vacation home a few minutes’ walk north of Hvar Old Town. We love having a kitchen, laundry facilities and separate bedrooms when travelling with kids. Staying a little farther uphill also made our accommodation more affordable than places closer to the waterfront.
If you’d prefer to stay in a hotel, there are plenty of great family-friendly accommodations in Hvar. Take a look at these family-friendly hotels in Hvar to find a comfortable place to stay with your kids, whether you’re looking for a pool, a convenient location or extra space for your family.
How to Get to Hvar with Kids
Hvar does not have an international airport, which means most visitors will travel there from Dubrovnik or Split.
There are two important arrival options from Split: passenger catamarans to Hvar Town and car ferries to Stari Grad (a 30 minute drive to Hvar Town). Jadrolinija also operates a direct Split–Hvar Town catamaran route. Krilo operates passenger catamaran services connecting Split and Hvar Town. This is the route we chose as we were visiting Hvar without a rental car.
If you’re flying into Split or Dubrovnik and don’t want to rent a car or bring your own child seats, a private transfer may be worth considering. Your private transfer to Hvar includes transportation to the ferry, child seats (if requested) and ferry tickets. Plus, your driver will meet you right at the airport.
Transfers from Dubrovnik Airport to Hvar (incl ferry tickets)
Transfers from Split Airport to Hvar (incl ferry tickets)
Follow Along on our Croatia Family Holiday
We started our Croatian family holiday with a fun day in Zagreb with kids. From there we hopped on a bus from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park, which was amazing! See our 15 tips you need to know when visiting Plitvice Lakes with kids.
Then, after three days in Split with kids, we continued island hopping, beginning with this stop in Hvar, then onto Korcula with kids. We finished our family trip to Croatia with a very fun trip to Dubrovnik with kids.
Read more about our European family vacation with stops in the Czech Republic with kids, Budapest with kids, Croatia with kids and a final stop in Iceland with kids.
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
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