Hvar.

Hvar is the central hub of a Dalmatian week and the island most charters build a routing around. It sits in the middle of the coast, an hour south of Split by sea, with the Pakleni islands strung out immediately off the town. Most weeks embark in Split and use Hvar as the mid-point, working the anchorages by day and taking the town or the quieter harbours by night.

The Pakleni islands are the reason the island cruises so well. Palmižana is the principal marina and the sheltered base among them, and the coves along the chain hold through the building afternoon Maestral. The anchorages are a short tender from Hvar town, which makes the island the easiest place on the central coast to combine a day on the water with an evening ashore.

A yacht charter in Hvar tends to run between two faces of the island. Hvar town carries the evening scene, the harbour-front and the fortress above it, and the summer fleet gathers here through July and August. Stari Grad, on the northern side, is the quiet counterpart, an older harbour set back in a long bay, and it reads as the calmer base for owners who want the island without the peak-week density.

In a week’s routing Hvar sits between the near islands and the southern run. Five to seven nights threads the Pakleni anchorages with Vis and Korčula; seven to ten opens the line south toward Mljet and Dubrovnik, and on into Montenegro for the longest weeks. The advisor holds the Palmižana and Hvar-town berthing, which are the constraints that shape the calendar in high summer, and fixes the embarkation port against the brief.