Hvar Island stretches 68 kilometres along the Dalmatian coast and is one of Croatia’s sunniest places — averaging 2,724 hours of sunshine per year, making it among the brightest spots in all of Europe. The island is deeply agricultural — lavender fields, olive groves and the excellent Plavac Mali and Bogdanusa vineyards cover the limestone karst interior, and local products are sold at markets and small farms throughout the summer. Hvar Town, the island’s capital on the sheltered north-west coast, is a spectacular medieval settlement of Venetian palaces, an imposing hilltop fortress and one of Europe’s oldest municipal theatres (dating from 1612). The main square (Trg Sv. Stjepana) — the largest in Dalmatia — faces a harbour permanently filled with superyachts and traditional wooden fishing boats, and the cafes, restaurants and cocktail bars radiating from it create an atmosphere that is chic, relaxed and thoroughly Mediterranean. The Pakleni Islands, a short boat ride from Hvar Town, offer some of the clearest water and finest swimming in the Adriatic — small wooded islands with rocky beaches, good snorkelling reefs and a handful of excellent restaurants accessible only by water taxi. The village of Stari Grad on the east of the island is quieter and more cultural — its ancient Greek grid-pattern agricultural landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the town itself is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in Europe. The village of Jelsa and the surrounding coves along the north coast provide a more relaxed, family-oriented alternative to the buzz of Hvar Town. Hvar is best visited June to September, with early June and September offering the ideal combination of warm weather and manageable crowds.