Pokonji Dol beachHvar Island

Pokonji Dol is the beach at the eastern edge of Hvar Town, just over a nautical mile from the harbour by boat and a twenty-minute walk along the coast path from the centre. It is the closest proper beach to town, which makes it both the easiest stop on any boat day and, by late morning in summer, one of the busiest. Come early or come by boat, and it is a different place.

The beach is a wide crescent of pebbles with clear, shallow water and a gentle entry, the sort of beach that works for families and for a quick swim before lunch. Offshore, a few hundred metres out, sits the tiny islet of Pokonji Dol with its white lighthouse, built in 1872 and still working. It is the view that makes the beach: the islet in the foreground, the Pakleni Islands to the right and the open sea behind, and at the end of the day the sun sets straight into it.

Facilities are simple and enough. A restaurant and a café-bar sit behind the beach, sunbeds and umbrellas are available through the season, and there is shade under the trees at the back. The beach is reachable by road, so it also works as a meeting point if part of your group is coming from town while the rest are on the boat.

By boat, Pokonji Dol is the first swim east of the harbour and the last one on the way home from the south coast: anchor outside the swimming buoys and swim in, or snorkel around the lighthouse islet, where the rocks drop away into deeper water and the fish are used to visitors. Continuing east, the coast path and the boat both reach Mekićevica, the quieter Robinson beach, in a few more minutes.

If you are renting a boat for the first time, Pokonji Dol is the ideal first stop: sheltered, close, easy to anchor, and with the lighthouse as a landmark you cannot miss on the way back into Hvar.