A charming harbour town on the island of Vis — excellent waterfront restaurants, rich history, and an unspoiled island atmosphere.
Vis town is the main harbour of the island of Vis, the furthest inhabited island from the Croatian mainland and the one that stayed closed to outsiders longest. From 1944 until 1989 it was a military zone, off limits to foreign visitors, and the effect is still visible: no big hotels, no resort strip, a working harbour town where the waterfront restaurants and the fishing boats belong to the same families.
The town wraps around a deep, sheltered bay in two old quarters, Luka to the west and Kut to the east, joined by a long waterfront walk. Kut is where you eat: konobas and seafood restaurants along the quay serving Vis anchovies, grilled fish, lobster and the island's own wines, Vugava for white and Plavac Mali for red. Under the town lies Issa, the Greek colony founded here in the fourth century BC, which makes Vis one of the oldest settlements in Croatia. Roman baths and the archaeological museum in the Austrian Batarija fortress tell that story, and the British forts on the hills above, Fort George among them, date from the Napoleonic wars.
The military decades left their own sights. Tunnels, gun emplacements and a submarine pen cut into the rock around the bay can be visited by boat or road, and Tito's cave on Mount Hum, from which the Partisans ran the war in 1944, is a short drive inland. More recently the island stood in for Kalokairi in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, and you will recognise the harbour scenes.
From Hvar Town, Vis is about 12 nautical miles, roughly 45 minutes by speedboat. Our skippers moor in the bay and you step straight onto the waterfront. On a full day from Hvar, Vis town works as the long lunch and the walk: cross in the morning with a swim stop at Stončica or Smokova on the way, eat in Kut, wander the quays, and be back in Hvar for the evening. It combines easily with the Blue Cave day if you would rather end at a table in Vis than in Komiža.
If Hvar is the island everyone visits, Vis is the one they talk about afterwards. It is quieter, older and slower, and the boat ride there is half the point.
An unspoiled Adriatic town with Venetian and British heritage around a sheltered bay.
Excellent konobas and seafood restaurants line the Riva promenade.
Around 12 nm from Hvar; moor in the bay and step straight into town.
Hill forts, wineries and WWII tunnels all lie within easy reach of the harbour.
