Vlaka covePakleni Islands

Vlaka is an old fishing hamlet on the north side of Sveti Klement, towards the western end of the largest Pakleni island, about four nautical miles from Hvar Town by boat. A handful of stone houses stands behind a sheltered pebble cove, terraces of vines and olives climb the slope behind them, and there is nothing else: no road, no shop, no music. Most boats pass it on the way to Palmižana, which is exactly why it is worth stopping.

The cove is small and well protected, with a pebble beach for wading in and rocky sides for snorkelling, where the water is clear over a bottom of stones and sea grass. There is room for a few boats to anchor comfortably, and the bay stays calm in the afternoon Maestral.

The reason people know Vlaka, though, is up the hill. Dionis is a family restaurant set among the vineyards and olive trees above the cove, reached by a short walk up from the beach, serving fish and lamb from the peka, vegetables from its own garden and wine from the vines you walked past. It is one of the best lunches on the Pakleni Islands and one of the least advertised, so book ahead in summer. Eating there, with the sea below and the vineyard around you, is the version of the islands that the beach clubs have forgotten.

Vlaka is on our Pakleni Islands Half-Day tour as the quiet swim and, when time allows, the lunch stop after the busier bays at Jerolim, Stipanska and Mlini. On a self-drive day it is the natural counterweight to Palmižana: an hour of restaurants and sunbeds there, then round the island to Vlaka for the afternoon with nobody else in the water.

The cove faces north, so it is best on a morning or a still afternoon; if the Bura is blowing from the mainland your skipper will keep to the south side of the island instead.