Could We Swap Cape Town Winters for a Hvar Summer? (Honest Test)

Last week we explored Split to answer one simple question: could we see ourselves retiring there? Whilst we loved its history, waterfront, and atmosphere, we couldn't help wondering if it might be just a little bit too busy for the slower pace of life we're looking for. So for our next part of our Croatian adventure, we're leaving the mainland behind and heading to the island of Hvar. But rather than staying in the famous Hvar Town, we're trying something a little different. We've based ourselves in Stari Grad, one of Croatia's oldest towns, to find out whether this quieter side of the island could be a better fit for longer stays or even retirement. So let's go and see what we discover.

Good morning, we just got on our ferry from Split to Stari Grad. And then this is the middle of the lounge area, and then through here there's a little bar with a coffee area. And, uh, journey is just under 2 hours, so hopefully it'll be nice and smooth. And we will see you when we get to Stari Grad, where the next adventure begins. So we have to find a water bus or taxi to get to our hotel. So we'll see you later.

When most people think of Hvar, they picture glamorous yachts, expensive cocktails, and one of Croatia's busiest islands. But after hearing there was a much quieter side to Hvar in Stari Grad, we wanted to answer a different question. Could this actually be somewhere we'd choose to retire? Instead of staying in the famous Hvar town, we booked ourselves into Stari Grad, one of Croatia's oldest towns and somewhere that's often overlooked by visitors. Sometimes it's the places with fewer tourists that turn out to be the biggest surprise, and this certainly proved to be true for Stari Grad.

So this is the entrance to our apartment, which is just opposite the bus station, and you're going on a voyage of discovery with us because this is the first time we've walked into town, and it's a UNESCO heritage— the old town is one of the oldest inhabited towns in Croatia. 400 years BC.

The Greeks built it originally.

Looks like a set, it's very clean. So we're going on hunt for somewhere for lunch and also for a swim. After the chaos of Split, it's lovely to be walking around somewhere where everyone's either having a siesta or it's just generally really quiet. Another day, another local board for lunch. We've got some cheese, olives, nuts.

It's very windy, I'm not sure you can hear me.

Anyway, carrying on exploring after lunch, just looking at the beautiful architecture, and I was saying it looks— has like an Italian influence. Feels like we're by one of the lakes. We were commenting how quiet it is and whether it'll be this quiet tonight. But of course everyone who comes to Hvar goes to the Hvar town, and we've come to the other side of the island in Stari Grad, which is much quieter.

Lots of people are probably out exploring. There's a lot of cycle tours as well.

Yeah, well, we'll see tonight.

Hopefully busy, but nowhere near as busy as Split.

We were kind of happy to get away from that and all the youngsters. If you want to go for a swim in Stara Grad, if you walk out of town, you'll find these platforms. And whilst the water isn't as blue as other places because of the pine tree reflections, it's still lovely and a really nice way to, to cool down. This is about a 10-minute walk from the center of Stara Grad. Mixing it up this evening, I'm having a gin and tonic for a change instead of an Aperol. It's a lovely place to have a cocktail. What's our thoughts so far, James? It's lovely. Yeah, it's really nice here. It's such an antidote after the craziness of Split, and I could imagine myself spending extended periods of time here much more so than Split.

Yeah. I think if you want to stay longer in a place, highly— so far, yeah, Stari Grad, it's definitely up there.

And it's relatively quiet, isn't it?

Yeah, well, right now in Split, it is absolutely heaving trying to find places to have a drink. And just look, just scan around and have a look. We're just in one little courtyard area and we found all of this.

Yeah, and there's, uh, There's a few people here, but it's certainly not busy anywhere.

Yeah, it's not rammed where you're trying to find a seat. So it's just got a slower pace of life.

Our food has arrived. James is doing the healthy option of a chicken salad, and I'm doing the unhealthy option of a quattro stagioni pizza.

Having spent a day here, we both started saying exactly the same thing. Without even trying, we could already picture ourselves staying here for weeks rather than days. And that's definitely a good sign this was more our thing than the busyness of Split.

Just exploring the lanes with all the little shops and the creative places. Oh, you are everywhere! Spectacular!

One of the things we love about places like Storograd is discovering the stories behind them. This is Tevedal Castle, the fortified home of Renaissance poet Peter Hektorović. Built in the 16th century, it wasn't just his home, it provided shelter for local people during attacks on the island. Today it's a peaceful mix of gardens, a saltwater fish pond, and shaded courtyards. It's exactly the sort of place you could imagine wandering around on a warm morning if you lived here. Rather than trying to squeeze it into a busy sightseeing itinerary.

So we decided to get the bus from Stari Grad into Hvar. It took about 50 minutes, cost €5 each, and we're going to mooch around, some lunch, some lunch and mooch around for a few hours. But first impressions are that Hvar is busy, as you can see, but I'm sure it's going to be pretty as well. Hopefully it will reinforce that decision to stay in Stari Grad and help you decide as well. And then from the bus station, it's only a few minutes' walk down to the ferry port, so by the harbour. Yeah, the harbour. We'll be doing this again day after tomorrow when we get our boat from Hvar to Korčula.

Now, we couldn't judge Hvar without coming to see Hvar Town itself, and indeed other YouTube videos recommend this is where you stay, so we wanted to find out if we were missing out. And whilst Hvar is very pretty, it's also crowded and busy, and I think this reinforced our decision to stay in Stari Grad rather than Hvar Town.

So a little bit ahead of us is the castle, but that looks like a lot of steep steps— a fort, yeah— and that looks like a lot of steep steps on a day where it's 35 degrees. So sorry if we don't take you up there, but it's too bleeding hot. So we'd stopped for lunch at Cogo restaurant on the market square, and the prices are interesting here. So Jane's drinking a Coke out of a little bottle, little bottle at €5, and I'm drinking a big bottle of non-alcoholic beer and it was €4. And actually the non-alcoholic beer is nice, it's slightly lemony and very light, and you wouldn't know it wasn't beer. Lots of shops and places to have a drink in the shade. Back down to the harbour, we're at the other end of the harbour now, slowly making our way back into town and to the crowds in the bus station. So we've walked a little bit around the headland and found the public beach. Still looks very pebbly and very busy. Good morning, we have come on a bit of an adventure today. We've hired a car for of the day. And where are we going first of all, James?

Uh, Žukova Beach.

So driven down a very narrow lane. Luckily there was only one car coming towards us, but we're heading down there, over Kapol Žukova Beach. So this will give us a chance to explore a little bit of Hvar Island, some Just going to have our— or Saragrad. Doing our trek down, we're nearly there. Look how beautiful the water looks, and I imagine it's going to be very quiet here. Made it down to the bottom. There's a few people here, but not a lot. Well, that was absolutely lovely. Look at the amazing setting to to be swimming in. And although it's not a sandy beach, because there's no tide, it's like a bay almost.

It's really calm and it's really warm and lovely for swim.

So we're going to hang out here for a bit before we make the trek back up to the car park and heading off to our next destination. So if you want a really nice quiet beach to go to, then you'll have to hire a car or get a cab here, but it's Sukova beach, and almost feels more Nordic in a way with the mountains in the background, although it's a million degrees warmer than it would be in Norway. But look, I hope the camera is capturing how absolutely clear and beautiful the ocean is. One thing to mention is if you did decide to come to this beach, it's definitely not for the faint-hearted. It's a bit like climbing a mountain going up here, and don't do it in flip-flops, especially when your feet are wet like ours are.

Especially in 30-degree heat.

Yeah, and it's baking hot. We're taking our time so we don't have any mishaps. Next stop on our tour is a little village called Vrboska. I'm pronouncing that correctly. And we've driven and parked, and it's about a 6-minute walk apparently. But there's a nice breeze, which you can probably hear, so it's keeping us a bit cooler. So we just walked down those stairs. It's not really a 6-minute walk from the free car park, it's a few minutes, and we are in the center of town. How pretty is that, with a very modern-looking bridge. The harbour, something over there, a few cafes and stuff. A view of Obra from the bridge. We're gonna check out this place here, Canoba, for lunch. This is the second beach we stopped at. We didn't go to the Sandy Bay Beach because it was packed and there was no parking We saw this beach on the way up and as you can see it's not crowded and parking is really easy. And it was lovely having a swim in the crystal clear water. So we've come to our next stop on the Magical Mystery Tour, which is Gjellsá, and look at the temperature, 39 degrees. We managed to find some found somewhere to park for free, which is a bargain, just up the road. It's supposed to be €1.30, but there was no one there, so I guess because it's a Friday and quiet. Maybe at the weekends it's busier, but right now it feels a bit— not like a ghost town, but it's very quiet.

Well, once we get to the river and the harbor front, which is just there, it might be slightly different.

Yeah, it's just up here. So a few meters further, we've arrived in the town, which is very, very pretty. Reminds us a bit of Hvar, except much quieter. So if you want another quiet place to stay, this would be a good place to stay, but definitely somewhere to come and visit. Look how pretty That yacht looks like it's parked right by the hotel. Some big cruise lines. Well, actually, that's a ferry, isn't it, over there? So you can obviously get a ferry here, but it's very, very pretty. We're going to spend a bit of time here, aren't we, James?

Need a drink.

So we decided to have a cold coffee. Ah, brilliant, thank you. And that turned into a ice coffee with ice cream. So we're having our dessert for this evening now instead, but hopefully it'll cool us down. And I want to just talk about the heat for a moment, because if you were trying to decide if you wanted to spend your summers here and your winters in Cape Town like we want to do, then one thing you really need to factor in is the weather. And it's middle of June right now, or late June, and it's absolutely baking hot. It's about 39 degrees here apparently, and this is sort of oppressive enough to stop you doing too much. I know they're having a bit of a heat wave here at the moment, but one of the questions we would definitely have about living here is, is it just too hot, especially come July and August when it's going to get even hotter than this as well? And would that stop you actually wanted to do too much. I think for us the answer would be yes, wouldn't it, James?

Yeah.

After a fantastic day exploring the island, we are back in Storograd.

We've returned the car and it's now time for dinner.

Where are we, James?

La Gitana, which I think means the guitar.

And it's a restaurant we're at. We were at the restaurant behind us last night. This is the restaurant with the live musicians.

There's something going on over there.

Lots of kids seated in a circle. Okay, our food's arrived. James has got— oh, there's a fly on there. James has got the meat plate for a change.

We've got a Greek salad.

I've got some pasta and some bread. Yep, looks nice. Bon appétit.

So could we retire in Hvar? Well, the answer surprised us. Before arriving, we assumed Hvar Town would be our favorite. It's beautiful and vibrant, but after spending time there, we realized it probably isn't somewhere we want to stay for weeks or even months. Stari Grad completely stole the show. It felt calmer, more authentic, easier to walk around, and much closer to the slower pace of life we're hoping to find in retirement. We also loved exploring Vrboska Jelsa and the quieter beaches, which showed us that there's much more to Hvar than its famous harbour. There's still some questions we need answering. How is healthcare? Is it just going to be too hot for us? But based on this part of the trip, Hvar has absolutely earned a place on our retirement shortlist. Just don't expect to find us in Hvar Town. We're almost certainly going to be over in Stari Grad. Now next week we're heading over to our final place, Kortula. Could it be Hvar? Well, make sure you've hit subscribe and join us next Sunday to find out. Other than that, this is James and Rob signing off for now.