Hvar

Perched on the hill above the harbour, it looks down on the small islands offshore. A dungeon and a water cistern remain, and agave lines the path up.

Field boundaries laid out by Greeks in the fourth century BC survive as dry stone walls. The same plots have been farmed on that grid for 2400 years.

A cluster of small islands lies just off the harbour, 10 minutes out by boat. Pine reaches the water's edge, so shaded rock is easy to find.

Above a shed where galleys were repaired sits a public theatre opened in 1612, among the earliest in Europe. Letting people in regardless of rank was unusual for the time.

The plantings gather on the eastern slopes with the rows set close together. Some growers distil the oil right where the flowers are cut.

It stands on the cape south of the harbour with a cypress over 300 years old in the cloister. A last supper painted on the refectory wall runs 8 metres wide.

A quiet harbour village on the north side has its square right at the water. A wooded path behind it runs on through the pines and walks well.

The bay lies 15 minutes down from the road, which keeps the numbers lower. A single stone house stands at the water and the pale pebbles brighten the colour of it.

A poet built this house in the sixteenth century around a pool where grey mullet were kept. Lines in Latin and in Croatian are carved across its walls.

Neolithic people used this cave and some of the earliest pottery in Europe came out of it. The way in is rough, so a guide is required and the visit needs booking.

At 4,500 sq m the largest square in Dalmatia, fully paved by 1780. It stretches long and narrow up to the cathedral, with an old well head at one end. At night cafe terraces fill every edge.

Renaissance and Baroque by turns, raised in stages from the 1500s into the 1600s, it closes off the square's eastern side. Its campanile opens wider windows with each storey. Inside are carvings from the workshop of Juraj Dalmatinac.

Nuns have lived in this convent in Hvar town since 1664. A small display room shows and sells the lace they make from thread drawn out of agave leaves. UNESCO lists this lace among Croatia's intangible heritage, and here you meet its makers.

Built in 1811 under French rule on a hill higher than the Spanish fortress. An observatory occupies it today. A path climbs to it from town through the pines, and the Pakleni Islands lie spread out below.

Greeks from Paros founded the town as Pharos in 384 BC. Stone houses line the head of a long bay, and the big car ferry from Split docks here. Quieter than Hvar town, it suits an unhurried island evening.

The monastery of St Peter Martyr, founded in 1482 with help from the townspeople. Its gallery holds Tintoretto's Lamentation of Christ. A small museum off the cloister keeps Greek finds dug up locally.

Fishermen settled this deep, narrow inlet, now crossed by so many small bridges it is called little Venice. After an Ottoman raid in 1571, St Mary's became the only fortified church in the archipelago. St Lawrence church has an altarpiece attributed to Titian.

An abandoned stone hamlet on a ridge at 350m, where shepherds once came up to stay each season. There is no mains electricity, so once the sun sets it goes dark fast. The path to Grapceva Cave starts here.

A plateau village above Hvar town, once the hub of the island's lavender distilling; fewer than ten people live there now. Villagers hold a lavender festival to revive the old stills. Malo Grablje below is wholly deserted, and a walk links the two.

Hvar's summit, 628m, carries one small chapel. The route up from the village of Svirce is the shorter one. On a clear day Vis and Korcula show to the south, with Brac and the mainland ranges to the north.

A pebble bay at a small fishing village a few km east of Hvar town. A handful of restaurants and stone houses gather on the shore, with islets offshore. The water is calmer than at the town beaches, so families with small children choose it.

A small village on Hvar's southern coast, where vineyards drop beneath sheer cliffs to the sea. The remains of an old monastery sit inside a cave halfway up the rock face. You reach it through a single-lane tunnel from Pitve on the north side.