Best Restaurants in Hvar: Where to Eat by Area and Occasion

Best restaurants in Hvar: the short answer

For a harbour-front dinner with the see-and-be-seen atmosphere, Gariful on Punta Riva near Carpe Diem is the Hvar Town address that anchors the waterfront, serving fresh grilled fish and vegetables from its terrace above the moored yachts. For a quiet, small rooftop instead, Konoba Luviji keeps just a handful of covers above its own restaurant, with views over rooftops and vineyards and wine produced nearby.

For a proper occasion at sea level, the Pakleni Islands fish houses are the draw: Laganini Lounge Bar & Fish house in Vinogradišće Bay pairs fresh seafood with inventive island cooking, while Toto's, set in a garden of palms above the beach, is the classic Dalmatian seafood table. Both sit on Sveti Klement and require a boat, so they work as the main event of a day rather than a spur-of-the-moment dinner.

Inland, Maslina resort's restaurant in Stari Grad and the village taverns around Jelsa and Pitve give you a slower, greener side of the island, better suited to a long lunch after a morning swim than to a late-night harbour table. Use the shortlist as a starting point, then pick by area: a single evening in Hvar Town rarely stretches to a boat trip and back.

Hvar Town: harbour terraces and old-town konobas

Hvar Town packs its restaurants into a small area, so the choice is less about distance and more about atmosphere. The Punta Riva waterfront, near Carpe Diem and the main harbour, is where the terraces look out over moored yachts and the Pakleni Islands beyond; Gariful there comes alive in the afternoon as the sun drops, with just-caught fish and fresh vegetables brought out for the evening. It is the pick for a celebratory dinner with a view, and the trade-off is that you are dining in the town's busiest, most photographed spot.

Behind the waterfront, the old town's stone lanes hold the konobas, traditional Dalmatian taverns with stone walls, wooden tables and family recipes. These are the tables to choose when you want grilled fish, slow-cooked meat and homemade desserts in a quieter room, and they suit a mixed group better than a formal terrace. Our guide to restaurants in Hvar old town narrows down the lanes worth walking.

For seafood specifically, the town's kitchens lean on the morning catch, with sea bass, sea bream, grilled octopus and calamari appearing across menus. If fish is the whole point of the meal, start with our seafood restaurant Hvar shortlist, which gathers the tables that do it best.

Rooftop tables in Hvar Town: Konoba Luviji, Faria, Don Quijote and Terca cafe

Hvar Town's rooftops are a separate category from its harbour terraces: smaller, higher and often quieter, with views across the red roofs rather than the water. Konoba Luviji is the most intimate of them, a few covers above the family restaurant, with a view over rooftops and vineyards and wine made close by. Faria, deeper in the town, has a rooftop view over the roofs themselves and a covered area for cooler or wetter weather, so it works for lunch as well as dinner.

Don Quijote sits at the harbour, so its rooftop combines the sea view with the buzz of the waterfront and plenty of shade for hot summer lunches. Terca cafe is the odd one out: a large terrace reached by stairs on the side of the cathedral, looking over the main square, with snacks rather than full meals and no booking, which makes it a good flexible stop rather than a planned dinner.

Rooftop space is limited, and the best of these tables are small, so a high-season evening is worth planning around a booking where the restaurant takes one. The reward is a quieter meal above the crowds, with the harbour or the square lit up below you.

Pakleni Islands: Laganini, Toto's and Meneghello in Vinogradišće Bay, plus Dionis at Vlaka

Vinogradišće Bay on the south side of Sveti Klement, a short boat ride from Hvar Town, is where the island's yacht-facing restaurants cluster, along with the anchorages at Ždrilca and the Taršće and Soline bays. The bay is the historic heart of Hvar's nautical dining, and the restaurants here are built around guests arriving by sea. Plan the day around the boat, not the other way round: a lunch table here is a whole afternoon.

Laganini Lounge Bar & Fish house applies modern technique to fresh island ingredients, with a seafood menu that nods to Dalmatian tradition while taking liberties with it; it is the livelier of the bay's tables. Toto's, named after the father of the Meneghello family, sits on a terrace above the beach in a garden of palms and serves classic Dalmatian seafood, with tables spaced for privacy and a gate down to the water for a swim before or after eating.

Meneghello Restaurant, in the Vinogradišće Bay, is the bay's long-standing benchmark for an unhurried seafood lunch, a hundred metres from Toto's. Restaurant Dionis is the other name to know on this side of Sveti Klement, but it sits at Vlaka rather than in Vinogradišće, so plan it as a separate boat stop among the waterfront tables serving people who arrive by sea.

These are not casual drop-ins: you need a boat, a water taxi or a place on a day trip, and the return leg matters as much as the table. Choose the bay for a full day with swimming built in, and keep Hvar Town for the evenings when you want to walk home.

Stari Grad and the quieter side of the island: Maslina resort and Vrisnik

Stari Grad, on the island's northern side, has a calmer harbour and a flatter, greener setting than Hvar Town, with the Maslina resort restaurant among its tables. It suits travellers who want a longer, more relaxed meal away from the ferry crowds, and it is easy to pair with a morning in the old town before lunch.

Inland from the coast, Tavern Stori Komin in the abandoned village of Malo Grablje trades harbour views for stone walls and a village setting, the kind of konoba meal that feels a world away from the waterfront. It is the sort of table to book when the point of the evening is the food and the quiet rather than the view.

The trade-off is transport: these tables sit away from the main harbour, so you will want a car, taxi or a designated driver for the evening. In return you get the Hvar that locals know, with village kitchens and fewer people photographing their dinner.

Near Jelsa and Pitve: Tavern Vrisnik and Olive Garden OPG Gamulin

The area around Jelsa, on the north coast, is where Hvar's rural eating is at its most straightforward. Tavern Vrisnik in the village of Vrisnik is a village tavern in the classic mould, while Olive Garden OPG Gamulin at Pitve is a family farm table on the hillside above the coast. Both reward a drive inland and a slower pace than the harbour.

These are the tables to choose if you are staying in or near Jelsa and want dinner without driving back to Hvar Town. They suit families and small groups who value a quiet terrace and local cooking over a sea view, and they make a good lunch stop if you are exploring the island's interior by car.

What to order on Hvar: gregada, pašticada and fresh fish

Two dishes define Hvar's table: gregada, a slow-cooked fish stew built on white fish, onions, potatoes and white wine, and pašticada, beef braised in wine and prunes and usually served with gnocchi or pasta. Both are long-cooked, so they suit a leisurely lunch rather than a quick bite, and both are the kind of dish a traditional konoba does best.

For a lighter meal, order the day's fish grilled simply, with a squeeze of lemon and a glass of Plavac Mali, the island's red wine. Sea bass, sea bream, octopus and calamari all appear widely, and a starter of island cheese and pršut (dry-cured ham) is a good way to begin.

If you are eating plant-based, Hvar's menus lean heavily on seafood and meat, so it is worth planning ahead; our guide to vegan restaurants Hvar points you to the kitchens that cater properly. For gluten free Hvar, the same rule applies: ask in advance rather than at the table, since bread and pasta appear throughout the traditional menu, and check current opening hours with the restaurant when you reserve.

Hvar Town vs the Pakleni Islands: which suits your evening

Choose Hvar Town if you want to walk to dinner, stay out afterwards and keep your options open if a table disappoints. The harbour and old town give you the widest choice, from Gariful's waterfront terrace to the stone konobas a few lanes back, and you can move between them on foot in minutes.

Choose the Pakleni Islands if the meal is the day's centrepiece and you are happy to build the afternoon around a boat. Vinogradišće Bay offers swimming, palms and a long seafood lunch at Toto's or Meneghello, but you are committed to the crossing back and to a table that may be busy at peak times.

If you are comparing Hvar with other Croatian cities on your trip, our round-ups of Dubrovnik restaurants and Poreč restaurants follow the same area-by-area approach. Within Hvar, our seafood restaurant pick covers the fish-led tables in more detail.

Booking, boat tables and passing yachts in high season

In high season, Hvar Town's waterfront and rooftop tables fill first, and booking is common practice at the restaurants that take reservations, including Don Quijote and Faria. Small rooftops such as Konoba Luviji have only a handful of covers, so an evening there is worth arranging in advance rather than chancing on the night.

On the Pakleni Islands, the logistics matter as much as the booking: you need to agree a boat or water taxi, and the return trip should be settled before you sit down to lunch. Restaurants in Vinogradišće Bay cater to guests arriving by sea, so check how your table expects you to arrive and leave when you reserve.

Terca cafe takes no bookings and serves snacks rather than full meals, which makes it a useful fallback when other tables are full. Plan the evening around one booked table rather than a crawl, and leave the harbour-front stroll for afterwards.

Which Hvar table should you book first?

Book one anchor meal first: Gariful on Punta Riva or a rooftop at Konoba Luviji if you want Hvar Town on foot, or Toto's in Vinogradišće Bay if you will build a boat day around lunch. Then fill the rest of the trip with old-town konobas and a village table near Jelsa or Pitve for contrast.

Order gregada or pašticada at least once, try the day's grilled fish with Plavac Mali, and keep one evening free for whichever terrace looks best on the night. For more fish-led options, see our seafood Restaurants in Hvar guide.