The city of Hvar became a very popular tourist destination and even got world popularity by being placed on several famous media publishers for being one of the most attractive islands in the world. The city developed into a really big touristic center offering many restaurants, caffes, hotels, galleries and museums. Hvar is also an important port and many yachts and sail boats stop here while cruising the Adriatic.
Hvar was a very important strategic port in its long history and so many trade routes were passing through Hvar. This left Hvar with a rich cultural heritage which was one of the main reasons for the interest to visit this destination. Among the most famous attractions in Hvar are the Frotica fortress, Hvar Cathedral, the theater, Franciscan monastary and Arsenal. Apart from this, Hvar has a very beautifull and untouched nature, beautiful clear skies (at average it has the most sunny days in Croatia) and beautiful beaches.
In front of Hvar lies also the famous Pakleni islands archipelago, sometimes called Hells Islands. This beautiful archipelago is a home to many amazing bays and during summer lots of boats are enjoying the safety and beauty they provide.
For many years Hvar has been the main destination for boat tours starting from Split but the situation changed. A local tourist agency developed a new itinerary which takes tourists to see the famous Blue Cave and some other attractions on the island of Vis, and just makes a quick stop in the city of Hvar with a short panoramic cruise of the Pakleni islands. This itinerary became very popular among tourists as it lets you see many attractions in just one day so all other agencies adopted it. Now there are only a few tours that would take you to Hvar and leave you there for more than an hour and these are usually organized with bigger and slower boats which would take too long visit all the destinations.
If you would like to have more time to visit Hvar from Split, you can find here some private boat tours that take you just to Hvar and the famous bays in the vicinity or you can join a cruise with a bigger boat (not a speedboat) and have more time to enjoy the full splendor of Hvar. Joining a tour with a bigger boat is definitely more suitable for families with smaller children or seniors, and the whole tour is much more relaxed compared to the speedboat tours which are more of an adventure tour, speeding from one destination to the next.