About 2/3 hours by ferry from Split / Dubrovnik, Hvar Island is the ideal getaway, the island paradise that attracts even royalty. With decent hotels and lovely restaurants and bars its not very hard to soak up the atmosphere, enjoy life, and simply not want to leave. Photos tell you nothing about the feel of the place but I guess that's the next best thing (see, Picture 1).  

Where to eat: if you want cosy sofas, with views of the endless ocean to go with your food, try the B.B. club (see, Picture 2), a hotel restaurant. It's just down the road (see, Picture 3) towards where the land ends and the sea begins.

What to do: apparently you'll get nice views if you hike up to the Hvar Castle, which would take the best part of an hour according to the locals. But as we went in summer we opted instead to hire a motorboat - no licence of any sort is required, and the boat is yours for the day for but 350 kunas. You can hire it for 1 hour (120 kunas) or 2 hours (240 kunas) of course but I strongly recommend you to hire it for the day with you friends - it can easily take 5/6 so it's not expensive at all, less than 10 pounds per person.

Do that and your day is definitely going to get better (unless it's gonna rain - do check before hiring a boat!). Head out to outlying islands for a truly magical experience. Scarcely a soul is around and you can simply pick an empty / next-to-empty beach for yourselves (see, Picture 4). You can also do island hopping as the farthest island you can go is actually a few hours away. Be careful, though, as all you're gonna have is a map on a card and I have found it quite hard to know where we are, except by asking people by the shore. Also try not to end up on a FKK beach unless you're planning to go topless - it's usually a good indicator that a beach is FKK if you actually see people topless. That's how I tell..

There is actually a seafood restaurant amongst the islands - it's one of the islands nearer to Hvar Town, by the Milne Beach. There are also a few bars scattered around. Ask the people you hire the boat from for details. Incidentally there are a few of them right by the harbour, you can't miss them. As you head back to Hvar Town in the evening try not to forget taking a few shots of the town itself - it certainly doesn't take a pro to do a decent photo (see, Picture 5).