Blue Cave Tour from Split with a Hvar Drop-off

Look at how a Split and Hvar holiday is usually put together. Day three: a boat tour from Split to the Blue Cave, which calls at Hvar Town at lunchtime and is back in Split by evening. Day four: pack, drag the cases to the ferry port, queue for the catamaran, and sail to Hvar Town along water you crossed twice the day before.

That second day is the one you can delete. On a private charter the boat is yours for the day, and where it ends is one of the things you choose. Book the private Blue Cave day, put the bags aboard in Split in the morning, and step off in Hvar Town in the late afternoon with the tour done and the transfer done in the same movement.

It works because the geography works. Hvar sits between Vis and Split, and every Blue Cave day already calls there. The only change on a drop-off day is that Hvar becomes the last stop instead of the fourth, and the boat runs the final hour home without you.

The drop-off is one of a handful of things that move on a private day. The rest, the start time, the stop order, the length of every swim, are in what you can actually change on a private charter.

You book the private Blue Cave day as normal and tell us two things: that the day ends in Hvar, and how many bags are coming. Write it in the special requests when you book, or send it on WhatsApp first, and it goes into the confirmation in writing so the skipper knows before the morning.

The morning starts in Split. The default meeting point is the Split Sign on the Riva, and on a private charter we can move it to the marina or pier nearest to where you are staying, which matters more than usual when everyone is carrying a suitcase. The bags go aboard first and are stowed forward, under the hardtop, covered against the spray. Then the day runs.

Drop-off in Hvar Town is part of the charter price. The boat calls at Hvar on every Blue Cave day; the difference on yours is that you step off with your bags and we run the last hour to Split without you. The price is €1,200 for the boat, up to twelve guests, the same as the day that ends in Split. Drop-offs away from the route are a different conversation, covered below.

The order of the stops changes so that Hvar comes last, and the last swim moves from the cove on Brač to the Pakleni Islands, which sit directly in front of Hvar Town.

07:00 in high season, 07:45 in the shoulder months, out of Split: the start time follows the light in the cave, and the crossing to Biševo takes about an hour and a half. Around 09:00 you transfer into the small wooden boat at the cave mouth for the ten minutes inside. The entry fee is paid there in cash, per person, as on every Blue Cave day from Split, ours included.

Then the south coast of Vis at idle, the look into Stiniva through its cliff gap, and the long stop at Budikovac, the shallow turquoise lagoon that is the calmest water of the day and the place most groups want to stay. Lunch is either aboard from your own cooler or at the konoba on Budikovac itself.

From Budikovac the boat runs north east to the Pakleni Islands for the last swim, in one of the bays off Palmižana or Ždrilca, with Hvar Town already in view across the channel. Then five minutes to the harbour. We tie up on the Hvar Town waterfront between about 16:00 and 17:00, lift the bags onto the quay, and you walk to your accommodation. Hvar Town is small: most hotels and apartments are within fifteen minutes on foot, and taxis wait at the harbour for anything further.

If you would rather have your two hours in Hvar Town during the day, as on the standard route, that works too: lunch in Hvar, out to the Pakleni for the afternoon, back to the quay to finish. The two hours in Hvar guide covers where to eat. The skipper will suggest the order on the morning, based on the wind.

The boats are 36 foot day cruisers with a hardtop over the cockpit and a deep, dry forward section, not open ribs. On a private charter the seats you are not using are luggage space. A normal holiday load, one case and one hand bag per person, for a group of up to eight, fits without anyone sitting on anything.

Above eight people, or with a lot of hard cases, tell us the count when you book and we will say honestly whether it fits on one boat. Twelve people and twelve full size cases does not, and we would rather say so than find out on the quay.

The bags travel forward, under the hardtop, with a cover over them. Spray on the open crossing to Biševo is real, so anything that must stay dry, a laptop, documents, the camera, goes in a dry bag on your lap rather than in a case. The packing list for the Blue Cave day applies, with the addition that you will not be going back to the apartment to change.

On the shared boat none of this applies: storage there is soft bag sized, and a group day always returns to Split. The drop-off is a private charter feature.

Hvar Town is the natural one because every Blue Cave day passes it. It is not the only one. The rule is simple: any harbour on the day's route is a drop-off at no extra cost, and anywhere else is quoted before you pay.

On the private Blue Cave day that means Hvar Town, or Milna on the west coast of Brač, where the standard route has its last swim. Stari Grad, Jelsa and Vrboska on the north side of Hvar are possible but add running time around the island, so we quote them.

On the Hvar, Pakleni, Brač and Šolta day the route itself visits Milna and Hvar Town and finishes on Šolta, so all of those, and the Šolta villages of Stomorska, Rogač and Maslinica, are on the table. On the Blue Lagoon, Šolta, Trogir and Brač day the interesting one is Trogir: the old town is ten minutes by taxi from Split Airport, so a family with a morning flight can spend the last full day on the water and sleep next to the terminal. The half day Blue Lagoon and Trogir charter can end in Trogir the same way.

Vis Town and Komiža are reachable on the Blue Cave day and we will do it, but honestly: ending on Vis means cutting Budikovac or the Pakleni, because the boat has to come back across the open water without you before dark. Ask, and we will show you what that day looks like.

Hvar to Split works as well, with one difference. The boats sleep in Split, so a Hvar pickup means the boat runs out empty first thing, and the day starts about an hour later than it would from the Riva. For the Blue Cave that matters, because the light inside the cave is a morning thing; for the sheltered Brač, Šolta and Blue Lagoon days it does not.

If the Blue Cave is the priority and you are already on Hvar, read Blue Cave from Split, Hvar or Trogir first: Hvar Town is closer to Biševo than Split is, and the day from there is a different shape.

The charter is €1,200 for the boat and up to twelve guests. Six people pay €200 each, eight pay €150, twelve pay €100, which is less than the €110 group seat. The break-even against the shared boat sits around ten people before the transfer is counted.

Count the transfer and the picture changes for smaller groups too. The catamaran from Split to Hvar Town takes about an hour, sells out on summer days, and involves getting a family and its luggage to the ferry port for a fixed departure. A private day that ends in Hvar removes the tickets, the queue and the second travel day; for four people the premium over the group ticket is buying a day of the holiday back.

What is not included: the Blue Cave entry fee, paid on Biševo in cash, and lunch. A 15% deposit holds the date and the balance is settled on the day. Weather and cancellation terms are on the cancellation page, and they apply to a drop-off day exactly as to any other charter.

Do not build a same day connection on the far side of the drop-off. The sea decides the timings on the water, and a 16:00 arrival in Hvar can become 17:00 on a day with an afternoon maestral. A hotel check-in absorbs that; a ferry to somewhere else at 17:30 does not.

If the crossing to Biševo is called off for wind, the day becomes a Brač, Šolta and Pakleni day through sheltered water, and it still ends in Hvar Town, because Hvar is reachable from the sheltered side. If the sea rules out the water altogether, which happens a handful of days a season, you get your money back and take the catamaran, and we tell you the evening before rather than on the quay.

And if you are twelve people with twelve suitcases, or you are staying on the far side of Hvar and value the afternoon at Budikovac more than the transfer, say so. The honest answer is sometimes that the shared Blue Cave boat plus a catamaran ticket is the better plan, and we will give it to you.

Book the private Blue Cave day and write three things in the special requests: the day ends in Hvar Town, how many people and how many bags, and where you are staying in Hvar. Or send the same three things on WhatsApp first and we reply with the route and the arrival time.

We confirm the drop-off in writing on the booking, the skipper has it on the morning, and nothing about the day is fixed until it runs: if the group wants longer at Budikovac and a shorter Pakleni, that is decided on the water, not in an email.