SO HVAR SO GOOD

islands

It's often that being local you get asked which island in central/south Dalmatia is the most beautiful...and I say they're all beautiful just different. Same same but different. Each one of them has certain dialects, tastes, architecture, history, character and so on to be anatomized into details.

Komiža

Vis has often been my silent favourite – somehow as if being made to fit man's needs; self-sustainable, not too big nor too small, with spectacular southern coastline and its fields, farms and households spread around the island. Vis and Komiža – two towns, two pearls, two different worlds...there are many reasons why one would go to Vis and fall in love with it at first sight, it could be that its remoteness makes it so desirable, tempting. And it works every way you look at it. Greeks from Siracusa have landed to its shores around 397 BC and it became their first colony in the Adriatic known as Issa.

Being close to Split island of Brač has usually, unexpectedly and definitely undeservedly, been just seen by many only onboard a ferry on the way to other islands. Brač and not Brak, how it's usually pronounced, (latter in Croatian meaning marriage), is slightly bigger then Malta which has around 420000 inhabitants, while Brač only around 20000.

Brač

Malta is over populated, Brač has a lot of space, green vegetation, fields, olive grooves, natural beauties, pictoresque towns and villages, events. Zlatni rat – famous beach is just a tip of Brač's charm, but let's not forget about Blaca monastery, village of Škrip, stonemasonry in Pučišća and so on...
 
Right opposite it on the west side there's another „dark horse“ called Šolta. The two are separated by strait known as „The gate of Split“ and share an islet of Mrduja and every year they tie ropes to it and „pull“ it to see which island is going to get it for a year – crazy local customs, what can you do...

Šolta

Šolta is not on the main tourist charts, it's ignored by crowds as well as massive sailors' attacks and perhaps it should embrace that situation and turn it (touristically speaking) into its adventage. But discretely, to those wishing to see beyond the obvious.

Korčula is in my heart – my love is from there and although I haven't explored it as much as I would like to or should - its contrasts, myths, wines...have drawn me for years and I only rarely indulged my curiosity more...until recently.

Korčula

The old town of Korčula itself is a little wonder having been built following the pattern of fishbone to use the flow of wind as a natural air conditioning to survive summer months...

Hvar rocks

Somewhere in between this „spread out archipelago“ lays the island of Hvar that got its name again from Greeks who came in 385/4 BC from their island of Paros to present-day Starigrad. They named it Faros. Locals still call Hvar town simply For.

Greek era

What is there to see, one can wonder...did you know that on the UNESCO's list of material and non-material cultural heritage Hvar island has three assets? Well, apart from its history dating back all the way to stone age culture, Ilirian and Greek era artefacts, Roman villas, architecture and works of art that flourished during Venetian period, breathtaking sceneries,old  towns and villages scattered around the island in harmony with landscape (the old folks knew how to do it), ports, bars, restaurants, parties, there is island itself in its natural, unadulterad and silent existence.

abandoned medieval? town on Hvar

 Of course this shouldn't be taken as a fact unconditionally due to man's interventions into nature that sometimes reaches little bit too far...but still the pure essence of Hvar emerges when the summer heat subsides...as if it regains its full lungs capacity. September come and grapes are ready for harvesting and then to be processed into wine. Not long after that it's olive harvest and the year is almost over.

vineyards and sights

Visitors are very few; only some return at this stage of island life to witness south east wind known as jugo (jug stands for south) blowing sometimes for days rolling on and over the hills (and peoples' minds making them grumpy) crashing the waves onto the south exposed rocky shores washing the beaches out with driftwood and unpaired plastic shoes. Nothing changed there for thousands of years since Odysseus spontaneously arrived to the Adriatic carried by jugo winds.

boates are like people

 Boats are pulled out for winter dream, only the most persistent and dedicated fishermen still navigate the waters in colder months. Past the New year Hvar shares the life of many other Adriatic and Mediterranean islands seemingly hibernating till spring when the nature and spirits awaken once again. Although winter temperatures are considerably higher then in the rest of continental Croatia, (not to mention the number of sunny days), apart from when bura (cold wind from northeast) is blowing, springtime is perhaps the most enjoyable to wander around the island's trails, it's when the scents of herbs and plants and colours are the most intense and alluring.

with a view to Vis

Days are getting tangibly longer, temperature rises, life is suddenly promising more miracles to come, new hopes are floating in the air...if you can spare one or two weeks before things start getting serious, (meaning the season and visitors coming in bigger numbers), don't think twice, just make sure the forecast is good and go – trails, caves, herbs, villages, churches and chapels, dry walls, pebbles, hills, vallies, fields, winds, coves, currents, scents, flavours, sounds, colours and so much more are out there... 

nice

more stones

spring is in the air

shepherd's shelter

 

as good as it gets

HOW ABOUT SOME MORE SEA KAYAKING?

In this winter time thinking on my sea kayak, I get an idea for a great trip it would be fun to do. Well maybe not now, since strong winds wouldn't be in our favor to visit the area of remote Adriatic island. But it would be definitely fun to visit it in Spring, as soon as days become longer and temperatures higher. Sea kayaking adventure to the island of VIS.

Vis island, the «off the beaten path island». During the summer Vis is considerably different from the islands of Hvar, Brač or Korčula. The main reason for this is probably that Vis offers only a very small number of hotel beds so it is mainly visited by people who like it for their own specific reasons and not by "regular tourists" who may have seen its name in a brochure and thought it might be a nice place to visit.

We know that one of the reasons for Vis' uniqueness lies in its 500 years of isolation, often as a military island where time had stopped. However, as so often happens in life, the thing that once seemed to be a disadvantage in the end turns out to be an important advantage. So, Vis' exclusiveness does not lie in its excellent hotel capacities, but in the island itself; its untouched nature and the people that haven't been possessed by tourist commercialization (yet) but who are hospitable in an authentic, "native" way. At the same time this lifestyle is reflected in high quality food and wine offer set in the real Meditteranean ambience.

The trip (with the average of 10 nautical miles of paddling per day) itself is designed for reasonably fit people with kayaking experience. But it is not just about navigating around this beautiful island and its beaches; we dare to say there's more to it because this journey takes you through both the history and the culture of these parts that have been inseparable since the ancient times, long before Greeks and/or Romans sailed across the Adriatic till our present days.

More about the tour: http://www.croactive-holidays.com/4-days-sea-kayaking-vis-island/

Who we are?

FROM HVAR ADVENTURE TO CROACTIVE HOLIDAYS

9 years ago the four of us (the founders) met on the island of Hvar, (called For in the local dialect), picking olives and later that night over sea food and local wine decided to form the agency not exactly knowing where it would take us. We didn't have role-models – adventure tourism in Croatia was still a new territory back then and we were curious. This is when our mother company was born: www.hvar-adventure.com - offering great day trips on Hvar island.

8 years after, a new child was born based in Split, with a mission to offer even more exciting tours on wider territory. 

www.croactive-holidays.com 

As we all have great passion for Dalmatia and Croatia in general, our new project developed with a mission to take you to places in Croatia we love, not only the most popular ones that you read about in guide books...

ONE GIANT LEAP

Coming from different fields of activities as well as experiences it felt  natural to join them together and try to make them our living.

Our core activities are sea kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, biking, sailing.

Our trips are well planned, but we're not afraid of  improvising.

Our equipment is tested and reliable.

Our experienced guides know what they are doing.

We simply offer what we do ourselves and like to think we're good at it, yet knowing that learning (and hopefully getting better), never stops.

We don't believe in uniformity but diversity – therefore we have more things on our adventure menu and all are done with knowledge and passion.

In fact, our trips reflect our personalities. We've never stopped exploring the nature of things.

We are all locals fluent in English and some of us speak Spanish, German, Italian. We know people, characters, stories, restaurants, secrets and secret/secluded trails, coves, groves, all kinds of places outside Lonely planet. We know where, when and how to find a solitary spot in the middle of the highest season. We care and want our guests to have best possible time when travelling, because everything less than that is simply no good for anybody involved.

We know that by selling our services in a way we are selling ourselves and that may sound awkward at first, but only by committing yourself totally you're able to deliver something truly good and our aim is to leave every single guest with the feeling of well-earned pleasure. Of course, it takes two to tango, so we do our best and if the clients do the same, as a song goes, we're certain to succeed.

MORE ON HOW AND WHO WITH

Individuals and small numbers of people we prefer working with and somehow it's when you can give most but as we're never satisfied with average results our approach stays the same with bigger groups.

Beginners, intermediate and experienced adventure seekers, families, strong individuals; we don't discriminate our clients. Our trips vary from leisure style, moderatly sweat to hard going ones, plus everything in between.

In addition to this accomodation range goes from camping in the wild, campsites, family run gesthouses, private accomodation and luxurious big and small hotels and villas.

AND JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE

Self guided trips, wine tasting, traditional regional meals, culinary delights and lessons, treasure hunt, team buiding, stand up paddle, white water kayaking and rafting, canyoning, zip line, jeep safari, photo safari, boat and other transfers – we do it all. Ok, maybe not everything ourselves, but we are associated with other companies who we know do it well.

We operate in the north, middle and south Dalmatia, its mainland and the islands from Zadar to Dubrovnik, Montenegro, northern parts of Croatian higlands like Velebit, Gorski Kotar, from conventional trips like Plitvice national park to many other destinations off the tourist tracks.

Sea Kayaking - Croatia

We're not the only ones who know how, but we're really good and not ashame of it.

And we're hungry to do it more...

When doing the most common short trips we make one or two stopovers to relax, grab something to eat or explore the underwater world. 

As we ride high quality sit-in kayaks with rudders that not many people have used before, every trip in fact begins as a little sea kayaking workshop so afterwards you've gained more kayaking skills.

The real stuff is setting out on a multiday trips. More days – more possibilities – more beaches - more varietes of food  - more islands - more waves – more ore adventures – more pleasure...

Did you know that more means sea in Croatian?

Of course, the week-long tours are designed for poeple who already have some kayaking experience, (although there were some exceptions to the rule), and can cover longer distance (10 – 15 miles per day) and deal with, on occasions, rougher conditions.

The trips run from Split and the islands of Hvar, Vis and Korčula. Depending on the season and the itinerary we go to more or less desolate or crowded places during 2 – 7 -14 days but can be tailor-made to suit your needs.

Other then great moments on the water, we care about providing every day different gastronomic delight to add value to the trip.