With Croatia's peak tourist season round the corner, the summer bus timetable comes into effect to cope with the expected tourist demand. An overview.
The summer bus schedule came into effect on June 1 2011 on the island of Hvar, as the island geared up or the traditional surge in tourism from June to September. The bus service, run byCazmatrans, is the only means of public transport on the island, and is therefore a vital resource for locals and tourists alike.
Buses Meeting the Stari Grad Ferry
A key strategy in the bus schedule is coordination with the main ferry service to Hvar, the port of Stari Grad, which receives several ferries a day from Split, as well as occasional ferries from Dubrovnik and Italy. With the notable exception of the peak season 0130 crossing, all ferries from Split are met by buses.
There are two bus options on arrival: the first is to Hvar Town, the most popular destination on the island; and the second bus takes in the northern coastal towns of Stari Grad, Vrboska and Jelsa. Tourists arriving on the early morning ferry should either make prior arrangements or wait for the first bus leaving at 0710.
Travelling to Dubrovnik via Sucuraj
One of the common misconceptions tourists have about island travel is the availability of public transport from the ferry. Hvar has four entry ports, Sucuraj and Stari Grad by car ferry and Jelsa and Hvar Town by catamaran. Only Stari Grad has an inbuilt public transport connection. Travellers to Jelsa and Hvar Town face a taxi ride for onward travel, while tourists arriving in Sucuraj have a 56km journey to the nearest popular resort outside of Sucuraj.
Visitors wanting to travel south to Dubrovnik by public transport are better advised to travel via Split unless they can accommodate the sparse Stari Grad to Sucuraj timetable into their itinerary: 0430 from Stari Grad on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (to meet the 0630 ferry to Drvenik) and 1300 on Mondays and Fridays. Hitchhiking is an option, but there is little traffic after the ferry has unloaded.
Buses to the Southern Resorts of Zavala, Ivan Dolac and Sveta Nedjelja
The southern resorts of Zavala, Ivan Dolac and Sveta Nedjelja are popular and full of tourist offers on the web, but hard to reach without private transport. A weekly bus from Sveta Nedjelja will leave on Sundays at 1615 with a bus running in the opposite direction on Friday afternoons.
The most frequent service in the new timetable is between Stari Grad and Jelsa, with many services going through the inland villages of Svirce and Vrisnik. Tickets are bought from the bus and, unlike the mainland, there is no charge for storing luggage in the vehicle's holdall.
Copyright Paul Bradbury
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