Most people arrive on Hvar through Hvar Town or Stari Grad. Jelsa is the town they discover later.
Jelsa sits in the middle of Hvar's northern coast, between the peaks of Sveti Nikola and Hum, with a bay that has been drawing boats in since the 14th century.
It is not the island's most famous address, by any means. It has a square, a harbour, excellent wine, wonderful restaurants and a procession that has been walking through the night every Easter for 500 years.
A town with a long memory
Jelsa's origins go back to the 14th century, when it was established as a ship port for the nearby village of Pitve. What began as a practical arrangement, a harbour for a hilltop community, gradually became something of its own, growing from a small fishing and farming settlement into a shipbuilding and maritime centre. By the 19th century, Jelsa had reached its architectural peak, and the buildings around its waterfront still say so.
The town has always known how to hold its ground. When Turkish naval forces swept through Hvar during the Cyprus War in the second half of the 16th century, they destroyed Hvar Town, Stari Grad and Vrboska. Jelsa was the only town on the island to mount significant resistance.
The baroque chapel of St. John, built on the site of the original chapel around which the town is said to have formed, anchors the octagonal square at the heart of the old town. This square has held the same shape since the 17th century. The parish church of Sts. Fabian and Sebastian, fortified during that same 16th-century invasion, received its neo-Renaissance façade in the second half of the 19th century, in honour of the wedding of Emperor Franz Josef I and Empress Elizabeth. Above the town, the Tor — a Greek fortress dating to the 4th century BC — sits high enough in the hills to give you the whole of central Hvar in a single view.
The Za Križen procession has been leaving Jelsa every Maundy Thursday for five centuries. Six processions start at 10pm from six parish churches, walk through the night across some 25 kilometres of mid-island terrain and return by dawn. UNESCO added it to the Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009. The locals will tell you that changed nothing about what it means to walk it.
What Villas Hvar loves most about Jelsa
Majda and Dalibor both know Jelsa well, in the way you know a town when you have been coming to it for years, across different seasons and different reasons.
Dalibor starts his Jelsa mornings at Art Coffee Bar, drawn by the natural shade that makes it the only sensible choice in summer. In winter, he moves to Coffee Bar Tarantela on the main square, where the sun hits the terrace at exactly the angle you want when it has been cold for a few days. "In winter I prefer sitting in the warming sun at Tarantela. In summer, the beautiful shade at Art becomes necessary."
An afternoon in Jelsa for Majda often means a bike ride or a walk with her cavalier Sophia through Vitarnja, one of Jelsa's oldest neighbourhoods, all the way towards Vrboska. She has also carved out a standing appointment at her favourite pastry shop on the corner, where the coffee and the strudel share equal billing. "Some rituals simply cannot be improved. The two exceptionally handsome waiters certainly don't hurt either — at least for me. Not so sure about Dalibor, though."
Dalibor's beach of choice is Grebišće. "Shallow, clear water and an easy-going atmosphere. I love going there with my kids." Majda plays picigin there when she has her dream team assembled, ideally with plenty of laughter and splashing. She also swims at a little pebble beach in Vitarnja near her cousin's house, the same place where her parents always used to swim. "It makes me feel connected to them in a very special way."
Food, wine and where to spend the evening
For wine, Dalibor goes straight to Ivo Duboković. "A visit to the Duboković winery is always one of my favourite ways to introduce people to what Hvar's wines actually are." The Viticulture Museum nearby fills in the historical context for anyone who wants to understand why this island's relationship with the vine runs to over 2000 years.
For food, both agree on Me & Mrs Jones and Konoba Nono, with different reasons for each. "Me & Mrs Jones when I feel like something a little more refined," Dalibor says. "Konoba Nono when I want traditional local food without any ceremony." Majda loves a long dinner at Me & Mrs Jones with her special people, letting the evening unfold slowly. "As all good summer evenings in Jelsa should."
Majda's summer afternoon has its own particular flow. It begins at the beach bar Čorni Petar. "Pommes frites and a coffee, followed by a spontaneous jump into the sea from the little wooden pier in front of the bar. Unhealthy but completely essential." In winter, she settles into Prošperin with friends for a caffè latte or a pub quiz. "It is where you find out how much you actually know… or don't."
After dinner, Dalibor likes to sit somewhere along the harbour with a drink and watch the boats. "Jelsa slowing down for the evening is worth seeing." And when he wants a coffee with something sweet, he goes to Gelateria Jelsa by the waterfront. Majda loves it, too.
Beyond the waterfront
Jelsa is also a base. Dalibor likes to take out a Colnago speedboat from the harbour and spend the day discovering the bays and villages along Hvar's north coast. He also walks up to the Tor when he wants a different perspective on the island. "It gives you the town from above, and the surrounding fields and the sea all at once. Completely different from any other view."
He also stops at the small Jelsa market in the mornings for seasonal fruit, vegetables and local products. The Sarag fish market is right beside it for fresh fish and seafood. Majda makes a point of visiting the Kravata Gallery, part of the Jelsa Municipal Museum, whenever something is on. "There is always something interesting happening. It is a reminder that this is not just a holiday town. There is a real cultural life here."
For something small and cheerful to carry home, she recommends Hvar Republic. "Pick up a little colourful treasure. Something that will always remind you of Jelsa."
500 years on foot
There is one thing about Jelsa that cannot be adequately described from the outside. Every Maundy Thursday evening, the Cross leaves Jelsa and returns at dawn on Good Friday. The six parish processions walk through the night, across fields, through villages and over hills. What happens between darkness and the first light is something Majda has been part of her whole life. "It is one of those deeply local traditions that is impossible to describe until you experience it."
She's right. There are things that make no sense until you are standing in the cold at four in the morning, waiting for the light to come back. And Jelsa has that.
The town in the middle of everything
Jelsa will not overwhelm you with its own importance. It’s where you can spend the morning at the market, an afternoon at Grebišće, a long dinner at Me & Mrs Jones and a drink on the harbour while the boats settle in for the night.
The Tor is up there if you want it. Ivo Duboković's cellar is waiting. And if you happen to be on Hvar in the week before Easter, come to Jelsa on Maundy Thursday evening and stay until sunrise. You will not regret it.
