Hvar has grown grapes for 2000 years. September is the best time to taste that fact.
Hvar in September has a different aroma from other summer months on the island. The lavender has dried. The herbs are at their most concentrated. But the sea is still 24 degrees.
The September light is more golden in the late afternoon than at any point during summer. The hills that spent July and August baking have turned a shade of dusty green that only happens at this time of year. And in the vineyards across the island, the grape harvest takes over.
Hvar has been growing grapes since 384 BC, when the Greeks who founded Stari Grad first planted vines on these hillsides and began carving the terraced slopes. Generations of island families since have cultivated varieties suited to Hvar's rocky soil and relentless sun: Plavac Mali, Bogdanuša and Prč. All native grapes that belong to this particular place.
The harvest happens from the end of August through September. It is one of the most specific and beautiful things Hvar does. For guests who want to be close to it, these are six addresses in our collection that put you right in the middle of it.
Villa Vinea in Sveta Nedjelja
The name is not accidental. Vinea sits on the cliffs above Sveta Nedjelja, built by owners who first came to this coast in 2017 and spent years creating something worthy of it. There is a private vineyard beside the house and a wine tasting room in the basement. Guests even have an open invitation to join the harvest every year.
Vinea is decked out with award-winning architecture by Studio 25.4mm, completed in 2025, with interiors by Nikàrt — four bedrooms, a cantilevered master terrace pointing towards Šćedro and Bang & Olufsen speakers. It’s also only 200 metres to the beach. But the best part? Three years after your stay, wine, honey and lavender arrive at your door. A gift the owners call the "I Miss You" package.
Villa Epimetheus in Vrbanj
Villa Epimetheus started as a winery in 1872. The village of Vrbanj sits in the heart of the island and this villa sits in the heart of that village. It was restored between 2021 and 2023, with the original floorboards, beams, windows and stone walls kept exactly where they were. The old konoba where wine was once pressed is now the living room, dining room and kitchen, with a large recycled teakwood table, hand-forged glass doors and underfloor heating for the evenings when September turns cool.
You’ll have four bedrooms to share, an 8x4 saltwater pool with a counter-current system, fragrant herbs and citrus in the courtyard and sea vistas across to Brač from the attic windows. It is a winery that became a home, in a village that the island's tourists have largely not found yet.
Villa Heracles *Villa M in Sveta Nedjelja
Built in 2019 on a cliff above Sveta Nedjelja, Heracles has five bedrooms, three terraces spanning 222 m² and an infinity pool with an unobstructed view of the Adriatic and Vis beyond. There is a stone fireplace on the back terrace for grilled fish evenings. A telescope for nights when the sky earns it.
A Bosch kitchen, a wine collection already in the house and a master balcony that looks straight out to sea. The vineyard terraces of southern Hvar, which are among the steepest and most dramatic on the island, begin at the foot of the cliffs.
Villa Erebus D *Dvor Giovanni in Pitve
A 15th-century stone house in Pitve was restored in 2024 by a local couple who did it with the care the age of the building demands. It is one of four siblings in a shared courtyard complex that together sleeps 26 — and Majda's personal favourite of them. Four bedrooms spread across three floors, while a sauna, gym, HD home cinema and games room provide plenty of scope for fun. Did we mention there is also a heated pool tucked between stone walls that have been standing since the 1400s?
The Viticulture museum is minutes away. Marijan winery offers tastings close by. Dvor Duboković, one of the favourite restaurants on the island, is a short walk away. And Pitve sits at the entrance to the tunnel that opens onto the south coast. In other words, vineyards in every direction.
Villa Iris *Villa Amaria in Svirče
Villa Iris takes the word harvest literally. The garden has fig trees, pomegranate and fresh vegetables planted by the owners. The neighbours grow organic produce and will sell whatever is in season. Eggs from the owner's free-range chickens are even available for breakfast.
Built between 2009 and 2022, the villa sits in the interior of the island with vistas across to Jelsa, Vrisnik and the green hills beyond. It spans 350 m² across multiple levels, four bedrooms, a massage room where aromatherapy and cupping can be arranged on site and a 25 m² pool that looks out over one of the most quietly beautiful views on the island.
Villa Harmonia in Zavala
A 19th-century Dalmatian farmhouse on the south-facing coast above the best beaches on the island. Five bedrooms, each with its own bathroom — one in a former stable, its walls entirely of stone, with a bathtub and a reading gallery. There are wood-burning stoves, beamed ceilings and natural materials throughout.
Almost everything was custom-made for this house: the kitchen, terrace tables, lights and wardrobes. You’ll use Smeg appliances and enjoy Villeroy & Boch bathrooms. In 2024, the pool wall came down to open the view straight to the sea. The Zavala vineyards, known as some of the island's finest, are worked by hand every September. They’re also within walking distance of your front door.
The harvest is not a tourist event
It is something the island has been doing since before most of recorded history, and it will keep doing it long after September is over. The guests who happen to be here for it, whether staying near a winery, on a cliff above a vineyard or in a village where the harvest is simply what happens in September, get a version of Hvar that no summer booking can replicate.
If any of these villas are on your list, now is the time.
