The islands, explained
The Pakleni Islands: what they are, and why the name isn't what it sounds like
A pine-covered archipelago across the strait from Hvar town, a lunch stop built around a hidden bay, and a name that sounds like "hell" but actually means something far more practical.
See the Hvar, Pakleni & Brač catamaran tickets on GetYourGuide ↗The Pakleni Islands at a glance
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Location | Opposite Hvar town's harbour, across the strait |
| Local name | Škoji — simply "the islands" in the local dialect |
| Name origin | Paklina — pine resin, once harvested to waterproof boat hulls |
| On this tour | The second swim stop, and where lunch is served |
| Character | Pine forest, sheltered bays, no roads or large settlements |
A name that sounds worse than it is
"Pakleni" looks and sounds like the Croatian word for hellish, and plenty of visitors assume that's exactly what it means — hell's islands, named for something dark in their history. The real origin is more practical than dramatic: the name comes from paklina, an old word for the dark pine resin, or tar, that local shipwrights spent centuries harvesting on these islands and melting down to waterproof the wooden hulls of their boats. The islands' historical Italian name, Isole Spalmadori — roughly "the smearing islands" — points at the same trade. Locals more often call them simply Škoji, "the islands," without the loaded translation at all.
What the archipelago actually is
The Pakleni Islands sit directly across the strait from Hvar town's harbour, close enough that the town's waterfront and the Spanish Fortress above it are visible from most of the group's bays. They're a scatter of small, largely uninhabited, pine-forested islands and islets rather than one single landmass — no roads connect them, and there's no town to speak of on most of them, just coves, a scattering of seasonal restaurants reachable only by boat, and a lot of pine-covered coastline.
Why this is the lunch stop, not just a swim stop
On this tour, the Pakleni Islands are where the boat spends its longest single stretch of the day — roughly two hours, covering both the swim and the on-board lunch service. That's partly practical: the islands' sheltered bays make for calm anchorage regardless of what the open sea is doing elsewhere on the route, and partly geographic — sitting this close to Hvar town, it's a natural place to pause before the boat continues on to the guided walk.
What you'll actually see in the water
The specific bay the operator uses on any given sailing isn't fixed or named in advance — it shifts with wind, sea state and which anchorages are quieter that day, which is standard practice for small-boat excursions working this stretch of coast rather than a sign of anything unusual about this particular tour. Expect clear, sheltered water over rock, pine trees coming down close to the shoreline, and a noticeably calmer sea than the open crossings between stops.
The islands beyond this one stop
For travellers who want more time in the Pakleni Islands than one lunch stop allows, water taxis run from Hvar town's harbour independently of any organised tour, and it's a popular half-day or full-day trip on its own for visitors based in Hvar rather than Split. On this catamaran day, though, the islands are one stop among four rather than the destination itself — worth knowing if the archipelago is the specific reason you're considering the tour, since the time here, generous as it is, is still shared with Brač, Hvar town and Šolta.
How close Hvar town actually is
Part of why the Pakleni Islands work so well as a lunch stop on this particular route is how short the crossing is — the archipelago sits directly opposite Hvar town's harbour, close enough that the bell towers and the Spanish Fortress above the old town are visible from most of the group's anchorages. That proximity is also why the islands' seasonal, boat-access-only restaurants do a steady trade with Hvar-based visitors on their own itineraries, quite separate from tours like this one arriving from Split. It's a five- to fifteen-minute hop by small boat from the town harbour, depending on which bay you're headed for, which is part of why so many different operators build a Pakleni stop into a Hvar-based day rather than only into longer circuits like this one from Split.