Hvar has landed ninth place in the Condé Nast Traveler Readers' Choice Awards for the best island in Europe — its eighth straight year in the top ten. The island previously took the top spot outright in both 2019 and 2021, and its pull on American travellers in particular shows no sign of fading.
The numbers back up the hype. US visitors were the largest single market for arrivals and overnight stays in Hvar Town last year, and September overnight stays from the States jumped 17.83% year on year. A big part of that is access: the first direct New York to Split flight launched this April, putting the island under 10 hours from Manhattan if you factor in a speedboat hop across to Hvar. The route has done well enough that officials are discussing extra frequency and a longer season for 2027.
Something else is changing too. Hvar has spent recent years deliberately pivoting away from its party-island reputation towards an upmarket offering built around couples, families and adventure travellers — and the American press has noticed. The island's association with Condé Nast goes back decades: a late-1990s award from the magazine first spawned the claim that Hvar is one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world, a list still displayed on a map along the Jelsa waterfront.
The hotel scene is upgrading to match. The newest arrival is Sirena Resort from Suncani Hvar Hotels, set in a quiet bay 1.4km north of Hvar Town. Within weeks of opening, the New York Times named it one of Europe's top five new hotels for an autumn escape. And while the high season has wrapped, the town isn't sleeping: the Spartan World Championship lands this weekend with roughly 3,000 athletes competing.
For travellers, the takeaway is simple. Hvar in the shoulder season now offers calmer water, milder temperatures, serious new accommodation and enough events to fill a week — and getting there from the US has never been easier. Expect American crowds to keep growing into 2027, so booking early for late spring or September is a smart move before the flight schedule expands further.
