Vis Island holidays in Croatia
| country: | Croatia |
| location: | Vis Island |
| departures: | This trip can be tailor made and depart at a time to suit between April – October, with minimum 2 persons |
| price: | From £815 - £1259 (8 days) excluding flights. We can arrange flights from the UK. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
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the amazing things you'll be doing
The island of Vis, known by the Greeks as Issa, is one of Croatia’s best kept secrets. Off-limits to foreigners for nearly 50 years, its strategic westerly location made it the choice par excellence for the Yugoslav Navy’s Adriatic Command. Today, Yugoslavia and the naval base are gone. Years of isolation and economic neglect are gradually being reversed and the island, with its two main towns – Vis and Komiza – experiencing a veritable renaissance. Its untouched natural beauty, pristine coastline and preserved traditional lifestyle are attracting visitors looking to escape the commercialism and mass tourism of more well-known destinations.
Our quintessential Vis holiday invites you to explore an amazing habitat of visual and mental landscapes shaped through the centuries by nature, history and human folly.
The programme includes your choice of accommodation in Komiza, Vis Town, Milna Bay or Talez, car hire, and three private, informal tours. The journey will take you over winding tracks and narrow footpaths to rocky peaks and hidden coves, through a landscape of herbs, vineyards and olive groves.
As in all of our holidays, food and wine play a vital role. Serving only what they produce locally, your hosts will demonstrate their culinary skills and respect for nature while intriguing you with stories and personal anecdotes that illustrate island life. Following a sumptuous meal of grilled kid, lamb or scorpion fish and a carafe of delicious homemade wine, you may find yourself invited to inspect the family’s olive press, a photo album or a kitchen garden of lavender and burgeoning tomato vines.
Our Vis holiday includes the following excursions:
The Villa Nonna is a nineteenth-century stone townhouse in the town of Komiza on the island’s southwestern coast. Curled along the rim of a pebbly turquoise bay, Komiza was once home to a breed of legendary fishermen. Today cafes and restaurants crowd the waterfront in summer, while little white fishing boats bob at their moorings and sailboats ply the bay. The town is a maize of narrow, cobbled alleyways and walled gardens bursting with roses, lilac and lemon trees. The villa, a 5-minute stroll from the waterfront, has seven studio and one-bedroom apartments. All feature bright, spacious interiors, hardwood floors, exposed stone walls and light, contemporary furnishings.
Talez
Talez is a restored country estate spread out over three acres of pine and cypress groves on a ridge on Vis Island’s stunning southwest coast. Surrounded by terraced slopes and drystone walls, the property features a nineteenth-century villa with three self-catering terraced cottages, a summer kitchen and covered loggia, landscaped garden and pool. Each cottage has its own kitchen, living room, bedroom, shower/bath and outdoor sitting area. While ideal for a family or group of friends, the property may also be rented per cottage for couples travelling alone.
Hotel Paula
The 3-star Hotel Paula is located at the eastern end of Vis Town, in the heart of Renaissance Kut – a tangle of cobbled streets and squares, palaces, courtyards, churches and campaniles. The handsome restored stone villa opens onto a polished flagstone passageway just off the waterfront. For our clients we have selected the Honeymoon Suite with its spacious terrace, sea views and jacuzzi bath. Famous for its seafood restaurants and relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle, Vis Town attracts a fashionable crowd especially in July and August.
Milna Bay House
Milna Bay House sits on the rocks above the sea, 10 kilometres by car from Vis Town. A lush garden of Mediterranean greenery surrounds the property – palm trees, oleander, cedar, pine and grape vines. From the house, paths lead down to the water where you can swim from the rocks or continue on foot to sandy beaches nearby. The one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments all have stunning sea views and private terraces. The furnishings are simple and homey in a shabby-chic kind of way. Milna Bay is near some of the island’s best rural tavernas and winemakers. Fresh fish can be bought locally and grilled on the outdoor BBQ.
Our quintessential Vis holiday invites you to explore an amazing habitat of visual and mental landscapes shaped through the centuries by nature, history and human folly.
The programme includes your choice of accommodation in Komiza, Vis Town, Milna Bay or Talez, car hire, and three private, informal tours. The journey will take you over winding tracks and narrow footpaths to rocky peaks and hidden coves, through a landscape of herbs, vineyards and olive groves.
As in all of our holidays, food and wine play a vital role. Serving only what they produce locally, your hosts will demonstrate their culinary skills and respect for nature while intriguing you with stories and personal anecdotes that illustrate island life. Following a sumptuous meal of grilled kid, lamb or scorpion fish and a carafe of delicious homemade wine, you may find yourself invited to inspect the family’s olive press, a photo album or a kitchen garden of lavender and burgeoning tomato vines.
Our Vis holiday includes the following excursions:
- Vis by Sea is a journey by boat around the island. Together with your captain you will spend the day sailing to hidden coves and beaches, the lighthouse at Stoncica, Stiniva Bay and the Green Grotto. Lunch will be served at an organic small-holding and restaurant set on the edge of a sandy cove amid palm trees and bamboo. The owners serve only what they catch in the sea, raise and grow on their land.
- Our Vis Wine & History Tour is a fun, off-road experience that will take you back in time to some of the island’s most sublime and unexpected places. A three-course evening meal will be served in the village of Plisko Polje at the wine cellars and homestead of Nikola Roki whose family produces some of the island’s finest wines. His specialties are prepared on an open hearth - grouper, monkfish and octopus, slow-roasted with rice and herbs, under a cast iron dome smothered in a bed of glowing coals.
- Our Vis Slow Food Experience is an eccentric, gastronomic journey to the rocky cove of Mala Travna and the tumbledown cottage of Senko Karuza – chef, poet, writer and philosopher. The day will focus on a banquet of wild organic foods, delicate antipasti, organic vegetables, fresh fish, brujeta, wine and brandy. Everything Senko prepares is caught in the sea, harvested in his fields or grown on his property nearby. Besides helping with the cooking and getting to know your host, guests can explore the cove, go for a swim or just sit back and relax.
accommodation
Villa Nonna The Villa Nonna is a nineteenth-century stone townhouse in the town of Komiza on the island’s southwestern coast. Curled along the rim of a pebbly turquoise bay, Komiza was once home to a breed of legendary fishermen. Today cafes and restaurants crowd the waterfront in summer, while little white fishing boats bob at their moorings and sailboats ply the bay. The town is a maize of narrow, cobbled alleyways and walled gardens bursting with roses, lilac and lemon trees. The villa, a 5-minute stroll from the waterfront, has seven studio and one-bedroom apartments. All feature bright, spacious interiors, hardwood floors, exposed stone walls and light, contemporary furnishings.
Talez
Talez is a restored country estate spread out over three acres of pine and cypress groves on a ridge on Vis Island’s stunning southwest coast. Surrounded by terraced slopes and drystone walls, the property features a nineteenth-century villa with three self-catering terraced cottages, a summer kitchen and covered loggia, landscaped garden and pool. Each cottage has its own kitchen, living room, bedroom, shower/bath and outdoor sitting area. While ideal for a family or group of friends, the property may also be rented per cottage for couples travelling alone. Hotel Paula
The 3-star Hotel Paula is located at the eastern end of Vis Town, in the heart of Renaissance Kut – a tangle of cobbled streets and squares, palaces, courtyards, churches and campaniles. The handsome restored stone villa opens onto a polished flagstone passageway just off the waterfront. For our clients we have selected the Honeymoon Suite with its spacious terrace, sea views and jacuzzi bath. Famous for its seafood restaurants and relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle, Vis Town attracts a fashionable crowd especially in July and August. Milna Bay House
Milna Bay House sits on the rocks above the sea, 10 kilometres by car from Vis Town. A lush garden of Mediterranean greenery surrounds the property – palm trees, oleander, cedar, pine and grape vines. From the house, paths lead down to the water where you can swim from the rocks or continue on foot to sandy beaches nearby. The one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments all have stunning sea views and private terraces. The furnishings are simple and homey in a shabby-chic kind of way. Milna Bay is near some of the island’s best rural tavernas and winemakers. Fresh fish can be bought locally and grilled on the outdoor BBQ.
travellers' tales
We fell in love with this beautiful historical city and walking around the medieval walls at sunset was a definite highlight. (more)
tailormade holidays
As this trip can be tailormade to your requirements it would be helpful if you could you provide the following information: Rough budget per person (without flights), preferred date of travel, length of trip, number of passengers, specific interests, type of accommodation, your address, postcode and contact phone number.how this holiday makes a difference
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This holiday is designed for travellers who wish to experience the lifestyle, food and culture of one of Croatia’s most unspoilt and beautiful destinations. The programmes are operated exclusively by locals who have partnered with our company and who are uniquely positioned to tell their stories and present their island from an insider’s point of view. Your hosts and guides are local families and individuals with an in-depth knowledge of the food, wine, history and culture of the area. Getting to know them and the personal, one-on-one experiences that result, is a highlight of all our holidays.
Vis Island has been designated by the WWF as one of the last ten paradises in the entire Mediterranean. Our programmes on Vis specifically aim to promote responsible tourism by supporting local endeavours such as organic farming, wine and olive oil production, eco-tourism and the private hospitality-accommodation sector. Eating at local homesteads, family-run restaurants and small wine estates reflects of our commitment to supporting domestic initiatives to preserve and revive gastronomic traditions, many of which are in danger of disappearing. All of the food served during this holiday is grown or produced locally, often in the cook’s or host’s own garden. Because our holiday encourages individual travel – couples or small groups of family and friends – its impact on the environment, services and infrastructure is minimal. Safeguarding natural resources, especially in sensitive eco-regions like Vis, is a matter we take seriously. Proper disposal of litter at sea and along beaches is underlined in our Travellers Code. We also encourage conservation of water especially in the summer at the height of the travel season when otherwise limited fresh water supplies can become critically compromised. The townhouses and apartments featured in our holiday are all family-owned and managed. The owners are local people and active in their communities, interested in sharing their knowledge of the island’s history, culture and traditions with their guests. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |