Climate

The island of Hvar is characterised by gentle winters, warm summers and many hours of sunshine. Gentle and moist winters (January Hvar has an average temperature of 8.4° C) have many advantages, long other things enabling winter tourism in Hvar.

Maximum temperatures are never too high to render agriculture impossible (the highest recorded temperature of 37°C was reached in 1935). The average annual air temperature is around 16.5° C, while autumns are warmer than springs, which prolongs the growing period. Hvar has an annual average of 7.7 hours sunshine per day and 3.8 hours of cloud. (By comparison Dubrovnik has 7.0 hours of sun shine and 4.4 hours of cloud; Nice /South of France/ 7.2 and 4.2 respectively).

A general belief in the health-giving effects of sunny regions led to the discovery of this "Adriatic Madeira" as early as the 19th century. It has the most hours of sunshine on the Adriatic coast, with as much as 2715 per year, and only small variations in temperature. "The Hygienic Society" was founded in 1868, and the first health hotel was opened in 1889, while The Centre for Allergies of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1965. Due to its climate, Hvar has a long tradition in health tourism and tourism in general.