Want to send a postcard from your holiday on Hvar? Find the post offices with opening hours here, and other information about phone and internet on the island.
It is certainly making our lives easier, this technology nowadays - mobile, internet, social networks. It is easier than ever to communicate with the world, posting our holiday pictures on social networks and actually video calling our friends and family from our vacation, just to show them the beach. But, if you ask me, there is something about the good old-fashioned way of sending a message - by the actual mail service. So, if you are one of those postcard senders, here is some info about the post offices on Hvar.
The good news is there are 10 of them on the island, which is making the service pretty accessible.
Post offices on Hvar:
21450 HVAR, OBALA RIVA 19
21454 BRUSJE
21460 STARI GRAD, ULICA BRAĆE BIANCINI 2
21462 VRBANJ
21463 VRBOSKA
21465 JELSA, STROSSMAYEROVO ŠETALIŠTE BB
21466 ZASTRAŽIŠĆE
21467 GDINJ
21468 BOGOMOLJE
21469 SUĆURAJ, GORNJA BANDA 2
There is a handy calculator on the website of The Croatian Post to get an idea about the cost for all sorts of services they offer. As stated, the cost is only informative and you should always check with the nearest post office for details, but for example, the price for sending a postcard (has to be rectangular and not larger than 120 x 235 mm) internationally, is 4,60 kuna (around 0,61 euro).
The bigger post offices - in Hvar town, Jelsa, Stari Grad and Sucuraj are offering services of Western Union, currency exchange, insurance via Croatia Osiguranje, bank - Hrvatska Poštanska Banka, lottery and others.
The logistic of the postal services on an island has always been interesting to me. Of course, there is the ferry, so the post always arrives at the same time of the day. In Jelsa, it is around 10:30 am and by that time, the mail truck has already been to Sucuraj, Zastrazisce and Bogomolje, because it leaves Split at 5 am to be on time for the Drvenik-Sucuraj ferry. After the Jelsa mailbag has been unloaded, the mail truck heads to Stari Grad and Hvar. After Hvar (and Brusje), where the mail from that day has been collected, the truck drives back to Jelsa to collect the outgoing mailbags and at around 13:30 it leaves for Stari Grad to do the same before it finally leaves the island on the 17:30 ferry.
This, among other things, means, that a letter sent from Jelsa to Hvar will have to travel to Split first to be then delivered to Hvar within the next 2-3 days.
During the summer season, the route is a bit different, because there is the 5 am ferry from Split. The mail truck goes to Hvar first, then Brusje and Stari Grad and Jelsa and further to the east all the way to Sucuraj. From Sucuraj it drives back to collect the mailbags from the entire island to leave with the 17:30 ferry.
The postmen on the island have to be very familiar with the local population, as there are almost no street names and only a few house numbers, not to mention all these people with the same name and surname. They actually know all the people living in their delivery zone, family relations and "not to be delivered to the husband" type of preferences as husbands often must not (and actually don´t need to) know, that a new pair of shoes has just arrived.
Mail, that has arrived that day is being sorted in the afternoon hours to be delivered the next day. The delivery zone of one postman is pretty big and there are a lot of extra people during the summer with no extra postmen, so those of you who are expecting their morning newspaper to arrive on time for your morning coffee on the terrace, be patient, it will. But take it easy and shift to the Dalmatian style of the morning coffee at 11.
If you are expecting mail to be delivered to you on Hvar, do not forget to visit the post office and introduce yourself, with detail information about where you are staying. The busiest time in the post office is in the morning hours and around the morning coffee time (11-12 am) and on Saturdays.
Here are the opening hours for all the post offices on Hvar:
Hvar town
21450 HVAR, OBALA RIVA 19
Offseason: Mon - Fri 7-19, Sat 8-12,
Season: Mon - Fri 7-21, Sat 7-21,
Summer lasts: 15.6.-15.9.
Stari Grad
21460 STARI GRAD, ULICA BRAĆE BIANCINI 2
Offseason: Mon - Fri 7.30-15, Sat 8-12,
Season: Mon - Fri 8-21, Sat 8-12,
Season lasts: 1.7.-31.8.
Jelsa
21465 JELSA, STROSSMAYEROVO ŠETALIŠTE BB
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8-17, Sat 8-12,
Season: Mon - Fri 7.30-21, Sat 8-12,
Season lasts: 1.7.-31.8.
Vrboska
21463 VRBOSKA
Offseason: Mon - Fri 13-16,
Season: Mon - Fri 8-12 and 18-21,
Season lasts: 1.7.-31.8.
Brusje
21454 BRUSJE
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8-10.30
Vrbanj
21462 VRBANJ
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8.30-11.30
Zastražišće
21466 ZASTRAŽIŠĆE
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8-12
Gdinj
21467 GDINJ
Offseason: Mon - Fri 11-13
Bogomolje
21468 BOGOMOLJE
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8-10
Sućuraj
21469 SUĆURAJ
Offseason: Mon - Fri 8.30-14.30
Phone and Internet
Even though we live in a mobile phone era and we don’t need phones to connect to the Internet anymore, most people still like to have a good old landline phone in their home, so getting a package deal including phone and the Internet is the best choice. There are several options to choose from in Croatia, including Amis, Iskon, Terrakom, H1, Bnet, Optima, HT, and Vip.
Most operators require signing a contract for a period of 12 or 24 months, which sometimes gets you an additional discount over a certain period of months. Your options also depend on the place where you live, because an operator’s infrastructure might not cover your neighbourhood, especially if you live in the countryside. When you visit each operator’s website, you’ll find the maps showing you whether or not your neighbourhood/apartment is in their range. Broadband speed also varies depending on the operator.
Below you can find some of the best deals for each operator.
- 169 kn/month (flat Internet, flat calls to all Croatian landline phones, flat calls to Vip and Tomato mobile phone users) at Bnet
- 169,99 kn/month (20-50 Mbps flat Internet, 1,500 to all Croatian landline phones) at Iskon
- 175 kn/month (20/0.75 Mbps flat Internet, flat calls to Croatian landline phones) at Optima
- 189 kn/month (flat Internet, 55 min to Croatian landline phones) at Terrakom
- 199 kn/month (50/50 Mbps flat Internet, 1,500 min to all Croatian landline and mobile phones, as well as to landline and mobile phones within the EU ZONE) at Amis
- 199 kn/month (flat Internet, flat calls to Croatian landline phones, 2,000 min to Croatian mobile phones, 500 min to EU landline phones at 0.28 kn/min) at H1
- 225 kn/month (flat Internet, 60 min to HT landline phones) at HT
- 260 kn/month (30 GB of Internet, flat calls to Croatian landlines and mobile phones, 500 min to EEA countries) at Vip
If you want TV as well, there are package deals including phone, TV and the Internet, and they are usually around 50 kn more expensive than the prices listed above.
You can find more information about these deals on Amis, Iskon, Terrakom, H1, Bnet, Optima, HT, and Vip.
A great site for comparing prices, which is available only in Croatian, is Procjenitelj troškova.
