December 14, 2019 - Palace Elisabeth, hvar heritage hotel opened its doors in September, the first 5-star hotel on the island. A photo tour of a luxurious step back in time.
It is a very strange experience being a tourist in the place you live. After ten years living on Hvar, I had that first experience a few years ago when the foodie media experts from Gastronaut came to visit. Accommodation in Hotel Riva, dinner at Garful, a speedboat transfer to taste Zlatan Otok wines before another speedboat transfer to Palmizana and lunch at Meneghello - top Hvar experiences form the viewpoint of the tourist.
It was a life I could get used to...
Such occasions are rare for a blogger of course, but I was delighted to accept an invitation to the opening of one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year on the island - the opening of Palace Elisabeth, the first 5-star heritage hotel on Hvar, and only the third 5-star hotel on a Croatian island. It was quite a night, and having covered tourism on Hvar for 8 years via Total Hvar, a particular honour to witness the start of the latest initiative to move the Hvar tourism story in a more elite direction. You can read a report of the opening party here.
So how does Palace Elisabeth look close up? Well, as you can see from the photo above, there are worse places to be sitting to take in another breathtaking Hvar sunset over the Pakleni Islands than on the balcony of the Penthouse Suite.
The hotel is a gorgeous mixture of modern luxury with intricate heritage detail. And it has quite a history, located on the place where organised tourism began in Europe back in 1868 and opposite the oldest public theatre in Europe, just across the main square, a theatre which also reopened this year after a 20-year renovation.
Take a tour of Palace Elisabeth below, and learn more about it from the official Suncani Hvar website.
