Humac – THE 2026 TRAVEL GUIDE

You have landed on our guide to Humac, an abandoned hamlet on Hvar Island. We are Hvar Away, producing detailed local guides and travel journals to help you make the most of your visit to Hvar.

Explore our most popular resources:

Or visit our main Hvar Island guide and find local guides like this for every town and village.

Although now without any permanent residents, Humac was once a centre of human habitation spanning centuries. The village is blanketed with simple dry-wall stone houses, built without mortar, many of which have foundations that date back to the early Stone Age.

Humac was founded in the 17th century, and its villagers were dedicated for centuries mainly to cattle rearing and agriculture. Humac truly flourished in the 19th century, a period marked by significant expansion due to the high demand for cultivation of Hvar's wine and aromatic oils such as lavender.

Although residents primarily lived in the nearby village of Vrisnik, they would migrate to Humac during major agricultural seasons and live in the stone houses built with the ancient dry technique, with some retaining architectural remnants of the former sharing of goods – stone gutters bridging the passageways between houses, through which rainwater would flow into a common gutter or well. Today, they stand as testament to the island's agricultural heritage and prosperous past.

Humac is the starting point for an excursion to Grapčeva Cave, which dates back to the Neolithic era. Down a steep path over the sea and through a low entrance protected by an iron gate, you will enter the round, spacious cavern of Grapčeva Cave, filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

This is also where the oldest known depiction of a boat in Europe was discovered, and one of the archaeological sites establishing what is known as “Hvar Culture.” Far from cave dwellers, the people of Hvar Culture were an ancient nautical civilisation who used this cave as a site for funeral rituals, leaving evidence of their presence with sophisticated, and quite attractive, ceramics.

Grapčeva Cave is a site of exceptional importance, not only for the history of Hvar but for European prehistory as a whole, which is why access is strictly controlled and independent entry is not allowed.

To visit this ritual site of the Hvar Culture of Coloured Ceramics, you can either arrange a private guided tour or join one of the scheduled group tours. These run at 9 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays between 15 June and 15 September. The tour lasts around two hours and costs €8 for adults and €4 for children. Tours start at Konoba Humac, an easy landmark to find and the same place where most visitors park before setting off.

After delving into the deep past, explore more recent centuries in the ethnovillage of Humac itself, a well-preserved example of the seasonal settlements that flourished in the arduous but lucrative years of the 19th century, when Hvar produced a significant portion of Europe’s wine and aromatic oils.

Although founded in the 1600s, Humac was greatly expanded in these “boom years” when Continental wealth fed a demand for the island’s agricultural products.

At the southern end of Humac, a marked trail will lead you up to a panoramic viewing point offering 360 degree views out across the island. Don’t forget to bring small change for the telescope.

Our recommendation to experience the best of Humac is to explore with an experienced local guide. Your half-day tour will lead you down an old stone cart path, past overgrown vineyards and lavender fields, pointing out native plants and their uses in folk medicine all along the way to Grapčeva Cave. Inside, your guide will explain the true cultural and archaeological significance of the site.

Head back with your guide to explore Humac village itself, with included access to the small ethnographic museum, church, and ancient herb distillery which are otherwise closed to visitors.

Humac has been largely abandoned for decades, which is why, until recently, the only restored building was a single villa at the village entrance. In the past few years, careful renovation has begun to bring the stone settlement back to life, but accommodation remains extremely limited.

For most, the most compelling place to stay near Humac lies just beyond the village itself. Around seven minutes’ drive away along a 4km dirt road, far enough to guarantee near total silence, St. George Court feels less like a villa and more like your own vast private estate.

Set behind tall iron gates, the estate unfolds as a collection of restored Dalmatian stone houses arranged around a central main house, each offering an unparalleled sense of privacy and connection to the landscape. Guests staying in the smaller cottages often find that they are every bit as appealing as the main house, delivering an intimacy that only thick stone walls and rural isolation can provide.

Life at St. George Court is meant to be lived outdoors. Active guests can make use of the private tennis court, while others spend long hours by the pool, watching the light shift across the sea and the island of Šćedro beyond.

Konoba Humac is a place where Hvar feels distilled to its essence, served in the uniquely quiet atmosphere of an abandoned stone village lit only by candles and stars.

Owned by Jakov and Keti who have together played a key role in preserving Humac, this konoba is deeply rooted in island life. Their experience comes not from trend-driven hospitality but from generations of living with the land, harvesting lavender, fishing, and producing wine.

That tradition shapes everything here, from the food to the pace of the evening. They are not trying to sell you an idea of Hvar, but to share the version they grew up with, and the one their parents knew before them. What may begin as a simple dinner often turns into something far more reflective, a reminder of how little is needed to feel genuinely content.

If Humac is on your travel plans, you are in for a peaceful and rewarding visit. First, get yourself to the island of Hvar. Many visitors confuse Hvar Town with the island as a whole. Hvar Town is the island’s capital and the lively southwestern hub, famous for its glamorous and luxurious atmosphere. The island of Hvar, however, is much larger. It is a substantial landmass in Croatia’s southern Dalmatian archipelago, roughly three times the size of Manhattan.

Humac sits inland in the geographic centre of Hvar Island, 11 kilometres east of Jelsa, the closest town.

The most convenient gateway to Hvar Island is Split, the vibrant coastal city on the mainland that is well worth exploring in its own right. Split has an international airport, along with train and bus stations, and a busy ferry port, all conveniently located near the atmospheric old town.

Split Airport is about 30 minutes from the city centre. From there, take the airport shuttle bus or a taxi/Uber to the ferry terminal. You can then board a car ferry (essential if you are bringing your own vehicle) or a faster passenger catamaran to the island. Services run to Hvar Town, Stari Grad and, once daily, Jelsa.

For full details, take a look at our comprehensive guide of how to get to Hvar.

You will need a car (or a taxi) to reach Humac.

If you are renting a car on the Croatian mainland or driving your own car from Europe, you will need to take one of the regular Jadrolinija car ferries from Split to Stari Grad. The crossing costs around €40 per vehicle. Once docked in Stari Grad, the drive to Humac is pleasant and not too long – on an asphalt road for approximately 25 minutes.

Alternatively, if you are coming from Dubrovnik or points south of Split, the Drvenik-Sućuraj ferry can prove more efficient. Though the subsequent drive westwards across the island is longer, winding, and scenic (in the most exhilarating sense), it often saves hours compared to heading north to Split, queuing there and enduring the longer two-hour sailing into Stari Grad.

The island has other ports (Hvar Town – and the closest option to Humac, Jelsa) but they only serve catamarans, which are boats that carry only pedestrians. One option is to take a catamaran, and collect your rental car from your port of arrival on the island.

In any case, it pays to reserve car ferry tickets a few days ahead during peak season and to join the queue at least an hour before departure. Spaces do sell out regularly in summer, and arriving early avoids any last-minute disappointment.