The Sunniest Island in Croatia.

Hvar is one of the most celebrated islands in the Adriatic, and rowing here with VK Jelsa offers a completely different experience to anything on the Croatian mainland. The club sits on the Jelsa waterfront in the area known as Lučica, on the northern coast of the island, tucked into a sheltered bay fringed by pine forests and vineyards. The water is crystal clear, the bay is calm, and the surrounding landscape of limestone hills, lavender fields, and terraced vineyards gives the whole experience a quality that is genuinely difficult to find anywhere else in European rowing.

Hvar is the sunniest island in Croatia, recording around 2,800 hours of sunshine per year — which means training conditions are reliable across a long season. The bay at Jelsa is sheltered on both sides by pine-covered headlands, and the water is open enough to allow for longer pieces while remaining protected from the worst of the open Adriatic. Coaches follow on a launch, and the combination of clear water, consistent conditions, and the island backdrop makes for some of the most visually striking training sessions in the programme.

Jelsa itself is a quietly elegant Dalmatian town that has preserved its character in a way that the more famous Hvar Town, with its superyachts and nightlife, has not always managed. The old town's stone backstreets are narrow and unhurried, the harbour faces west for the evening light, and the pace of life here is one of the things that makes it such a good base for a training camp. The club was founded in 1978 and has been active year-round ever since, welcoming visiting rowers alongside its own competitive programme.

Off the water, Hvar rewards exploration. The island has been producing wine for over two thousand years, and Plavac Mali — the dominant red grape of the Dalmatian coast — reaches some of its finest expression in the vineyards here. Lavender has been cultivated on Hvar since the early 20th century, and at its peak the island accounted for roughly 8% of global lavender production. The fields are still farmed today, and the scent of them in June is something that stays with you. Hvar Town, a short drive or boat ride from Jelsa, has one of the finest old town squares in the Adriatic, a 16th-century Venetian loggia, and a Spanish fortress above the town with views across the Pakleni Islands that are worth the climb alone.