Maslina Resort

Rooms and decor

Picture a resort tucked into olive groves and pine forest on a slope above a small Adriatic bay — that is Maslina Resort (maslina means olive in Croatian). The idea here is mindful luxury, a kind of comfort that means to blend into nature rather than shout over it. There are around 50 rooms and suites plus 3 villas with private pools, done in soft earth tones with natural stone, warm wood, easy linen and clean, understated furniture. Big windows and balconies open onto the olive groves, the pines or the turquoise sea. From some rooms you wake to nothing but cicadas and wind in the pine needles. The overall feel is more like staying in a designer house in a Mediterranean garden than a regular hotel, and plenty of reviews agree that everything is clean, spare and calm enough to relax you from the first step inside.

Food and amenities

The heart of a stay here is the wellness mood and the food. The resort has a holistic spa that works local ingredients and herbs into its treatments, with relaxation space and a morning yoga class so you can stretch in clean air before the day starts. The food is what many people talk about — the restaurant leans on a garden-to-table idea, using vegetables, fruit and herbs from the resort's own garden to build fresh Mediterranean dishes that look as good as they taste, eaten in an easy setting with garden and sea views. There is a resort pool to cool off in, and a small private path that leads down to a rocky bay for a swim in clear water. Bikes and outdoor activities are on hand for exploring the olive groves and the nature around. What wins people over most is the service — many reviews praise the staff as warm, detail-minded and genuinely invested in your trip going well.

Location and getting there

Maslina sits on a slope above Maslinica Bay in the north of Hvar, not far from the ancient town of Stari Grad — one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in Europe, settled since ancient Greek times. The surrounding Stari Grad Plain is a UNESCO World Heritage site full of old vineyards and olive groves. This kind of setting suits anyone who wants to escape the bustle and sit in quiet nature: wake and walk in the olive groves, cycle past the fields, or sip wine watching the sun drop behind the hills. A few minutes' drive reaches old-town Stari Grad with its winding stone lanes, harbourside restaurants and old fishing-town feel, and from there you can carry on by car or boat to the livelier nightlife of Hvar Town. Hvar has no railway, so you move mainly by car, the resort's transfer and boat — which fits a slow, rest-first trip with the occasional outing.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide. The first thing reviews mention often is that rates and in-resort spending run high — rooms, food, drinks and spa. Many suggest budgeting some extra if you mean to eat, drink and use resort services mostly on site. The second is the out-of-town location: the resort sits on a slope away from the centre, so reaching Stari Grad or Hvar Town takes a car, a transfer or a taxi, and anyone without wheels should plan transport ahead. The third is the beach — the bay below is a typical Croatian rocky shore, not fine sand, and the path down crosses a slope. If you are expecting a white-sand beach at your door like a tropical resort, reset that picture. None of this is a fault in how the place is run — it is simply the nature of a design resort on a Mediterranean island.

Our take

After reading through plenty of real reviews, Maslina Resort sells a "design retreat in nature plus wellness plus warm service" so well that it has become one of the most stylish places to stay on Hvar. If the trip in your head is waking in a spare, refined room among olive trees, taking a yoga class in clean air, following it with a spa treatment, eating food from the resort's own garden, then walking down to swim in a quiet bay, this is a stay that will genuinely slow you down and recharge you. But if the heart of your trip is sightseeing every day, staying near shops and keeping the budget tight, the out-of-town location and fairly high price may give you pause. Overall we give it 9.3/10 — best for couples, honeymooners and anyone after a quiet wellness retreat in nature on the edge of the Adriatic.