From a distance, the Croatian island of Hvar looks rugged and untamed. Craggy mountains float atop crystalline waters. The coastline is covered in a blanket of pine trees. Far-off islands have a way of appearing suddenly at your side. Upon first glance, there are no sprawling sand beaches or striped beach club umbrellas—but as you get closer to the dock, you’ll start to notice signs of life. Yachts anchored quietly offshore. Old homes peeking out between rock formations. The hum of daily life drifting on the wind, slowly but surely.
Over the years, Hvar has earned a reputation as a mecca for club-goers—a place for people to come dance until sunrise and then ride the ferry back to the mainland, still drunk and reeling from the night before. It’s also a mainstay on the popular island-hopping Croatia Yacht Week, when hundreds of tourists are known to flood the streets of Hvar Town at once.
Now, the island is experiencing not so much a shift as a return to its roots. After the closure of the biggest nightclub on the island, the Hvar council held a secret vote earlier this year to keep current noise restrictions through the summer season (capping out at 85 decibels, the equivalent of a bustling cafe). More and more people are coming to the island and the surrounding regions in search of holistic wellness and a connection to nature, to experience the offerings that have been there all along.
The idea of health and wellness tourism tends to conjure a few powerful images. Angry red scalps boarding flights back from Turkey after successful hair transplants, perhaps, or the experimental lasers and injectables of South Korea, known for their precision and perfectly sterile facilities. The Balkans do not often register. Here, the approach to wellness is admittedly gentler, and prioritizes using the natural elements all around us.
For centuries, locals have been soaking in mineral-rich hot springs under ancient Orthodox monasteries and drinking herbal tea gathered by elders and dried by hand. Thermal baths, called banjas, are strewn all over the region and available to all who need their healing waters. It is customary to go after birth, surgery, or really any time your body needs special care. In the Balkans, wellness is not a trend—it’s a longstanding tradition, passed down from generation to generation of grandmothers (mine among them).
At a very young age, we are taught what teas to drink to help with various ailments and what flowers to dress our wounds with (yarrow, usually). Our mothers slip us a lick of liquor made of aronia berries for the antioxidants and send us out to the sea to clear our acne with salt water.
Long before the first nightclub opened on Hvar, people had been traveling to the Balkans to heal. Monastic communities valiantly preserved herbal medicine traditions throughout the Middle Ages. When the Hygienic Society of Hvar was founded in 1868, it marked the very start of modern health tourism. But wellness in this part of the Adriatic coast predates even that. The UNESCO-protected town of Stari Grad is older than Rome: a quiet, cobblestoned sanctuary that sits in stark contrast to the busy, bar-lined streets of Hvar Town.
“The Balkan approach to wellness blends traditional practices, communal living, and a deep connection to nature. It is rooted in centuries-old customs,” says Andrea Lach, the wellness supervisor at Pharomatiq Wellness at Maslina Resort, which is tucked into the forests surrounding Stari Grad. “Herbal remedies, thermal baths, and folk medicine. Balkan-style wellness is all about simplicity, resilience, and harmony with the rhythms of life.”
Hvar is as good a place as any to open a luxury resort. This island receives more hours of sunshine than anywhere else in the Adriatic (an average of 2726 hours every year, to be precise). Colonized by the Greeks in ancient times, the island was originally referred to as Pharos, which translates to ‘lighthouse’ in Greek.
And while the rocky Dalmatian coastline has always drawn visitors, whether by crowded ferry or by multimillion-dollar yacht, the scale of the island’s offerings is reaching newfound heights. For those looking to soak in the overflowing sunshine, you’re spoiled for choice between the tranquil and sleek Maslina Resort, the historic Palace Elisabeth, and the romantic Hotel Adriana Sensori SPA. Beyond their architectural charms and deep devotion to hospitality, they all boast state-of-the-art facilities and treatment menus. Of course, there are also locally beloved wellness offerings like Andrejos Massage and Pharos Massage Studio Hvar (just look for the green door).
As a five-star Relais Chateâux wellness resort, Maslina in particular incorporates health into every aspect of its experience: artisanal teas made with local herbs, cold plunges, and Reiki healing are all available on-site. The entire structure is crafted from natural materials, including a check-in “desk” made of a massive slab of stone from neighbouring Brač island. (Even the room keys are made of reclaimed wood—you won’t find plastic anywhere on the property.)
The seaside spa incorporates local herbs into its treatments, while massages all use essential oils of immortelle and lavender. (There was a time when Hvar was responsible for 8% of the world’s total lavender production.) “Health and tranquility come naturally when you honor a place rather than trying to change it,” says founder and CEO of Maslina Resort, Maud Truchi. “My dream has always been to create a space where guests feel like they are part of nature, not apart from it.”
Truchi always aspired to open her very own wellness oasis. “I spent my childhood island-hopping in the Philippines, dreaming that one day I would create a resort of my own,” she says. “The island has naturally become a destination for wellness and for people who want to connect with nature and themselves.”
And Hvar is far from the only Croatian island traveling back in time. In the Austro-Hungarian era, Lošinj was once known for its sea air therapies. Now, it is reviving its legacy through luxury retreats focused on respiratory health, aromatherapy, and marine treatments. Inland, spas like Terme Tuhelj and Krapinske Toplice have certainly updated their facilities, but still use the natural hot springs dating back to Roman times.
It’s an urgent reminder that health is not always something you search for, but something you return to. Balkan wellness tourism is not selling the chance to transform your body, but the opportunity to restore it—and in 2025, that may very well be the most radical form of luxury we have.
“Croatia is truly a beautiful and powerful place for healing work,” says Lach. “Especially the southern Dalmatian islands, as they hold something very special. Their peace, the scent of wild herbs, the salt in the air, the sun and sea.”