The town and the harbour are situated on the western side of the island. Because of its marked Mediterranean climate and rich subtropical vegetation, Hvar is attractive throughout the year. Around 1920 tourism starts developing, and nowadays Hvar is one of the biggest tourist resorts in Croatia.

The Roman settlement existed in the area as early as the 3rd century. The building of city walls that lead down the hill, and are connected by the southern wall, started in 1278. The city castle was built in the 13th century on the top of the hill, and in 1551 a new city fortress was added.   On the hill Sveti Nikola, by the guardhouse and the chapel, the French built the fortress Napoleon in 1806, and not far from the Franciscan monastery a so-called Baterija ("Battery"). In 1455 the building of the harbour begun, in which the Venetian fleet sheltered in the winter. The centre of the old part of the town is the core of the old urban basis from the 15th century.

The building of the most distinguished monument of civil architecture, Arsenal, started in 1579. Croatian duke Pietro Semitecolo built a building with a big terrace (Belvedere) near the Arsenal. In 1612 it was used as a warehouse for wheat and other grocery. In the same year he ordered another floor on the Arsenal to be built, in which he arranged the place for the theatre hall, in which dramas and operas were performed until 1796. Among others, Hanibal Luci¥ worked here. At present, the building houses the modern art gallery.   By the cathedral of Saint Stjepan, which was built in the 16th and 17th century in the place of anold Benedictine abbey, there is a pseudo-Romanesque bell tower from the 17th century. The baroque stone altars are decorated with paintings, and to the left from the entrance is the late Gothic relief from the 14th century. Above it is the relief "Flogging of Christ (Bi¥evanje Krista), a variant of the work by Juraj Dalmatinac. In the treasury, apart from old paintings and liturgical objects, the cane of Bishop Priti¥ from 1509 is kept.   In front of the cathedral, in the middle of the square, is the city well from 1529. On the north side of the square is the Paladini palace. The building of the tower with the clock, Leroj, started in 1466 in the late Gothic style, and was finished in the 16th century in the Renaissance style, with the bell tower from 1562. The city loggia, built next to the bell tower, was finished in 1479. There is another bell tower on the coast built around 1550. On the peninsula Sv. Katarina there is a fortress from 1811. Two little churches of Saint Kuzma and Damjan (15th to 16th century) and of the Holy Spirit (15th century) are situated in the old part of the town.

Outside the city walls, on the eastern side of the town is a Renaissance summer villa from the 16th century that belonged to Hanibal Lucic. On the cape between two bays is a Franciscan monastery with the church of Gospa od milosti, where, underneath the main altar, is the grave of Hanibal Lucic. The collection of needlework (13th to 15th century), illuminated manuscripts, documents and paintings are kept in the monastery.