Palmizana is a small island in the South Adriatic, renowned for the highest number of sunny hours in the Mediterranean. It is part of the Paklina archipelago, positioned south of the island of Hvar. The tourist complex of the Meneghello family comprises 300 hectars of uninhabited virgin territory - a protected nature reserve, known for it's lonely sand beaches and distinctive stone bungalows (60 beds) surrounded by an exotic botanical park and cristal clear sea.
Exquisite traditional Palmizana cuisine is praised for its delicious specialities, based on fish, lobsters, scampi, shellfish and other sea-food served with fresh vegetables from the island gardens. The cuisine has been declared one of the best in the Mediterranean by the German Magazine Boote, English Traveler and Croatian magazines Gloria and Playboy.
Palmizana is an ideal holiday resort for anyone who desires high class tourism, who wishes for something unique: a different kind of holiday, harmony with nature, quietness...
For the more active there is a rich variety of different sport activities: from diving to under-water safari, from sport or classic fishing to pheasant hunting and sailing, from water skiing to windsurfing. Bars and restaurants only a couple of minutes away by a powerboat offering late night entertainment.
Palmizana is the best choice for a vacation, welcoming the young and the elderly as well as families with children and, of course, your household pet. It's romantic landscapes and bungalows make Palmizana an ideal place for a honeymoon.
It is a sanctuary for all who are tired of civilisation, for all who want to renew their strength and rest their bodies and souls in nature. Palmizana offers peace and quiet and lures you into adventures brought by the sea – a self designed vacation: just the way you dream it should be!
The tourist complex of Palmizana can accomodate groups, small conventions and workshops of every kind - art workshops, jewellers workshops, diving schools, undersea photo safaris...
This area of the Adriatic hides the greates number of antique shipwrecks and places on the sea-bed where one can easily find amphorae. Therefore it is no surprise that the Meneghello family amphore collection is one of the biggest in the Adriatic. The sea around the Palmizana is a treasury of fish, coral and incredibly beautiful undersea landscapes.
The botanical gardens of Palmizana are full of exotic plants, tree-like opuntias, agaves, numerous other cacti and succulents, mimosas, eucalyptuses, laurels, olives and different kinds of aromatic herbs and plants.
The Meneghello family once owned the oldest aromatic herb and plant processing factory. Their equisential medicine made from rosemary, first manufactured in 1848, can still be found in every home medicine cabinet.
The rosemary, which blooms several times a year on every slope on Palmizana, filling the air with it's heady scent, gave Palmizana it's second name: The Island of the Rosemary. Aloa, the plant that is said to be given to mankind by God because it cures manny ills, even cancer, also grows everywhere.
Life on Palmizana is lived in the hot sun of its many beaches, in the shade of its old pines and on the beautiful restaurant terrace and private terraces of the bungalows. Near the restaurant terrace there is a Gallery, and the restaurant and bungalows are also full of artwork. Palmizana has a marina with room for 200 boats, a small shop and a tourist information office where you can have a trip organised for you.
Palmizana was declared one of the "10 Dream Points of the Adriatic" in 1999. In a poll by the Cruising World magazine thousands of yachtsmen said that the coast of Croatia is the most beautiful in the world, together with that of the Caribbean. The Traveller magazine declared the island of Hvar one of ten most beautiful islands in the world. And what would Hvar be without its archipelago and Palmizana? It seems almost unecessary to say that Palmizana is one of the most beautifuls places in the world.
Tourism on Palmizana was established in 1906 by professor Eugen Meneghello on his 300-year-old estate. He imported exotic plants from all over the world and so created this rare and magnificent botanical park. Eugen's son, Giorgio Meneghello Toto, one of world's best grouper fishermen, built the island's complex and his wife Dagmar (ne: Gebauer) has been managing Palmizana for over 30 years. Nowadays she does it with the help of her three children, Eugen-Toto, Romina and Tarin and her grandson, who has already cought his first grouper...
1999 brought the big renovation and modernisation of the complex, bungalows and restaurant as well as the infrastructure, allowing Palmizana to satisfy the requirements of highly individual tourism, and visually blend even further with the beautiful envoronment.
Entertainment, Tourisim, Trips, Workshops, Sports ...
On Palmizana you will feel at home: you can create your own holidays! What will yours look like? Will it be idleness and dolce far niente (how good it feels to be able to do nothing!), reading, just lying in the hot sun or enjoying the shade of hundred-year-old trees or will it be an active vacation full of adventure and sport?
If you like to enjoy the peace – you will surely find it, but if you prefer company – there are always people on the restaurant terrace, and with a glass of wine the evenings become even more pleasant. So, it doesn't matter whether you are alone or with company, young or old – you will love holidays on Palmizana! The same goes for families with children as well as for romantic honeymooners.
Palmizana lives a simple life of a little island, just far enough from noisy modern civilisation. Its own gallery with artwork by many famous artists who have been comming to find inspiration on the island for years, adds an even greater quality to the island's beautiful surroundings.
1. Swimming and Sunbathing
Bathing season lasts from Easter to November.
On Palmizana you can freely cast your clothes away – nudism has a tradition on Palmizana, where you can be undisturbed in one of the island's many lonely coves.
The sun is guaranteed!
2. Diving — Undersea Photo-safari — Sport fishing
The sea floor around Palmizana is rich with antique shipwrecks. It's an area where you can easily find amphore, so it can be righteously called a diver's paradise. A rich variety of fish and beautiful sea landscaepe just add to it.
There are many diving schools on the island of Hvar, but we can easily organize one or host diving groups on Palmizana, too.
3. Wind-surfing — Sailing
The variety of winds around Palmizana provide the perfect conditions for wind surfing in one of its bays or, for more experienced, on the open sea. International wind-surfing and sailboats regatas are being organised around the island. The Optimist-class sailboat competition is already a traditional event. The marina on Palmizana can accomodate 200 boats.
If you want to take a look at the island from the sea you can do so by renting a sailboat, a speedboat or a little engine boat. No licences are necessary.
4. Trips — Entertainment
The island of Hvar, a popular tourist destination, is just five minutes away by speedboat or twenty minutes by motorboat. In the town Hvar you can go sightseeing, shopping or later, in the evening, you can enjoy the summer night-life in one of its many restaurants and bars.
If you want to take a look at the islands from above, there is a small plane to be rented, but you can also explore the picturesque villages of the island by renting a bicycle.
5. Hunting
You can go pheasant hunting during the autumn and winter.
6. Children's paradise
There are no roads on Palmizana which also means no cars! The beaches gently slope down to the sea, there is a lot of room for playing, the air is pure – Palmizana is an ideal place for children!
7. Pets
Of course your pet is welcome...
8. Summer schools — Workshops
The tourist complex of Palmizana can easily accomodate and organize warious workshops (they are known for their jewlery workshop), diving schools, educational or business conventions...
There are quiet shady terraces so you can easily work outdoors, and there is also a large room which serves as a conference room for lectures and group meetings.
Palmizana offers speedboats and a seven-meter motor boat.
PALMIZANA MENEGHELLO RESERVATION
MENEGHELLO ESTATE
21450 Hvar - Palmizana
Croatia
Phone: +385/ 21 717 270
Fax: +385/ 21 717 268
Mobile: +385/ 91 478 3110
e-mail : palmizana@palmizana.hr
CONTACT ADDRESS:
Dagmar Meneghello: dagmar@palmizana.hr
Tarin Meneghello: tarin@palmizana.hr
Romina Meneghello: romina@palmizana.hr
Eugen Toto Meneghello: toto@palmizana.hr
www.palmizana.hr
photos: © Ivo Pervan