Blue Cave Tour from Split: Every Number, Checked for 2026

Most articles about the Blue Cave describe the experience. This one lists the figures, because the questions we actually get in the inbox are arithmetic: what time does it leave, how long in Hvar, how much is the fee, how many people on the boat, what is not in the price.

Every number below is the number we run on, not an industry average. Where a figure is set by somebody else, the cave entry fee in particular, we say who sets it. Where a figure moves with the season, we give both values and the dates they switch.

Last checked: 9 September 2026. If you are reading this a season later, the shape will hold and the prices may not.

The Blue Cave day leaves Split at 07:00 between 16 June and 15 September, and at 07:45 for the rest of the season.

The reason is the light, not the traffic. The Blue Cave is lit by sunlight refracting through an underwater opening, so the colour inside depends on where the sun is when you are in there. In high summer the sun clears the ridge earlier, so the window that produces the electric blue opens earlier, and a boat that leaves at 07:45 in July arrives after the best of it.

The queue is the second reason. Entry at Biševo is a numbered system, and the boats that left Split first are the boats in front of you. Forty five minutes of departure difference in August is regularly an hour of difference in waiting.

Be at the meeting point fifteen minutes before departure. The boat leaves on the hour it says, because the eleven other people aboard planned around it.

Ten hours from Split and back, with five stops. The times below are the planned lengths, and the skipper redistributes them when the sea suggests it.

Blue Cave on Biševo: about 45 minutes, of which the time actually inside the cave is a few minutes. Most of the 45 is the transfer into the local barque and the queue.

Stiniva Beach on Vis: about 15 minutes. This is a viewing stop from the water rather than a landing, because the cove is sealed behind a narrow cliff passage and putting twelve people ashore through it costs an hour nobody gets back.

Budikovac Lagoon: about 45 minutes. The calmest snorkelling water of the day and the stop most groups would extend if they could.

Hvar Old Town: about 2 hours. Long enough for a proper konoba lunch and the Pjaca, which is why it is the longest stop on the route.

A hidden cove near Milna on western Brač: about 45 minutes. A bay with no road down to it, which is the whole point, and the last swim before the run home.

Back in Split around 17:15 to 18:00 depending on the season and the sea.

The group Blue Cave tour carries a maximum of twelve guests plus a skipper and a sailor. That is a cap, not a target, and shoulder season boats often run with six or eight.

Twelve matters for two reasons that are easy to miss when comparing tours. The first is the cave: the local barques take twelve at a time, so a twelve seat boat transfers in one go while a forty seat catamaran queues in four waves. The second is the stops: a small boat gets into the cove near Milna and into Budikovac, and a large one anchors further out and tenders you in.

Anyone advertising a small group Blue Cave tour with a number in the twenties is using a different definition of small than we are.

The Blue Cave and 5 Island tour is €110 per person. That covers the boat, the skipper and sailor, fuel, snorkelling gear, cold drinks aboard, and the whole ten hour day.

It does not cover the Blue Cave entry fee. That is between €18 and €24 per person depending on the season, it is paid in cash on Biševo, and it goes to the local concession that runs the cave. No operator from Split includes it, ours included, because none of us collect it. Bring cash: there is no card machine at the mouth of a cave.

Lunch in Hvar is also yours, which is the honest way to sell two hours in a town full of good places to eat rather than one included plate.

Everything else on the day is in the price. If a tour looks cheaper than this one, the difference is usually boat size, group size, or the cave fee being quietly left out of the headline.

The Blue Cave day is one of six. The full set, with the figures that decide which one suits you:

Blue Cave and 5 Island Tour, group, €110 per person, 10 hours, April to November, maximum 12 guests.

Golden Cape, Hvar and Pakleni Islands, group, €119 per person, 9 hours, April to October, maximum 12 guests.

Blue Lagoon and Trogir, group, €70 per person, 4.5 hours, 22 April to 22 October, maximum 12 guests.

Blue Cave Private Tour, €1,300 for the boat, 10 hours, April to November, up to 12 guests.

Golden Cape, Hvar and Pakleni Private, €1,200 for the boat, 9 hours, April to November, up to 12 guests.

Three Island Private Tour, €1,100 for the boat, 8 hours, April to November, up to 12 guests.

Blue Lagoon and Trogir Private, €700 for the boat, 4.5 hours, 22 April to 22 October, up to 12 guests.

The private Blue Cave day is €1,300 for the boat. The group version is €110 a head. Divide and the crossover is obvious.

At eight guests the private boat works out at €163 each, which is €53 more per person than the group ticket. At ten it is €130 each. At twelve it is €108 each, which is under the group price.

So the honest line is this: below eight people you are paying a clear premium for privacy and a start time of your choosing. Around ten it is roughly a wash. At twelve the private charter is the cheaper product and you have the boat to yourselves, which is the only case where the decision makes itself.

The cave entry fee is per person either way. It does not change the comparison.

A booking is held with a 15% deposit. On the €110 tour that is €17 per person. The balance is settled on the day.

If the sea is unsafe, we do not run it. The usual cause is a strong jugo from the south east, which makes the open crossing to Vis uncomfortable long before it makes it dangerous, and we would rather move your day than sell you four hours of being thrown about.

When that happens you reschedule at no cost. If no other date works for you, you are not out of pocket. That policy exists because the alternative, running a bad day to protect a booking, is how operators end up with the reviews they deserve.

For July and August, book weeks ahead. There are a finite number of twelve seat boats in Split and the good departures go first. Shoulder season is usually available at a week or two of notice.

Three things about this day are decided by somebody other than us, and it is worth knowing which.

The cave entry fee and the cave opening hours are set by the concession on Biševo. They can change without telling anyone in Split.

The queue at the cave is a numbered system at Biševo. Leaving early shortens it. Nothing else does, and any operator promising to skip it is promising something they do not control.

Whether the cave opens at all on a given day is decided at the entrance, by the swell. On a handful of days each season the barques do not run, and on those days the route continues without the cave and the entry fee is simply not paid.