Lastovo Yacht Charter Guide: Zaklopatica Moorings, the Hidden Town and the Dark Sky

“Lastovo is the far end of the Croatian map: a nature-park island with a dark sky, free moorings at the restaurants, and a stone town hidden inland from the sea.”

Lastovo is one of the remotest inhabited islands in the Adriatic, a nature park of oak and pine 30 miles south of Korčula and further from the mainland than anywhere else on our routes. It was a closed military island for decades, which is why it stayed empty, and it still has almost no light pollution: our Trogir loop calls it one of the best stops on the whole route for stargazing. The town is inland, out of sight of the sea, which is unusual for a Dalmatian island, with fifteenth-century Venetian houses and the carved chimneys, the fumari, it is known for.

For a yacht it is one night, sometimes two, in Zaklopatica on the north side, where every restaurant offers free moorings and the kitchens cook from their own gardens; or in Skrivena Luka, the hidden bay on the south side that looks straight out towards Italy. It is day five of our Split to Dubrovnik week, day four of the Trogir loop, and the stop our where-to-charter guide adds for a group that likes the quiet end of the map.

Must-dos on Lastovo

A restaurant mooring in Zaklopatica, dinner at Augusta Insula from their own garden
The stars from the deck, almost no light pollution this far from the mainland
The walk up to Lastovo town, thirty minutes from the bay to the chimneys and the amphitheatre of stone houses
Skrivena Luka and Porto Rosso, the hidden bay facing Italy
Sušac on the way, the lighthouse islet between Vis and Lastovo

Zaklopatica: the restaurant moorings and the night sky

Old Town in Lastovo, Croatia — Lastovo's coast and the nature park; library photos.

Lastovo Nature Park, Croatia — Lastovo's coast and the nature park; library photos.

Zaklopatica is the bay on the north coast where yachts spend the night: naturally sheltered behind an islet, a favourite among sailors, and lined with a few restaurants that each keep their own moorings and give them free to boats that eat there. Augusta Insula is the standout on our routes, cooking with produce from the family garden; the baked octopus is the island dish. There is no marina and no need for one.

After dinner the point of Lastovo is the sky. This far from the mainland there is almost no light, and a night on the mooring with the stars down to the horizon is the thing guests remember from the southern week. Our Trogir loop calls it one of the best stops on the whole route for stargazing.

Lastovo town: the hidden amphitheatre and the fumari

Lastovo town is a thirty-minute walk uphill from Zaklopatica and worth it. It sits in a hollow inland, hidden from the sea, which is how it survived pirates and why it looks like no other Dalmatian town: stone houses climbing the slope in an amphitheatre, the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian from the fourteenth century in the middle, and the fumari, the tall, carved chimneys on the roofs that are the island’s signature, an open-air exhibition of stone sculpture. Most of what stands is fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Venetian. The food is seasonal and grown on the island; the menus stayed their own because the island stayed cut off.

Skrivena Luka, Ubli and Sušac: the south side and the way in

Skrivena Luka, the hidden harbour, is the bay on the south coast, a deep inlet with the Struga lighthouse on the cliffs at its mouth and Porto Rosso, the restaurant with moorings at its head, looking straight out to the open sea and Italy beyond. It is the alternative overnight when the group wants the anchorage rather than the restaurant row. Ubli, at the western end, is the ferry port and fuel stop.

Sušac is the islet halfway between Vis and Lastovo, a lighthouse rock with one sheltered cove; our Split round trip makes it the optional overnight after the Blue Cave when the sea is calm, and boats coming from Vis pass it on the way in.

Fitting Lastovo into the week

Lastovo is the quiet night between Korčula and Mljet, or between Korčula and Vis:

Split to Dubrovnik: day five, 27 nautical miles from Korčula, two hours fifty, then 30 miles on to Mljet National Park the next day; our seven-day route.
The Trogir loop: day four, 20 miles from Badija off Korčula, then across to Vis; our Trogir round trip.
From Vis: about 35 miles via Sušac, the long empty leg that makes Lastovo feel as far as it is.

It does not fit a week that also wants Dubrovnik and a Split return; a Split loop turns at Korčula or Vis and leaves Lastovo for the one-way run south.

Croatia routes that reach Lastovo.

The Ultimate 7-Day Split to Dubrovnik Yacht Charter Itinerary in Detail

The classic one-way week from Split to Dubrovnik: Brac, Hvar, Vis, Korcula, Lastovo and Mljet National Park, with daily distances and where to stay each night.

See full itinerary