The scent of rosemary, wild, woody, slightly medicinal, rises from the path as your flip-flops brush the bushes that line the trail from Vinogradišće Bay to the interior of St Clement Island. Palmižana, the resort on Sveti Klement (St Clement), the largest of the Pakleni Islands, a 20-minute water taxi from Hvar town, is not named after the rosemary, but it could be. The herb grows everywhere: between the boulders, along the paths, in the garden of the restaurant where the lamb is roasted with rosemary and garlic and the view of the Adriatic stretches to the island of Vis on the horizon.

Palmižana: The Hvar Escape

Hvar town, the St-Tropez of the Adriatic, the superyachts, the cocktail bars, the celebrities hiding behind sunglasses large enough to deflect a satellite, is the glamour. Palmižana, twenty minutes across the water, is the antidote: a botanical garden resort planted in 1906 by the Meneghello family (the current owner, Dag Meneghello, is the great-grandson of the founder), the exotic plants (agaves, cacti, eucalyptus, the dragon trees from the Canary Islands, the collection of over 300 species) creating a microclimate that is simultaneously Mediterranean and tropical. The resort, the bungalows scattered among the gardens, the restaurant on the waterfront, the swimming pool carved into the rock, the view of the Adriatic from every terrace, is the kind of place where you arrive for two nights and stay for a week, because the water taxi to the mainland is right there and you keep deciding not to take it.

The Beaches: Vinogradišće Bay, the main beach, the water clear and warm (25°C in August), the pebbled shore, the buoys marking the swimming area, the water taxi dropping off day-trippers from Hvar, is lovely but busy in summer. The smaller coves, a 10-minute walk along the coastal path, the rocks, the pine trees providing shade, the water the same impossible turquoise, the solitude the reward for the walk, are the Palmižana secret. The nudist beach, on the far side of the island, the access path discreetly signposted, the atmosphere relaxed and European, is the option for those who prefer their sunbathing unencumbered.

The Restaurant (Toto’s): The restaurant, the waterfront terrace, the wooden tables under the pines, the view of the yachts moored in the bay, serves Dalmatian food that is simple and excellent: the grilled fish (the brancin, sea bass, the orada, sea bream, the fish caught that morning by the local fisherman who delivers to the kitchen at 8am), the lobster spaghetti (€45, the splurge, the lobster from the Adriatic, the pasta al dente, the garlic and olive oil and white wine sauce, the dish that makes you reconsider every lobster pasta you have ever eaten), the Peka (the traditional Dalmatian method, lamb or octopus cooked under a metal bell covered in hot coals, the slow cooking, the meat falling off the bone, the dish that must be ordered a day in advance). The wine, the local white, the Pošip from the island of Korčula (the best white grape in Dalmatia, the minerality, the citrus, the wine that tastes like the Adriatic smells), is the essential accompaniment.

The Botanical Garden (the Meneghello legacy): The Meneghello family, originally from Hvar, the patriarch Eugen Meneghello purchasing St Clement Island in 1906, planting the botanical garden as a retirement project, have created something unique in the Adriatic. The garden, the paths winding through the exotic plants, the agaves (some of them 50 years old, the flowering stalk reaching 8 metres, the plant dying after flowering, the death bloom, the agave’s final act), the collection of palms, the cacti in bloom (the flowers opening at night, the scent filling the garden), the yoga platform overlooking the Adriatic, is the island’s soul. The garden is open to non-residents (the water taxi from Hvar runs regularly, the day trip is the standard visit), and the café in the garden, the coffee, the view, the rosemary scent, is the place to sit and contemplate the improbable fact that someone planted a tropical garden on a rocky Adriatic island in 1906, and it thrived, and it is still here.