Croatia · Southern Dalmatia
Yacht Charter Mljet
Two saltwater lakes inside a pine island, with a Benedictine monastery on an islet in the middle of one of them.
Mljet is the greenest island in the Adriatic — pine forest over about seventy per cent of it, which is why the Greeks called it Melita and why the air smells the way it does from a mile offshore. The western third is a national park, and inside it are two saltwater lakes connected to each other and to the sea by channels narrow enough to swim across. On an islet in the larger one there is a twelfth-century Benedictine monastery. There is nothing else like it on this coast.
The lakes, and how they work
Veliko and Malo Jezero are not lakes in the freshwater sense: they are drowned valleys, joined to the open sea by a channel at Soline that is only a few metres wide, so the tide runs through them twice a day and the water is fully salt. It also sits several degrees warmer than the sea outside, which is the part people remember.
You can walk or cycle the whole circuit of the big lake in a couple of hours, swim across the narrows between the two, or take the park boat out to the islet. Bicycles are the sensible choice: the path runs at the water's edge nearly the whole way round.
Saint Mary's island
In the middle of Veliko Jezero is a wooded islet with a Benedictine monastery founded in the twelfth century, added to through the Renaissance and now partly a restaurant. It is a strange and quiet place — a stone cloister on an island in a lake on an island in the sea — and the boat across takes four minutes.
Go early or late. The park boat brings visitors in waves through the middle of the day, and between them the cloister is empty.
Polače, and the eastern end
Polače is the anchorage: a deep, almost enclosed bay on the north coast with four islets across its mouth, which is why it is one of the most sheltered holes in southern Dalmatia. The name means palaces, and it is literal — the ruins of a large Roman palace of the fourth century stand on the shore, and the walls of it are still two storeys high behind the waterfront tables.
The eastern end of the island is outside the park and almost empty: Saplunara has the only real sand on Mljet, and Odysseus's Cave, on the south coast, is where the island maintains that Calypso kept him for seven years. You swim into it from the boat.
Practical notes
- Polače on the north coast is the shelter: a deep bay closed by four islets, with a Roman palace on the shore
- Pomena is the other park gateway and is closer to the lakes; both have moorings and neither is large
- The two lakes are salt, tidal through a narrow channel at Soline, and several degrees warmer than the open sea
- The park boat runs to the monastery islet in four minutes; the cloister is empty early and late and busy at midday
- Saplunara at the eastern end is outside the park and has the only real sand on the island
Reached from: Korčula, Dubrovnik and the Elafiti
Where to dine
A table by the water
Melita
Sveta MarijaIn the monastery cloister on the islet in the big lake, four minutes across, and empty once the last park boat goes.
Stermasi
SaplunaraAt the empty eastern end, cooking out of its own garden and its own boat.
Nine
PomenaOn the water at the park gate, doing shellfish and grilled fish with the pines coming down to the quay.
What to do
Anchorages & excursions
Veliko and Malo Jezero
Two drowned valleys joined to the sea by a channel a few metres wide: fully salt, tidal, and warmer than the open water.
The monastery islet
A twelfth-century Benedictine cloister on a wooded island in the middle of the larger lake, four minutes across by boat.
Polače
A deep bay closed by four islets, with the two-storey walls of a fourth-century Roman palace standing on the shore.
Odysseus's Cave
On the south coast, swum into from a tender, and where the island maintains Calypso kept him for seven years.
The fleet
Yachts available for Mljet
Vessels that operate here, from flagship motor yachts to smaller crewed boats. Every rate is quoted on enquiry.
Good to know
Questions we are asked about Mljet
- Are the lakes fresh or salt?
- Salt, and tidal. They are drowned valleys connected to the open sea by a narrow channel at Soline, so the water changes twice a day. Because they are shallow and enclosed they run several degrees warmer than the sea outside, which is why people swim in them rather than off the coast.
- Where do yachts lie at Mljet?
- Polače, almost always. It is a deep bay on the north coast closed off by four islets, which makes it one of the best-sheltered anchorages in southern Dalmatia, and the Roman palace ruins are on the waterfront. Pomena is the alternative and is nearer the lakes.
- Is the whole island a national park?
- The western third is. The eastern end is outside it and is very quiet: Saplunara has the island's only real sand, and Odysseus's Cave is on the south coast, swum into from a tender.
- What does a yacht charter to Mljet cost?
- It depends on the yacht, the season and the crew, so we quote on enquiry rather than publish a figure that would be wrong for most weeks.
Destinations
Nearby destinations
Charter here
Enquire about a charter on Mljet
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are, and we will come back with the right yacht and a full quotation.