Bars in Pelješac

There are few better places to while away a warm Pelješac evening than the ‘Three Palms’, a welcoming wooden pavilion with remove-able canvas sides that sits right on the lip of Orebić’s small-boat harbour. A big wicker lobster pot hanging from the ceiling helps to set a jolly seafaring tone - although there’s also something of a pirate theme, with the staff clad in skull-and-crossbones T-shirts (and at least half of them sport black pointy beards). It’s a quality coffee-sipping spot during the daytime. Otherwise, silky red Dingač and Postup wines are available by the glass; the cocktail menu is dusted off in summer.

Karmela’s sibling bar, right on Ponta beach, is the spiritual heart 
of Viganj and the place to go out 
and let your freak flag fly. With a square bar area standing at the centre of a stockade compound, it’s the place that everyone seems to gravitate towards when the Ponta windsurfing and beach scene is at full swing. DJs and live acts play every night in summer – look 
for the Karmela surfboard and yellow fence.

On the main road that runs through Viganj, cult bar Karmela has a soothing interior done out in tobacco shades of brown and decorated with discreetly eccentric touches  – lamp shades made from the ends of broom sticks will raise a cackle or two. Karmela’s terrace is out on the waterfront, occupying a covered porch that has the feel of a Renaissance loggia. With Postup and Dingač wines by the glass and views of Korčula to savour, it’s a magical place to while away an evening. 

Set up in 2006 by Lee R. Anderson, an American entrepreneur who fell in love with the Croatian coast, Korta Katarina has quickly established itself as one of the highest-rated local wineries. Their current HQ occupies a newly opened building (part of which is earmarked as a luxury hotel) on the eastern outskirts of Orebić. The shop just inside the gate sells Korta Katarina’s Plavac (made from Dingač and Postup grapes), Rose, and highly popular white Pošip made with grapes from Korčula just over the water. You can also book a tour round the cellars, followed by a tasting session in the Neo-gothic function room. The Korta is planning to open a wine bar and bistro at this location, hopefully in time for summer 2014.