Modra špilja cave – Biševo island, Vis

From picturesque and endlessly romantic Komiža on the island of Vis, the only thing blocking the view of the open sea is Biševo. Behind it stretch Brusnik and Svetac (Sveti Andrija), but they are much farther away and smaller. Far beyond them, on the horizon — only if you know where to look — you can just make out the mysterious and somewhat forbidding Jabuka, the last rock beyond which, for a hundred kilometres, there is nothing but endless blue.

If you are in search of blue in its most intense possible form, you are in the right place, because it is on this very island — which struts so dominantly seven kilometres in front of Komiža — that one of the most beautiful natural phenomena is found: the Blue Cave (Modra špilja) on Biševo.

The Blue Cave on Biševo is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena you can see!

In the Mediterranean there are several caves with a similar effect — Capri, Malta, Greece… Some of them are far larger and more spectacular, but when it comes to the maximum fusion with the magic of light of the setting, the Blue Cave on Biševo is nevertheless without equal. Why? Because it offers the strongest sense of separation from the outside light coming from the entrance, so that the only light illuminating you is the one reflected off the white sand on the sea floor. In that magic, everything is blue — the sea, the boats and the people in them.

We drop by the Blue Cave every ten years or so. That way we have witnessed the ups and downs of the island’s tourist offering. From the asceticism of long ago, through a tourism collapse, to a well-oiled system, “ironed out” to the last detail. Golubinka Cave on Dugi otok is wild and special. Odysseus’s Cave on Mljet offers a freedom that is a distant past for the cave on Biševo, but if tourism must already be an assembly-line industry, then on Biševo they have brought it to a level worthy of a human being. Although the boats enter one after another, and there are even three in the cave at once, at no point did we feel that things were merely being processed for money. Each boat stays long enough for you to enjoy the setting as if you were alone, while the guide unobtrusively shares the essential information about the history and the phenomenon of the cave and draws your attention to the details. And you are still left with enough time to take photos and enjoy the silence.

Although Biševo can be reached by various speedboat tours from Trogir, Split and even from Korčula, it is still simplest and quickest from Komiža on Vis. So during your visit to Vis, be sure to plan a half-day or full-day trip to Biševo. You can get all the information on how and at what price to get to Biševo on the Komiža waterfront, every day, all day long. The options are numerous.

You can go with the sole purpose of visiting the cave, or you can spend the whole day touring the beaches and other attractions the island offers. Salbunara and Porat are beaches you should definitely have on your list, even if you don’t like sand!

This time we chose transport by fast rubber boat, which brought us to Biševo in 15 minutes. The boats run only as far as the pier on Biševo, and there you then board the small boats of the concession holder, who is the only one authorised to enter the cave. So, before choosing a tour, be sure to ask whether the price of the cave entrance ticket is included in the tour or is paid separately. There are agencies and individuals who will secure your tickets faster (without waiting), and if you do have to wait in line to buy a ticket in the heat, be patient, because it’s worth it.

We won’t burden you with tales of how and when the cave was discovered or how its entrance was cut open, but what you do need to know is that you need the sun for the light magic, and it enters at the optimal angle in the late morning hours.

The photographs you will see on the page were taken around 11 a.m. at the beginning of September.
Swimming is not allowed in the cave.