The Makarska Riviera is a 60-km strip of Dalmatian coast south of Split, where a chain of pebble beaches and pine woods runs along the foot of the Biokovo mountain, a wall of grey limestone that rises to 1,762 m almost straight out of the sea. Between Brela in the north and Gradac in the south, a dozen resort villages share some of the clearest water and longest beaches in Croatia, with the islands of Brač and Hvar lying offshore. Makarska, the lively main town, has a harbour promenade, a Franciscan monastery with a famous shell collection and nightlife in summer; above it, a narrow road climbs to the Biokovo Skywalk, a glass-floored viewpoint over the coast. It is a classic beach-holiday coast for families, with easy day trips by boat to the islands and by road to Split. Come in June or September, and give it four days to a week.
Right now in Makarska Riviera (Makarska)
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Top tours in Makarska Riviera
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Makarska Riviera at a glance
- Best for: pebble beaches, family holidays, swimming and snorkelling, hiking and the views from Biokovo, and island day trips.
- How long: 3–4 days for Makarska, Brela and the Skywalk; a week to add a hike on Biokovo, boat trips to Brač and Hvar and a day in Split.
- Best time: June and September for warm sea without the August crowds; May and October for hiking. Mean temperatures at Split, the nearest long-term station, run from about 19 °C in May to 26 °C in July (DHMZ).
- Getting in: Split Airport is about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes away by road; buses from Split take about 1 hour 15 minutes to Makarska. Car ferries link Makarska with Brač and Drvenik with Hvar.
- Getting around: local buses run along the coast road; a car is needed for Biokovo, though agencies run minibus trips. As of October 2026, a day ticket to Biokovo Nature Park cost €15 from June to September and €10 in spring and October.
- Before you go: money, entry rules, the tourist tax and safety are in our Croatia travel guide.
The Riviera’s towns and who each one suits
- Brela: the northernmost resort, with the most beautiful beaches on the coast, long pebble bays under pines, and the famous rock of Punta Rata. For couples and beach lovers who want calm evenings.
- Baška Voda: a busy family resort with a long beach and a promenade lined with cafés, a short walk from Brela.
- Makarska: the main town, with a proper old centre, a harbour, a 2-km town beach, the best choice of restaurants and the liveliest nightlife. For first visits, groups of friends and travellers without a car.
- Tučepi: a long, quiet resort of hotels and gardens just south of Makarska, with a wide beach and a seafront path to town. For families.
- Podgora: a former fishing village with a small harbour and a memorial on the hill. For families and walkers who want a quieter base.
- Igrane, Živogošće, Drvenik and Gradac: smaller villages to the south, with quieter beaches and the car ferry to Hvar from Drvenik; Gradac has one of the longest beaches on the coast.
Top things to see on the Makarska Riviera
Prices and hours below are as of October 2026 and come from each site’s own page; small sites change them each season, so check before you go.
Makarska town
Makarska grew around a deep, sheltered harbour protected by the wooded St Peter’s peninsula (Sveti Petar), with a lighthouse and a chapel at its tip and paths through the pines. Behind the harbour promenade, the main square, Kačićev trg, is named after the 18th-century Franciscan poet Andrija Kačić Miošić, whose statue stands in front of the church of St Mark. Narrow lanes lead up from the square to cafés and small bars. To the south-east, the wooded Osejava forest park and a seafront path lead towards Tučepi, past the cove of Nugal, a pebble beach below cliffs reached on foot.
The Malacological Museum in the Franciscan monastery holds one of the world’s notable collections of shells and snails, gathered by a Franciscan friar from the seas of the world, alongside fossils and corals in modern displays. As of October 2026, the museum’s own page lists entry at €5 for adults and €10 for a family ticket, with summer hours of 9:00–15:00 Monday to Friday and 9:00–13:00 on Saturday; from 15 October to 1 May it opens by appointment. The town museum and the Antun Gojak gallery are also worth a look on a cloudy day.
Biokovo Nature Park and the Skywalk
Biokovo is the mountain wall behind the whole Riviera, a protected nature park of karst peaks, sinkholes and pine and beech woods, home to chamois and mouflon and rich in endemic plants. From the park entrance at about 365 m on the road from Makarska to Vrgorac, the Biokovo road, the highest in Croatia, climbs 23 km to the summit of Sveti Jure (1,762 m), with a chapel and a TV tower; on clear days you can see across the islands to Italy.
About 13 km and roughly 30 minutes’ drive from the entrance, the Skywalk Biokovo at Ravna Vlaška is a horseshoe-shaped glass walkway that juts out over a cliff 1,228 m above sea level, with the Riviera spread out below. Entry to the Skywalk is included in the park ticket.
Tickets and rules, as of October 2026. Tickets are sold only online, through the park’s web shop, for a time slot: because the road is a single lane with passing places about every 300 m, only 20 vehicles may enter each hour. A day ticket cost €15 for adults from June to September and €10 in April, May and October, with children under 7 free; reduced tickets for cyclists and mountaineers with a club card cost €7–10. The park is open from 1 April to 31 October: in October from 8:00 to 18:00, with the last vehicle entering at 17:00; from May to August 6:00–20:00, and in April and September 7:00–19:00. From November to March it is not officially open to visitors. Coaches are not allowed on the road, so groups go in minibuses; the park itself advises less experienced drivers to take an agency trip. Arrive at the gate 5 minutes before your slot.
Lower down, the Kotišina Botanical Garden, on the slopes at 350–500 m above Makarska, shows the mountain’s plants around a ruined fortress and can be reached on foot from town in about 45 minutes.
Brela and Punta Rata
Brela’s beaches are the most photographed on the coast: about 6 km of pebble bays shaded by Aleppo pines, linked by a seafront path. At Punta Rata, the best known, a small rock topped with pine trees, the Brela Stone, stands in the turquoise water just off the beach and has become a symbol of the Riviera. Walk the path from Brela to Baška Voda in the early morning, and swim before the day-trippers arrive.
Tučepi, Podgora and the south
Tučepi’s wide beach and promenade stretch for about 4 km below the mountain, and its old hamlets climb the slopes above. In Podgora, the Seagull’s Wings (Galebova krila), a tall concrete monument on the hill above the harbour, remembers the partisan navy founded here in 1942 and gives a fine view down the coast. Further south, the old village of Igrane has a Romanesque chapel on the hill, Drvenik is the ferry port for Hvar, and Gradac has a long, quiet beach.
Hiking on Biokovo
Twenty marked mountain trails climb Biokovo from the coast and from the inland villages. The classic is the long climb from Makarska to Vošac (1,421 m), the peak directly above the town, with a mountain hut, and on along the ridge to Sveti Jure; it is a full day with about 1,400 m of ascent from Makarska, so most walkers start from the road or the village of Makar. Shorter walks lead to the Kotišina garden and to viewpoints above Tučepi and Podgora. The mountain is hot, dry and shadeless in summer, and weather changes fast at the top: start at dawn, carry at least 2 litres of water per person and tell someone your route. You still need a park ticket when you enter on foot through the main gate. See our hiking guide.
Beaches on the Makarska Riviera
The whole Riviera is one long run of pebble beaches, most of them shaded by pines and backed by cafés. The best for scenery are Punta Rata and the other bays at Brela; the longest are in Makarska, Tučepi and Gradac; and quieter coves such as Nugal, between Makarska and Tučepi, are reached on foot along cliff paths. The water is clear and deepens fast, so it is excellent for snorkelling but less suited to toddlers than the sandy beaches of the north. Beaches are free; sunbeds and umbrellas are rented in the resorts. Bring water shoes for the pebbles, and see our beaches guide and our snorkelling guide.
Other things to do on the Makarska Riviera
Boat trips to Brač and Hvar
The islands lie just offshore. A Jadrolinija car ferry crosses from Makarska to Sumartin on Brač in about an hour, and excursion boats from Makarska, Baška Voda and Tučepi sail in summer to Bol and its famous Zlatni Rat beach, and to Hvar. From Drvenik, a short car ferry crosses to Sućuraj at the eastern tip of Hvar, though Hvar Town is a long drive from there. See our Hvar guide and our boat trips guide.
Split, Omiš and the Cetina canyon
Split, with Diocletian’s Palace, is about an hour away by road and makes an easy day trip by bus. On the way, the town of Omiš sits at the mouth of the Cetina river gorge, where you can raft, canoe or take a boat up the canyon.
The lakes of Imotski and the hinterland
Over the mountain, the karst plateau of the Dalmatian hinterland is a different world of stone villages and vineyards. Near Imotski, the Red Lake and the Blue Lake fill huge collapsed sinkholes, the Red Lake with sheer walls more than 500 m deep including the water. They are about an hour’s drive from Makarska.
Food and drink
Eat grilled fish and squid on the seafront, black risotto, brudet (fish stew) and peka, meat or octopus slow-baked under an iron lid, often to be ordered in advance. Prosciutto and cheese come down from the hinterland, and the hills behind the coast grow red wines such as Plavac Mali and the whites of the Imotski area. Makarska’s market near the harbour sells figs, olive oil and honey.
Combining the Riviera with Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik
The Riviera sits between Croatia’s two most visited cities, so it fits neatly into a coastal trip: a few days in Split, a week by the beach in Makarska or Brela, a ferry from Drvenik or Makarska to the islands, and then south to Dubrovnik, about 2 hours 30 minutes away by road. Inland, Krka National Park is about 2 hours to the north.
Nearby destinations
- Hvar30 km
- Međugorje46 km
- Mostar58 km
- Split64 km
- Dubrovnik103 km
- Krka National Park113 km
- Sarajevo127 km
- Herceg Novi143 km
Getting there and getting around
Flights and boats
- Split Airport is the nearest, about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes from Makarska by road; Dubrovnik Airport is about 2 hours 30 minutes away. Airport buses run to Split, where coastal buses continue south.
- Ferries: Makarska – Sumartin (Brač), about 1 hour, and Drvenik – Sućuraj (Hvar), about 30 minutes, both Jadrolinija car ferries running all year with more sailings in summer. Check the timetable on the Jadrolinija website.
By road
- By bus: frequent buses run along the coast road from Split to Makarska (about 1 hour 15 minutes) and on to Dubrovnik. Local buses link the Riviera’s villages.
- By car: the old coast road (the Adriatic Highway) runs along the whole Riviera; the A1 motorway passes behind Biokovo, with exits at Šestanovac and Zagvozd. Makarska is about 60 km from Split and about 480 km from Zagreb by motorway.
- Parking: in summer, parking in Makarska and Brela is paid and hard to find; choose a hotel with parking if you drive.
When to go and how long to stay
Summers are long, hot and dry: July and August average only about five days of rain a month at Split, with daily highs near 30 °C. The beaches are packed and prices peak in those months. June and September are ideal, with warm sea and fewer people, and the mountain is best for hiking in May, June, September and October. Winters are mild but wet and windy, with the bura sweeping down off Biokovo, and most resorts close from November to Easter.
| Season | Mean temperature | Days with rain a month | What it’s like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring (Mar–May) | 11–19 °C | 9–10 | Wildflowers and hiking weather; sea still cool; resorts open around Easter. |
| Summer (Jun–Aug) | 23–26 °C | 5–8 | Hot, sunny and dry; warm sea; peak crowds and prices in July and August. |
| Autumn (Sep–Nov) | 22 °C falling to 13 °C | 8–12 | September is perfect; quieter October; wet November. |
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | 8–9 °C | 10–12 | Mild, windy and quiet; Biokovo park closed; many places shut. |
Figures are DHMZ long-term monthly averages for the Split Marjan station (1948–2024), about 60 km north-west of Makarska and the nearest station with published long-term data. They are means over day and night. Split gets about 2,640 hours of sunshine and 810 mm of rain a year, most of it from October to January.
4 days on the Makarska Riviera
Day 1: Makarska, the harbour, the Malacological Museum and a walk round St Peter’s peninsula. Day 2: an early drive or minibus trip up Biokovo to the Skywalk and Sveti Jure. Day 3: Brela, Punta Rata and the seafront path to Baška Voda. Day 4: a boat trip to Bol on Brač, or a swim at Nugal and dinner in Tučepi.
A week on the Makarska Riviera
Add a hike to Vošac, a day in Split with a stop in Omiš, a trip to the lakes of Imotski, and a ferry from Drvenik to Hvar. Then continue south to Dubrovnik.
Where to stay on the Makarska Riviera
- Without a car, and for nightlife: Makarska, with buses, boats and restaurants on the doorstep.
- The best beaches: Brela, or Baška Voda for more shops and cafés.
- Families: Tučepi or Podgora, with long, quiet beaches and seafront paths.
- Quiet and value: Igrane, Živogošće or Gradac.
- For Hvar: Drvenik, next to the ferry.
A tourist tax per person per night is added to most bills; our Croatia guide explains how it works.
Practical tips for the Makarska Riviera
- Book Biokovo early: tickets are online only and limited to 20 cars an hour; morning slots in summer sell out.
- Drive the mountain road carefully: it is single-track with drops and passing places; give way, use low gears on the way down and never stop on the main road at the park entrance.
- Beat the heat: go up Biokovo or hike in the early morning; the mountain has no shade or water.
- Wind: strong bura gusts can close the Biokovo road and cancel ferries.
- Fire risk: the pine woods and the mountain are very dry in summer; never light fires or drop cigarettes.
- Emergencies: call 112.
What to pack for the Makarska Riviera
Pack light summer clothes, a sun hat, sunglasses and high-factor sunscreen, swimwear, a quick-dry towel and water shoes for the pebbles. A snorkel mask is worth bringing for the clear water. For Biokovo, bring a warm layer and a windproof jacket even in summer, as the top can be 10 °C cooler than the coast, plus hiking shoes with good grip and a refillable water bottle.
Makarska Riviera travel FAQ
How much does it cost to visit the Biokovo Skywalk?
The Skywalk is included in the Biokovo Nature Park ticket. As of October 2026, a day ticket cost €15 for adults from June to September and €10 in April, May and October; children under 7 are free.
Do you need to book Biokovo in advance?
Yes. Tickets are sold only online for a time slot, because only 20 vehicles may enter the road each hour. Arrive at the gate 5 minutes before your slot.
Is the Biokovo road dangerous?
It is narrow, steep and single-track for 23 km, with passing places about every 300 m. Confident drivers manage fine with care, but the park recommends a minibus tour for less experienced drivers. Coaches are not allowed.
Is Biokovo open in winter?
No. The park is officially open to visitors from 1 April to 31 October; in October it opens from 8:00 to 18:00, with the last vehicle at 17:00.
What is the best beach on the Makarska Riviera?
Punta Rata in Brela, with its pine-topped rock and clear water, is the most famous. Nugal, a cove reached on foot between Makarska and Tučepi, is wilder, and Gradac has one of the longest beaches.
Is Makarska or Brela a better base?
Makarska if you want restaurants, nightlife, buses and boats; Brela if you want the best beaches and calm evenings. They are about 15 km apart.
How do I get from Split to Makarska?
By bus along the coast road in about 1 hour 15 minutes, or by car in a little over an hour. Split Airport is about 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes away.
Can you visit Hvar or Brač from Makarska?
Yes. A car ferry runs from Makarska to Sumartin on Brač, and another from Drvenik to Sućuraj on Hvar. In summer, excursion boats sail from the Riviera’s resorts to Bol and Hvar.
How many days do you need on the Makarska Riviera?
Three or four days cover Makarska, Brela and Biokovo. A week lets you add hikes, island trips and a day in Split.
When is the best time to visit the Makarska Riviera?
June and September, for warm sea and fewer people. July and August are hottest and busiest, and May and October are best for hiking.
Plan your trip
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Sources · last reviewed 4 October 2026
Researched and last reviewed on 4 October 2026. Biokovo prices, opening hours, ticket rules and road access: the Biokovo Nature Park public institution (pp-biokovo.hr), price list valid from 1 January 2026; the Malacological Museum: the museum’s own website; Makarska town information: the Makarska tourist board; climate: the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ), Split Marjan station. Ferry, bus and driving times come partly from secondary sources and are flagged for checking, because the Jadrolinija website could not be read during our review. Prices, timetables and rules change, so check the official sites and operators before you travel. For entry rules, money and the tourist tax, see our Croatia travel guide; for the nearest city, our Split guide.
Data: Weather: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · Sea temperature: NOAA CoastWatch · Rates: ECB · Costs: World Bank ICP and price levels · Wikidata (CC0)