Which Are The Best Makarska Riviera Beaches? — Our Wanders
The beaches of the Makarska Riviera are among the best beaches in Croatia, and that’s a lot to say in a country where the long, well-indented coastline is a series of beautiful beaches. The Makarska Riviera is not only our favorite though, it’s probably the most popular region on the Croatian mainland.
What makes it so special? The turquoise bays are surrounded by fragrant pine forests, and the giant white cliffs of Mount Biokovo tower above them as a breathtaking backdrop. The beaches are pebbly, but the pebbles are small and smooth, they usually won’t hurt your feet. Unlike on many rocky and pebbly beaches in Croatia, water shoes are not an absolute necessity on the Makarska Riviera beaches. Then there are restaurants and bars, seafront promenades and buzzing nightlife — everything you need for an attractive beach holiday destination.
I visited the Makarska Riviera several times in my life. The last time we spent two weeks there with Csaba and our 2-year-old son. I know how busy it can get in the summer (extremely busy!), but I can’t help loving it. It’s popular for a good reason. Though we timed our visits to September to avoid the most horrible crowds.
But where to find the very best beaches of the Makarska Riviera? Read on, because this post is exactly about that, compiling our Croatian vacations into an informative post, with lots of tempting pictures (consider this a warning: you might not be able to resist booking your tickets…).
Best beaches in Makarska
The Makarska Riviera stretches 60 kilometers from Brela to Gradac, and it’s named after its largest town and port: Makarska. Don’t imagine a big city though, Makarska is just big enough to be a lively holiday destination, with a good variety of restaurants and bars, and nightlife. Its seafront promenade, lined by palm trees, leads you to everything that’s worth seeing in town: stunning beaches and bays, restaurants and bars with sea views, Sveti Petar Peninsula, the harbor and the old town.
The Makarska Riviera is home to countless pebbly beaches with crystal clear, turquoise water, and surrounded by fragrant, evergreen pine forest. Makarska is an ideal base to explore the region, and the town itself is home to several pretty beaches. Actually, one of our favorite Croatian beaches can be found in Makarska, a short walk away from the harbor — if you know which direction to walk.
Makarska Main Beach
But the easiest to find — and also the longest beach in Makarska — is the Main Beach. Though we’re usually not too enthusiastic about centrally located beaches, this one is exceptionally scenic. Staying at a central location in Makarska means being walking distance away from the Main Beach.
Backed up by the promenade and surrounded by hotels and restaurants, it has an urban atmosphere. But the water is clear and the view of the towering Biokovo Mountains gives it a special charm. The pebbles on the beach are mostly small, fine and white. They won’t hurt your feet, but you might prefer wearing water shoes (we didn’t). Also, having a thicker beach mat makes it more comfortable to lie down on the pebbly beach.
Despite its large size, the Main Beach gets extremely crowded in the summer. So crowded that it’s hard to find a spot to put your towel down, and you need to jump over everyone else’s towels and beach mats to reach the water. We have good reasons to recommend visiting Makarska Riviera in the shoulder season. It’s more than enough visitors there in July and August.
Facilities: showers, toilets, playground, beds and umbrellas for rent, restaurants and bars
Nugal Beach
Nugal Beach is one of the most picturesque beaches in Croatia! Even though it’s located in Makarska, it feels wild and remote. And it is. In the shade of a sheer rock wall and surrounded by lush greenery, the pebbly bay is home to dozens of fish and incredible shades of blue and turquoise.
You need to walk about 50 minutes (2.2 km) from Makarska’s harbor to reach it. But the walk itself is a delight, leading through a bright coastal pine forest. At the end, a dramatic rock wall appears, and you find Nugal Beach at the foot of it.
Earlier, when it was considered a hidden and barely known beach, it was a nudist beach. Well, not anymore. It’s hard to remain a secret in such a popular beach region, and so tourists have found Nugal Beach, too. It’s still a partly nudist beach.
Do you wonder what a partly nudist beach looks like? I can tell you from first-hand experience: there’s a separator sign in the middle of the beach, and the left area of the bay is for everyone who wears swimsuits, while the right area is for everyone who’s naked. Sounds weird? It was a bit weird. But we were used to nudism being quite popular in Croatia by then.
The walk to Nugal Beach is lovely, but the best view of the beach and the coastline is from the Gradac viewpoint, which is a short and worthwhile detour (marked on the map below). Don’t wear flip-flops for this beach walk though, sneakers, hiking sandals or hiking shoes are more appropriate as the terrain through the forest is rugged at places.
Ramova Beach
Ramova Beach has a lot in common with Nugal Beach — though it’s not as insanely picturesque as Nugal Beach. But you need to walk for both of them, and the path runs through a lovely pine forest. A giant rock wall is right behind both beaches, and they have a remote, out-of-town-lost-in-nature vibe that we love so much. Well, and nudists love them, too.
The coastal path towards Ramova Beach starts where the paved Makarska seafront promenade ends. There you find Biloševac Beach, one that’s already somewhat quieter than the more centrally located ones.
Then the trail leads into the pine forest, and you’ll find several small coves that tempt you for a swim. But Ramova Beach at the end is the prettiest of all the bays on this route. It’s a pebbly beach, with larger, but mostly smooth pebbles, and a scenic rock wall at the northern end of the bay as a backdrop.
However, the coastal trail doesn’t end at Ramova Beach. We walked even further, to the peaceful harbor of Krvavica, and it continued all the way to Brela.
Map of Makarska beaches
There are some smaller bays as you walk along the seafront promenade, further from the center and the Main Beach. They have names — Cvitačka Beach, Buba Beach, Ratac Beach -, but we found it hard to actually differentiate them. They’re pretty pebbly bays with pine trees, rentable deck chairs and mountain views in the back. We chose whichever we found the least busy, and we enjoyed each of them. Some are so small that they’re suitable only for one or two families, so they fill up quickly.
Here are the best Makarska beaches marked on a map:
Parking at Makarska beaches
In short? It sucks. It’s challenging to find parking, and if you do find an available spot, you’ll pay for it — a lot. What’s the solution? Find an apartment with a central location and free private parking, then leave your car there, and simply walk to any Makarska beach you fancy.
The best Makarska Riviera beaches — outside of Makarska
Though Makarska is an adorable beach town and has fabulous beaches, it would be a mistake not to explore some of the more hidden beaches on the Makarska Riviera. Well, and some of the famous ones, too, because there are quite a few that have been consistently voted as Europe’s and Croatia’s best beaches in the past decade.
So let’s see the best beaches near Makarska.
Originally published at https://ourwanders.com on February 18, 2024. See the full article at https://ourwanders.com/best-makarska-riviera-beaches/