Makarska. Things to do, map and hidden gems

The breakwater closes the Makarska harbour on the western side and is one of the best walks in town that takes no more than ten minutes: a stone mole reaching some hundred metres into the sea, with a small light at the end and a view opening in all directions, for from it one sees at once the whole waterfront, the Biokovo behind the town and the open sea toward Brac. The mole is wide and passable, with benches in several places, and along it are tied the boats that leave on excursions in the morning. For anglers this is a favourite address at dusk, and for everyone else the best spot for a photograph of the town: only from here does the whole semicircle of the harbour with the mountain behind fit into one frame. In the evening one watches from the breakwater as the lights come on along the waterfront, and the sea between the mole and the shore stays still as a mirror. One comes on foot from the waterfront, and access is free at any time.

The statue of St Peter stands at the tip of the peninsula of the same name, on the spot where until the 1962 earthquake stood the church of St Peter from which the peninsula takes its name: a bronze figure of the saint with a key in hand, turned toward the sea, which the town set up in memory of the church that vanished and as a sign to ships entering the harbour. The key is no accident: St Peter traditionally holds the keys of heaven, and in maritime towns he is venerated also as the one who opens and closes the way. The statue is reached by the circular path around the peninsula, ten minutes' walk from the waterfront, through pinewood and past bathing spots on the rocks. The tip itself is arranged as a lookout, with benches and a board explaining the place's history. Here an audience gathers for the sunset, because the sun falls exactly into the sea between the peninsula and Brac; come half an hour early and stay for the blue hour.

The Co-Cathedral of St Mark is Makarska's main church and the most harmonious baroque building of the whole riviera: it was raised in the middle of the 18th century from pale Brac stone, with a facade that closes Kacic Square and a bell tower seen from the sea before anything else in town. Makarska was for centuries the seat of a diocese, so the church holds the title of co-cathedral and an interior unexpectedly rich for a town of this size: marble altars, a pulpit and an organ, alongside a painting of St Mark and several works from the Venetian circle. Before the church stands a baroque fountain of the 18th century, and around it cafés that keep the square alive into the night. Entry is free, and the church works around the masses; visit in the morning, when light enters through the southern windows and makes the stone almost white. Behind the church begins the climb toward the Biokovo, so this is the natural first station of any tour.

The Franciscan monastery stands at the eastern end of the Makarska bay, by the sea, and keeps a collection for which it is visited even by those otherwise indifferent to monasteries: the Malacological Museum with several thousand shells and snails from all the world's seas, gathered from the 1950s onward by Friar Jure Radic, a monk and naturalist. The collection is one of the most important of its kind in Europe, with specimens brought by seamen from distant voyages, and beside it the monastery holds a library, a herbarium and a geological collection of the Biokovo. The monastery itself dates from the 16th century, with a cloister, the church of the Assumption and a garden descending toward the sea; in the church is also a large mosaic composition by a contemporary artist. The museum ticket is modest, the visit takes an hour, and the space is cool and quiet in the middle of the town's busiest part. For a rainy or overheated hour in Makarska, this is the best choice.

Kacic Square is the heart of Makarska and the place where the town gathers from morning to night: a spacious rectangle closed by baroque facades and the Co-Cathedral of St Mark, with the statue of Andrija Kacic Miosic in the middle and with cafés as permanent here as the stone. Kacic was a Franciscan and a poet from Brist near Makarska, and his Pleasant Conversation of the Slavic People of 1756 was for centuries the most read Croatian book: songs about heroes and battles that were memorised and sung to the gusle, and that is why his monument stands on the main square. The square is pedestrian and links everything important in town: the waterfront on one side, the market on the other, the climb toward the Biokovo behind the church. In summer it is the stage of concerts and festivals, in winter of the advent market. Sit under the plane trees in the late afternoon: that is the best hour on the square, before the waterfront fills up.

The Vepric shrine is one of Croatia's most important Marian destinations and a place described as the Croatian Lourdes: a natural cave in the rock at the foot of the Biokovo, three kilometres from Makarska, which in 1908 Bishop Juraj Caric arranged as a shrine after the model of French Lourdes, with a statue of the Virgin in a niche, an altar under the open sky and benches in the pine wood. The space was deliberately left natural: there is no great basilica or concrete platform, only paths, a stream, a small lake and the rock, so Vepric is equally pleasant to pilgrims and to those who come for peace and shade. Masses are said in the open, and the largest gatherings are on the feast of the Nativity of Mary in September and on the Assumption in August, when thousands come here. Entry is free and the grounds are open all day. From Makarska the shrine is five minutes by car or about thirty on foot along the road.

The Sveti Petar peninsula is the western arm that closes the Makarska harbour and the easiest green pause in town: a pine wood on a low point, with a circular path by the sea, bathing spots on the rocks and a lighthouse at the very tip. On the peninsula once stood the church of St Peter, from which it takes its name, and the earthquake of 1962 brought down what was left of it; today a chapel stands on that spot. The circuit around the peninsula takes twenty minutes and leads through shade the whole way, with benches and with a view that changes every fifty metres: the town and the Biokovo on one side, the open sea toward Brac on the other. Along the path are entries into the sea over rocks and ladders, and in season a bar works too. This is the best sunset in Makarska, because the sun falls exactly between the peninsula's tip and Brac; come half an hour early and take a bench facing west.

Nugal is the wildest beach of the Makarska riviera and the only one that cannot be reached by car: a shingle cove cut between vertical cliffs east of the town, to which only a path through the Osejava pine wood leads, some twenty minutes' walk from the last houses. That very access keeps the cove half empty even in August, and gives those who come a feeling arranged beaches lack: white shingle, turquoise sea and cliffs on three sides, without a single building in the frame. Nugal is traditionally a naturist beach, though today it is mixed, and that is part of its reputation. There are no facilities at all: no showers, bars or shade except along the edge, so bring water, food and a parasol. The path is marked and passable but stony, so wear something firm. For a day that joins a walk through pinewood, a swim in the cleanest sea of the area and the feeling of having found something of your own, Nugal is the riviera's best choice.

The Makarska waterfront is one of Dalmatia's loveliest coastal promenades and the place that explains why the town looks like a postcard: a semicircular harbour closed by the peninsulas of Sveti Petar and Osejava, with palms in a row, a stone pavement, boats along the shore and with the Biokovo rising behind the houses almost vertically, fifteen hundred metres up. The promenade is pedestrian along its whole length, with cafés and restaurants on one side and the sea on the other, and in summer from seven in the evening it turns into a corso through which the whole town and all its guests pass. From here the excursion boats leave for Brac, Hvar and the coves of the riviera, and tickets are bought on the pier. The best moment is the blue hour after sunset: the sun falls behind Brac, the mountain at your back takes on a violet colour and the lights come on in the water. For one photograph that explains Makarska, this one suffices: palms, boats and the wall of the Biokovo above.

The Osejava promenade is the eastern counterpart of the Sveti Petar peninsula and Makarska's loveliest coastal path: a way along the very cliff beneath the pine wood, which from the waterfront leads around the Osejava peninsula and on toward the Nugal cove, always in shade and always above the sea. The path is arranged, with railings on exposed parts, benches and places to descend to the rocks from which people swim; the sea here is deep and clear because there is no beach to cloud it. Osejava is also military history in miniature: in the rock are the remains of artillery positions from the Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav periods, with openings facing Brac, which today serve as shaded resting places. The circuit from the waterfront to the lookout and back takes half an hour; whoever continues toward Nugal stays on the path another twenty minutes. The best moment is the morning, when the path is empty and the sun comes from the east over the mountain.

The Makarska harbour is a semicircular bay closed by the peninsulas of Sveti Petar and Osejava and one of the most sheltered berths of the central Adriatic: that very shape is why the town arose here, for it offered ships shelter from all winds but the southerly. Today fishing boats, excursion boats and yachts are tied at the moles, and the harbour master's office and the ferry terminal keep the link with Brac, whose Sumartin is an hour's sailing away. For the visitor the harbour is the starting point of everything done at sea: excursions toward Brac, Hvar, the coves of the riviera and full-day cruises with lunch, alongside boat rental and diving tours. Tickets are bought at the stands by the mole, and departures are in the morning. At seven in the morning the harbour is a workplace: fishermen unload, cafés open, boats fill up. In the evening it is a stage: lights in the water, masts and the Biokovo that darkens before the sky.

Makarska's town beach is a long shingle arc stretching from the waterfront westward, with a pine wood above and the Biokovo rising behind it: a mile and a half of white shingle, with a sea that deepens gradually and with shade that on part of the beach comes right down to the strand. This is the riviera's largest bathing stretch and one of the best equipped: showers, cabins, loungers, a lifeguard service, volleyball courts, slides and a whole row of bars and restaurants along the promenade. The beach carries a blue flag, and the sea is clean despite the density of bathers because the bay is open and the current works constantly. For families the western part is best, where the entry is gentlest; for swimmers the eastern, closer to the waterfront, where depth comes sooner. In July and August come before ten or after five, and in the afternoon use the pine shade behind the beach, which here is a real luxury.