As far as I remember, my family has been vacationing in Croatia and have been to a lot of places in the north part of the country but I never visited the south. This year I decided to book a vacation in Makarska, which is one of the most popular cities to visit in Croatia - I will do a separate post about it. From Makarska, we also went to Brač island for a little road trip that I also wanted to document on my blog.
A few quick things to consider when visiting Brač
I would say that the best time to visit Brač or even have a road trip is right before summer (May, June) or after the main heat is gone (September, October). We were there at the end of July and it was quite hot (35°C) to travel around on a scooter.
On Brač there is only one main road, so you can't really get lost.
Parking places are not free anywhere, so taking a scooter is the best thing because you can basically park anywhere.
I would recommend starting the trip earlier in the morning (we got on a 9 am ferry but there is also one 8 am one that we missed) and planning what to visit, so you don't waste time looking where to go. I would say one day it's enough to go around the whole island and stroll around a few cities but if you also want to see end experience the beaches and the sea, you will need two (or more) days.
Start: ferry ride from Makarska to Sumartin
You can get to island Brač with a ferry boat from Makarska or Split. From Makarska it drives pretty frequently and one-way ticket costs around 5€ for one. The ferry drives for around 1 hour and the route is pretty scenic. First, when you are leaving, you have a great view over Makarska and Biokovo mountains, and then, on the other side, over island Brač. The ferry drives to Sumartin city, from where you can visit other cities.
Sumartin
Sumartin is a cute little fishing village. When you arrive, you will be greeted by taxi drivers and other people who will try to sell you stuff. We decided to first sit down in the port and get a drink with a wonderful view over the port. Then we decided to rent a scooter (around 40€ for the whole day) and travel around the island.
Bol and Zlatni rat aka Golden Horn
First, we wanted to visit Bol and one of the most popular beaches on Brač - Zlatni rat (eng. Golden Horn). It's around 27 km, 30-40 minute ride from Sumartin. First, you drive "in the middle of nowhere" but then you get to the road that has the most amazing view over Bol and you have plenty stop points from where you can admire the city.
First, we took a quick ride around Bol (we didn't have time to properly explore it) and then started walking towards Zlatni rat. We stopped and got lunch - I don't know what the place is called, but it's on top of the Zlatni rat beach, it's not crowded at all, only two tables were taken, but their hamburgers were amazing. You also get a gorgeous view over the Zlatni rat beach.
Then we finally got to Zlatni rat beach. It's famous because it basically has two sides - on one, the ocean is usually a bit warmer and calmer than on the other. The plan was to swim there and take it easy but the beach is so crowded that we decided to just dip our feet into the sea and move on to another city. Also, the beach only looks good in the photos taken from above, in reality, it's just a basic beach with small stones and no sand. I have seen better beaches around Bol when walking towards Zlatni rat. Nice to see but if I wanted to enjoy the ocean and chill, I would choose a different beach.
Pučišća
When we were eating we brainstormed some ideas about where to go next. Keep in mind, that this road trip was completely spontaneous and we didn't have a plan whatsoever. We wanted to visit Blaca and the famous monastery that's in the west part of the island but we didn't have that much time. We then randomly decided on Pučišća.
Pučišća has a completely different vibe than Bol and I fell in love when I saw the city, I'm glad we decided to visit it. Here there are hardly any tourists and the beaches are mostly empty. It's such a colorful city with cute houses and turquoise water. We took a ride all around the city, you have some amazing viewpoints, and then we decided to get a drink by the port. Again, only two tables were taken and this restaurant has the best view over the city.
Back to Sumartin
Then it was slowly time to get back to our starting point (a good half-hour ride). In Sumartin we got dinner, I think the place was called Pizzeria San Martino. The pizzas were good and pretty cheap, around 8 €. I also saw on Google that Konoba Top is also great, but San Martino had a better view of the port. Later we also got ice cream nearby and bought our ferry tickets in the port.
End of the trip: ferry ride from Sumartin to Makarska
We booked an 8 pm ferry ride, it's the last one and basically the best one, since you get to see a sunset while you are on a ferry. When you arrive back in Makarska, you are also greeted with a wonderful view of the light up city.
More places and ideas
As I said, this road trip wasn't planned at all, so I still have a lot of places on my bucket list, like Monastery in Blaca, Vidova Gora (highest peak on the island, great view), Supetar (a beautiful city on the north side of the island), Dragon's cave (cave with carvings of angels, animals and dragons)... and of course, all the beautiful beaches.
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