The city of Makarska is located in middle Dalmatia, on the foot of the mountain Biokovo, in a naturally protected bay between the cape Osejava to the north and the peninsula St. Peter to the south. The origins of Makarsa go back to ancient times when this bay was the location of a town called Inaronia. This town was a minor station on the roman road that led from Salona (today Solin near Split) to Narona (today Vid near Metkovi?). After many wild centuries when Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman and Austrian government have been coming one after another, Makarska is now a peaceful cultural and tourist center of middle Dalmatia and a home to some 15 thousand inhabitanst and their guests.
The views of Makarska are dominated by the mountain of Biokovo that raises above the city, as if protecting and threatening at the same time. Founded on the seashore, with time Makarska shamefully drew near the mountain, growing on its slopes. The mountain suburbs of Veliko Brdo, Puhari?i, Makar and Koština still live today as popular excursion sites where the old spirit of Dalmatia still lives in stone houses, dry walls and the smell of cheese and prosciutto. Also, these villages are the starting points of numerous mountain tracks that climb up Biokovo and its 5781-foot high summit of St. Jure. Nature lovers, climbers, mountaineers and cavers from all over the world come to Biokovo to enjoy the views and feel the rock in a unique way - nowhere else so high and yet so close to the sea.
Guests hungry for culture will be offered a rich menu of numerous museums and monuments in Makarska. The silent witness of past times is the Franciscan monastery, founded in 1518 under the noses of the Ottoman ocupators, when the Franciscan monks from Bosnia pretended to build "only houses for living". The construction of the church of St. Mark started in the early 1700s but due to historic reasons it is not finished to this day. The city museum is located in the palace of Tonoli and offers a unique insight in the cultural and historic heritage of Makarska. The malacological museum is proud of its, probably the biggest in the world, collection of sea snails, shells and other dwellers of the Adriatic. After a visit to this museum, which is a must!, one will never dive into the sea as one did before.
Makarska today is a city of amusement, parties and relaxation. Beautiful waterfront (called the riva) offers to the visitors many restaurants, caffe bars and art galleries. The numerous accommodation facilites attract youth craving for fun that in the evening and at night turn the beaches, streets, bars and clubs of Makarksa in a one big party. Give yourself over to the rytms of summer music at the waterfront, dance on the beach, in a cave filled by sea or on an old vessel cruising by the city ligths...
