Best Hotels in Makarska for Island Trips
Makarska works as a mainland base for island-hopping largely because of the ferry running from its own harbour to Sumartin on Brač, and two hotels in town make the most of that connection in different ways. Heritage Hotel Porin Makarska sits just 500 metres from Makarska Ferry Port itself, about as close to the crossing as a hotel gets, while Hotel Osejava's promenade position near three separate beaches still keeps the port within an easy walk. Travellers planning a Brač or Hvar day trip, or several, will find the logistics noticeably simpler booked from either of these two than from a pavilion resort further from the harbour.
Island stay · Makarska at a glance
An Early Ferry That Never Felt Rushed
A former noble palace right on the Riva, Heritage Hotel Porin Makarska sits just 500 metres from Makarska Ferry Port, which runs frequent lines to Brač. The buffet breakfast's early service and the hotel's central position mean an early morning crossing fits easily into a normal day, without needing to arrange a taxi or rush check-out timing the way a hotel further from the port would require. Suites with a work desk also suit travellers extending a work trip with an island day off, folded in without disrupting the rest of a normal working week.
Hotel Osejava sits on the promenade surrounded by three beaches, close enough to Makarska Ferry Port for the walk to stay under fifteen minutes even at an unhurried pace, with sea views over the same channel the ferry crosses toward Brač. Being newly built and open year-round means the hotel also works for an off-season island trip, when the crossing runs a reduced but still active schedule outside the main summer months, useful for anyone visiting Makarska for reasons beyond the beach alone. The hotel's own opening year-round matters just as much as the ferry's schedule for a trip planned outside the July and August peak.
Both hotels put the actual crossing to Brač within easy reach, but the wider island connection matters too: onward transport from Sumartin can extend a day trip toward Hvar for travellers willing to build in extra time, and a harbour-side base in Makarska removes one layer of complexity from planning that kind of longer island day. Neither hotel requires a car to reach the port, which simplifies the whole outing further and removes one more thing to plan before the crossing itself. A short taxi ride covers the gap for anyone who'd still rather not walk with luggage or bags for the day.
Choosing between Heritage Hotel Porin Makarska and Hotel Osejava for an island-focused stay mostly comes down to atmosphere, a former palace on the Riva against a modern promenade hotel surrounded by beaches, since both put the ferry port within an easy, unhurried walk. Either way, the island crossing becomes a genuine part of the stay rather than a stressful early-morning logistics problem tacked onto the end of a beach holiday almost as an afterthought. Both properties treat the ferry connection as a genuine feature of the stay rather than something guests have to work around on their own.
Brač and Hvar sit close enough across the channel from Makarska that they read almost as extensions of the mainland coast rather than a separate destination requiring a whole trip of their own, and the regular ferry and catamaran service reflects that. Locals use the same crossing for work and errands as much as visitors use it for sightseeing, which keeps the port itself busy and functional rather than purely a tourist operation, and gives an island day trip from Makarska a genuinely local rhythm rather than a packaged excursion feel.