Plaža Slatina, Tučepi, Makarska Riviera: Four Kilometres of Century-Old Pine Shade Below Biokovo

Croatia | Tučepi | Makarska Riviera

Tučepi is a town built twice. Until the earthquake of 1962, the majority of its residents lived in the old hamlets on the slopes of Biokovo mountain — the stone villages above the coast whose medieval and Ottoman-era architecture reflected centuries of life above the sea rather than on it. The earthquake drove the population to rebuild below, and the coastal settlement of Tučepi that exists today is substantially a post-1962 construction: the hotels, the promenade, the marina, and the beach infrastructure that has made it one of the most popular resort towns on the Makarska Riviera.

What predates 1962 is the pine forest. Slatina Beach is a lovely white stone beach with a string of fluffy pine trees and stunning blue water, stretching for a lengthy four kilometres, with views of the mountains in every direction. The pine trees along the beach are described in the sources as “centuries-old” — the specific age of the forest makes it older than the coastal settlement below it, which gives the Slatina beach its specific identity within the Makarska Riviera: the beach where the shade is not planted as a resort amenity but has been growing since long before anyone thought to build a hotel underneath it.

Plaža Slatina is the name for the southern section of the full Tučepi coastline — the sections south of the former Hotel Jadran building known locally as Slatina, Dračevice, and Ratac, covered by the wide gravel belt and the pine forest. The beach is Blue Flag certified and part of the 4-kilometre total Tučepi beachfront.

Getting There: 5km South of Makarska by Bus, by Coastal Path, or by Taxi

From Makarska town centre, Tučepi and Plaža Slatina are 5 kilometres southeast — a 10-minute bus ride, a 7-minute taxi ride, or a 60-minute walk along the pine-shaded coastal path. The coastal promenade walk from Makarska to Tučepi is consistently identified as one of the more pleasant promenade walks on the Makarska Riviera — the path stays close to the beach, shaded by the pine forest throughout, with the Hvar and Brač islands visible across the channel.

By bus, the service from the Makarska main station runs regularly through the day, stopping within the Tučepi settlement. The taxi from Makarska centre takes approximately 7 minutes and costs a modest flat rate — the practical choice for visitors with heavy beach bags.

By bicycle, the road from Makarska to Tučepi along the coast is accessible and the coastal path is flat. Bicycles are available for hire in both towns.

The Beach: 4km of Pebble, Blue Flag, and the Century-Old Pine Forest Shade

Plaža Slatina and the full Tučepi beach together constitute one of the longest beach promenades on the Makarska Riviera — 4 kilometres of pebble beach with the pine forest immediately above the upper shore providing continuous natural shade. The pebble is smooth white stone — the characteristic Makarska Riviera pebble that the local geology of the Biokovo limestone produces — and the water quality reflects the Blue Flag standard that the beach has maintained through regular certification.

The pebbly beach, which turns into sandy in places, is lapped by impeccably clean and clear turquoise blue sea. South of the former Hotel Jadran stretches a gravel belt, wide in places and several tens of metres, covered with centuries-old pine forest. These are the parts of Tučepi beach known as Slatina, Dračevice, Ratac.

The beach’s shallow entry and the calm conditions typical of the Hvar Channel zone make it suitable for families with young children — the standard family-beach quality of the central Makarska Riviera that the Biokovo-facing bay produces in all weather except the southerly jugo wind, which can create some wave action.

The Bluesun Hotels and the Sports Centre Slatina

The Bluesun hotel group has a specific concentration in Tučepi adjacent to Plaža Slatina: Hotel Alga (the main resort hotel with 3 restaurants and buffet service), Hotel Kaštelet (a 17th-century aristocratic mansion 10 metres from the beach), Hotel Neptun, and the Bluesun Holiday Village Afrodita (luxury villas in a Mediterranean garden, steps from the Blue Flag beach). The Sports Centre Slatina — associated with the Bluesun hotels — provides tennis, fitness, and other recreational facilities adjacent to the beach.

The concentration of hotel accommodation directly adjacent to the beach gives Slatina its specific resort character within the Tučepi beachfront — guests of the Bluesun properties have direct beach access and the full-service resort infrastructure that the hotel complex provides, while visitors from outside have access to the public beach and the promenade services.

Biokovo Above: The Skywalk, the Nature Park, and the Post-1962 Landscape

Biokovo is the constant visual fact of every beach day in Tučepi. The mountain rises from sea level to 1,762 metres within 5 horizontal kilometres of the coast, and the wall effect of the massif above the narrow coastal strip is the specific Makarska Riviera landscape quality that photographs from Tučepi beach consistently show — the mountain dominating the landward view while the Hvar and Brač islands occupy the seaward horizon.

The Skywalk Biokovo — the glass platform at 1,228 metres on the mountain road from Makarska — is the active complement to the passive beach day: the drive up the Biokovo park road from the coast takes approximately 40 minutes and provides the complete reverse of the beach view, looking down at the Tučepi shoreline and the Adriatic from the elevation where the altitude makes the sea appear as a distant floor.

Nugal Beach: The Cove Between Makarska and Tučepi

Between Makarska and Tučepi along the coastal path, the Nugal Beach cove — accessible only on foot or by boat — provides the wild pebble cove alternative to the organised beach infrastructure of both towns. Nugal Beach Makarska is the naturally enclosed cove in the Osejava Nature Park, accessible by the 20-minute trail from the promenade, and the contrast between the organised pebble promenade of Slatina and the vehicle-inaccessible cove of Nugal maps the range of what the Makarska–Tučepi coastal section offers.

The Tučepi Promenade and the Marina

The Tučepi promenade — the seafront walking path that runs the full length of the beach from the northern boundary to the southern — is the specific social infrastructure of the resort, connecting the shops, cafés, and restaurants of the Tučepi centre to the beach zone throughout its 4-kilometre length. The marina at the town’s centre provides the sailing and boat infrastructure that gives Tučepi its status as a nautical stop on the Makarska Riviera route.

The western section of the Tučepi beach, north of the Slatina zone, begins with small sandy bays known locally as Kraljev Gaj (King’s Grove) — the most intimate section of the beach, where the rocky coast has carved small sandy coves that provide the sheltered, less crowded alternative to the main beach promenade.

Plaža Slatina in Tučepi is the southern section of the Makarska Riviera’s longest beach — 4 kilometres of Blue Flag pebble shore, century-old pine forest shade, the Biokovo mountain rising directly above, the Bluesun hotels adjacent, Hvar island visible across the channel, and the coastal path to Makarska passing the Nugal cove 5 kilometres north.

Take the bus from Makarska main station. Or walk the promenade.

The pine shade will be there throughout the day. That is the specific thing Slatina offers.