Best of Bol
ENEnglish

Bol guide

Bol old town and sights

The old town of Bol is a compact stone harbour you can walk around in an hour. The two main sights are the Dominican monastery on the Glavica headland, founded in the 15th century, with a museum and a painting attributed to Tintoretto, and the Branislav Dešković gallery of Croatian art on the waterfront. Both are among our picks for things to visit, along with the parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the House in a House, the Small Format Gallery and the thousand-year-old Church of St John and Theodore beside the monastery.

Updated · Best of Bol

Old stone houses and small wooden boats in the inner harbour of Bol in late-afternoon light
Photo: Viki Martinić

The harbour and promenade

Life in Bol happens along the waterfront. The catamaran ties up here, fishing boats and taxi boats wait along the quay, and cafés and restaurants spread under the trees. In the evening the promenade fills with people walking between the harbour and the Zlatni rat side.

Bol harbour on a sunny morning: fishing boats moored below the stone houses and cypresses of the old town
Photo: Viki Martinić

Dominican monastery

The Dominican monastery stands on the Glavica headland at the eastern end of town. The Dominicans settled here in 1475. The church holds an altarpiece of the Madonna with saints attributed to Tintoretto, and the small museum shows finds from the island, old coins, and the monastery's own collection. Martinica beach is right below it.

Right beside the monastery stands the Church of St John and Theodore, known locally as the Templar chapel. About a thousand years old, it is the oldest church in Bol, built over a late Roman building whose remains, with fresco fragments and a water cistern, lie at its foot.

The Branislav Dešković Art Gallery is named after Branislav Dešković, the sculptor from Pučišća on Brač known for his animal figures. It holds 20th-century Croatian paintings and sculpture in a historic building on the waterfront, and hosts summer exhibitions.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Bol's parish church, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was built between 1668 and 1788 a few steps from the harbour. Look up at the carved rose window and the stone angel holding Veronica's veil over the door; inside are ornate Baroque altars and a marble pulpit.

A self-guided walk

  1. Start at the catamaran quay and walk east along the waterfront.
  2. Turn up into the lanes behind the harbour to see the stone houses, small squares and chapels of the oldest part of town.
  3. Look into the parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, then come back down to the Dešković gallery on the waterfront.
  4. Continue east to the Glavica headland, the little Church of St John and Theodore and the Dominican monastery.
  5. Finish with a swim at Martinica, or walk back west for dinner on the harbour.

The walk is about 2 km with a few short climbs. Go in the early evening in summer, when the stone has cooled and the light is warm.

Fishing boats moored below the lit stone walls and chapel of Bol old town at night
Photo: Viki Martinić

Questions about Bol old town

What is there to see in Bol besides the beach?

The Dominican monastery and its museum on the Glavica headland, the thousand-year-old Church of St John and Theodore beside it, the Branislav Dešković gallery and the Small Format Gallery on the waterfront, the House in a House, the stone lanes of the old town, and, above the town, Vidova gora, the highest peak of the Adriatic islands.

How long does it take to see Bol old town?

About an hour on foot, or two with the monastery museum and the gallery.