Mala Duba
Mala Duba is one of three small seaside hamlets — together with Porat and Blato — that make up the village of Živogošće, on the quiet southern stretch of the Makarska Riviera. Tucked between the soaring Biokovo mountain and a crystal-clear sea, it has fewer than 450 residents and offers the kind of unhurried, authentic Dalmatia that has become hard to find.
The setting
Between the mountain and the sea
Živogošće stretches along the coastal road (D8) between Podgora and Drvenik, about 20 km south of Makarska. Its three coastal hamlets — Porat, Mala Duba and Blato — lie roughly 1.5 km apart, each with its own little cove and harbour, while two older settlements, Strnj and Murava, cling to the old road just inland. No high-rises, no crowds — only stone houses, pine trees and the sea.
The coast
Six kilometres of white-pebble beaches
The beaches around Živogošće form a near-continuous six-kilometre ribbon of fine white pebbles, framed by ancient pine forests that throw welcome shade right to the water’s edge. Mala Duba’s own beach is tucked into the greenery — gentle, shallow and ideal for families — with a beachside grill and showers close by. The sea shifts from pale turquoise in the shallows to deep blue further out, and the island of Hvar lies just 4.5 km across the water, close enough to make out its hillsides from your towel.
Older than it looks
Roman springs and a Franciscan refuge
People have lived here since Illyrian and Roman times. On the slopes above Mala Duba and Blato lie the remains of Roman villae rusticae — country estates set along the old road south. Above a freshwater spring by the sea, a Roman named Licinianus had a poem carved into the living rock in praise of the water: the Licinianus Epigram, still legible today.
High on the hill above the bay stands the Franciscan monastery of the Holy Cross, built between 1616 and 1620 by friars fleeing the Ottoman advance. Burned in 1647 and patiently rebuilt, it still guards a valuable old library and Baroque treasures, and the remains of an early-Christian basilica were uncovered in its cloister — a quiet, atmospheric stop just minutes from the apartments.
Nature & climate
A garden under the mountain
Biokovo rises almost straight from the shore behind the village. The nearest peak, Sutvid (1,160 m), watches over Mala Duba, while Sveti Jure (1,762 m) — the range’s summit — is an easy drive away. The mountain wall shelters the coast from cold northern winds, giving Živogošće one of Croatia’s sunniest, warmest microclimates and a swimming season that runs from May into October. Around the apartments, a true Mediterranean garden does the rest — kiwi vines, mandarins, olives and fig trees, with a shaded barbecue under the leaves.
Getting here
Easy to reach, hard to leave
Mala Duba sits right on the coastal D8 road — a car is the easiest way to explore the Riviera and the hinterland beyond.
Come and see it for yourself
Three family-run apartments, a white-pebble beach, and the whole Makarska Riviera on your doorstep.
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