Makarska is a tourist centre, located on a horseshoe shaped bay between the Biokovo mountains and the Adriatic Sea. The city is noted for its palm-fringed promenade, where fashionable cafés, bars and boutiques overlook the pretty harbour where many pleasure craft are moored. Adjacent to the beach are several large capacity hotels as well as a camping ground.

The center of Makarska is an old town with narrow stone-paved streets, a main church square where there is a flower and fruit market, and a Fransican monastery that houses a sea shell collection featuring a giant clam shell.

Makarska is the center of the Makarska riviera, a popular tourist destination under the Biokovo mountain at the Adriatic coast.