The Bristol Bol, a 94-room boutique hotel in a restored heritage building on the harbour of Bol, on the Croatian island of Brač, opened for an end-of-season preview in autumn 2026 and officially opens in May 2027: Brač limestone interiors by Dean Franić Studio, a garden pool, a Dalú spa and MARE, a Mediterranean restaurant on the harbour, from €330 a night with breakfast for two.
Croatia’s problem is not a shortage of beautiful islands; it is that everyone goes to the same two. Hvar has the yachts and the party boats, Dubrovnik has the cruise ships, and both have the prices to match. Brač, the big island between them and barely an hour’s ferry from Split, has mostly been left to the Croatians — which is why a new 94-room boutique hotel on the harbour at Bol, on the island’s south shore, is worth more attention than its size suggests.
I sailed this coast on Ponant’s Le Bougainville, Venice to Malta by way of Rab, Hvar, Mljet and Dubrovnik, and the lesson of that week was that the best of Dalmatia is in the small harbours the ship anchors off, not the famous ones it docks in. Bol is one of those harbours.
The Bristol Bol is the second hotel in The Bristol collection, after The Bristol Belgrade opened in 2025. It has run a short preview season this autumn and now closes for the winter; the official opening is May 2027. This is the piece to read before the summer bookings open.
The Bristol Bol: Key Facts
- Status: opened for an end-of-season preview in autumn 2026; official opening May 2027
- Where: a restored heritage building in the heart of Bol, on the south coast of Brač, steps from the harbour, with Zlatni Rat beach a short walk away
- Rooms: 94 guestrooms and suites arranged around private courtyard gardens, many looking over the Adriatic and the Hvar Channel
- Interiors: Dean Franić Studio, using Brač’s milky white limestone and local craftsmanship throughout
- Dining: MARE, Mediterranean cooking from local and seasonal produce, with shaded terraces over the harbour
- Pool and spa: an outdoor pool in the hotel’s private gardens; a boutique spa with treatments by the natural skincare brand Dalú; a library for quiet reading
- Collection: The Bristol, whose first hotel is The Bristol Belgrade (2025)
- Rates: from €330 per room per night, including breakfast for two
A Heritage Building on Bol Harbour
Brač is where the stone comes from. The island’s white limestone built Diocletian’s Palace in Split, and the quarries are still working. So it makes sense that Dean Franić Studio has built the interiors around it: pale stone, pale wood, linen and rattan, and a palette that defers to the light coming off the water. The look is contemporary but not showy, and the press photographs — a lounge of limestone walls and deep sofas, a bar with a brass-and-glass counter, a library lined with books — suggest a hotel that wants to be lived in rather than photographed.
The building is a restored heritage property a few steps from the working harbour, where fishing boats share the quay with sailing yachts and the Stina Winery sits on the waterfront. The 94 rooms and suites are arranged around private courtyard gardens, and many look directly over the Adriatic and the Hvar Channel to the island opposite.
MARE, the Pool and the Spa
The restaurant is MARE — Mediterranean cooking from local and seasonal produce, served indoors under an olive tree or out on shaded terraces that look over the village harbour. Bol is a village of winemakers and fishermen, and the steep southern slopes of Vidova Gora behind it grow Plavac Mali, Croatia’s signature red grape, which Stina Winery turns into some of the island’s best-known wines a few metres along the quay. A hotel restaurant here has an unfair advantage, and the question is only whether it uses it.
Beyond the restaurant, the outdoor pool sits in the hotel’s private gardens among fragrant trees and shrubs, and the spa uses Dalú, a natural skincare brand. The library is the detail I like most: a quiet room for reading is the kind of thing a 94-room hotel can afford to include and a 300-room one can’t.
Zlatni Rat and the Rest of Brač
Bol’s claim to fame is Zlatni Rat, the Golden Horn: a slender triangle of white pebble that reaches nearly 500 metres into the sea from a pine forest, with clear water on both sides, and shifts its shape with the wind and the tide. It is the most photographed beach in Croatia and it is a short walk along the shore from the hotel. The same reliable afternoon wind that moves the beach makes the channel between Brač and Hvar one of the best windsurfing and kitesurfing spots in the Adriatic, and the rocky coast is dotted with coves you can only reach by kayak or boat.
Inland, Vidova Gora is the highest mountain in the Adriatic and a proper hike, with views across to Hvar and the Biokovo mountains on the mainland. East of the harbour, on the Glavica peninsula, the 15th-century Dominican monastery holds Tintoretto’s altarpiece, Madonna with Child, in gardens above the sea.
Getting to Bol
Brač is served by car ferry from Split to Supetar on the north coast, about 50 minutes, and then a 40-minute drive across the island to Bol; in summer there are also fast passenger catamarans direct from Split to Bol, and Brač has its own small airport above Bol with seasonal flights. The Split–Brač ferry crossing can be booked ahead for the busy months.
How Much Does The Bristol Bol Cost?
The hotel quotes rates from €330 per room per night, including breakfast for two. For June 2027, the first full month after the official opening, I found Expedia and Trip.com both listing the hotel at the equivalent of roughly $350–$390 a night with breakfast — Trip.com was the cheaper of the two on the dates I checked. Expect July and August to run well above that; Bol is a short season and the good rooms go first.
Rates swing 10–20% between platforms and between dates, so five minutes of comparing is worth it. Booking.com does not list the hotel yet.
- Compare rates on Trip.com — the cheapest on the June dates I checked, with breakfast included
- See Expedia — fully refundable rates, and useful when bundling flights to Split
The Lens I’m Reading This Through
I wrote about Villa Argentina in Dubrovnik earlier this month, and the two hotels tell you where Croatia is going: the money is now moving past the famous names to the islands and villages that were always the better part of the country. A 94-room hotel built from the island’s own stone, on a working harbour, in a village with a winery on the quay and the most photographed beach in the country a short walk away, is exactly the kind of place I would choose over anything on Hvar.
What I can’t tell from the press kit is the one thing that matters: whether the rooms are as good as the public spaces. The kit shows the lounge, the bar, the restaurant and the library, and none of the 94 bedrooms. That is unusual for an opening, and it is the first thing I would want to see. The preview season is over and the real opening is May 2027, so this is one to watch rather than book tonight.
Tip: Ask for a sea-view room on the Hvar Channel side, and come in June or September. July and August bring the crowds to Zlatni Rat and the afternoon wind to the channel; the shoulder months give you the beach, the hiking on Vidova Gora and the Plavac Mali harvest without either.
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This preview is based on official announcements — I haven’t stayed yet. Read more about how I review or visit my Work With Me page.
