| Official Name: | Brela |
| Settlement Type: | Municipality |
| Pushpin Map: | Croatia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Brela within Croatia |
| Coordinates: | 43.3697°N 16.9225°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Croatia |
| Subdivision Type1: | County |
| Subdivision Name1: | Split-Dalmatia County |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Stipe Ursić (HDZ) |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 26.8 |
| Area Urban Km2: | 6.9 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 1626 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Urban: | 1472 |
| Population Density Urban Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | CET |
| Timezone Dst: | CEST |
| Utc Offset: | +1 |
| Utc Offset Dst: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Postal Code: | 21322 |
| Area Code: | 021 |
| Blank Name: | Patron saints |
| Blank Info: | Saint Stephen Our Lady of Mount Carmel |
Brela (pronounced as /sh/) is a municipality in the Split-Dalmatia County of Croatia. The village of Brela is located on the Adriatic coastline of Dalmatia, about 15km (09miles) northwest of Makarska.
In the 2011 census, the total population was 1,703. The municipality consists of two villages: Brela (1,575) and Gornja Brela (128).
Brela is a tourist town located between the Biokovo mountain and the Adriatic Sea. It is known as the pearl of Makarska riviera.[2] The pearl of the Adriatic or the pearl of Mediterranean is the name given to the city of Dubrovnik. In 1968, Brela was crowned as "Champion of Adriatic" for high achievements in tourist activity.[3] [4]
The symbol of Brela is "Kamen Brela" (Brela Stone), a small rock island just off the main beach in Brela, the Punta Rata beach. In 2004, American magazine Forbes put the Punta Rata beach on the list of 10 world's most beautiful beaches, where it is ranked 6th in the world and first in Europe.[5] In January 2024, Lonely Planet ranked Punta Rata as the 11th best beach in the world, calling it "one of the Croatian coast’s most exquisite beaches."[6]