BOL, a town and harbour on the southern side of the island of Brac, at the foot of Vidova Gora (778 m) and Dratevo Brdo (627 m), in a fertile field with permanent sources of potable water. The name originates from the Latin word vallum: an earth fortification with palisades. Economy is based on farming, viticulture (Bol houses a wine cellar with a capacity of 150 wagons), fishing (salting of anchovies) and tourism. Sand and pebble beaches (Zlatni Rat, etc.) stretch in the total length of some 15 km (from the Martinica Cove in the east to the Blaca Cove in the west). The southern coast of the island (west of the Konjska Cove) offers excellent opportunities for underwater fishing.

Situated in a secluded place, on the southern coast of Brac, Bol is the oldest town of Brac and one of the most famous seaside resorts of the Adriatic. Apart from cultural monuments, Bol also features a number of natural beauties.

East and west of Bol are numerous shores, beautiful beaches; the most famous - and probably the most beautiful on the Adriatic - is Zlatni Rat. This pebble cape is a unique phenomenon - it stretches into the open sea in the shape of a tongue, with its tip changing the form and moving to one and another side, according to the direction of winds and waves. A story has it that this is the only beach in the world that runs vertical to the coast. Above Bol is the mountain range of Bolska Kruna (Bol Crown), the Illyrian hill-fort Kostilo and Vidova Gora (778 m), the highest peak of the Adriatic islands.

Bol has a years-long tradition in tourism. The Society for Beautification of Bol and Tourist Traffic was established here in the 1920s. The construction of the first accommodation facilities started in 1963, to experience a rapid development during the seventies. Today Bol offers a number of modern, high-class hotels, hotel villages and apartments.

Numerous restaurants in the town offer specialities of local and international cuisine and exquisite wines of Brac (the famous "Bolski Plavac"). Bol also offers many cultural and entertainment programs. The most important event is the folk feast of Our Lady of the Snows (5th of August), in commemoration of the day when, a legend has it, it was snowing here; it is also the day of the Bol municipality.

To those who are keen on sports and recreation Bol offers 25 tennis courts, the central court having 1,820 seats. This is also the venue of top-class tennis tournaments (WTA Croatian Bol Ladies Open). Other sports opportunities include windsurfing, water sports, bowling, indoor football, basketball, volleyball, diving and underwater fishing.

Bol developed on the location of a Roman habitation (early Christian sarcophagi, remains of a Roman water cistern above Zlatni rat); in AD 827 it was destroyed by the Saracens. Fragments of "pleter" (interlacery ornaments) have been preserved in the church of St. John (probably from the 11th c.) and in the wall around the Dominican monastery. In the 15th century, a castle with luxuriantly adorned Gothic windows on the southern front was built along the pier.

On Cape Glavica is the church of the Dominican monastery (founded in 1475), a one-nave structure with the Gothic vault, later extended with another nave. The main altar featured a painting of Madonna with Child and Saints (now kept at the monastery museum), a work by one of Tintoretto's disciples. On the cassette-styled ceiling below the choir are illusionist paintings of the Baroque painter Tripo Kokolja from 1713 (Apotheosis of St. Dominic). The bell tower dates back to 1751; the remains of an old cloister may be seen in the monastery garden. The monastery keeps a collection of artefacts and works of art (paintings, manuscripts, incunabula, about 6,000 ancient coins).