Initially, Croatia was not considered when choosing a month of vacation - they have been to this country several times, the last time in 2006 in mid-September was in very cold weather. But recommendations and a direct air tour from Lviv convinced us to take another risk. And for good reason - this time the holiday was a success.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TRIP: Tour operator - the company MIST-TOUR. Everything is well organized. All procedures at the airport quickly and efficiently, departure and arrival on time, transfer is clearly on schedule. So we had breakfast at home in Lviv, and had lunch at a hotel in Croatia.
HOTEL: voucher accommodation, superior room with pool and pine park views and side sea views. Renovated room: clean, spacious and well equipped with comfortable bathroom. We had a double bed and a sofa bed for a child. For unknown reasons, the bed is not covered.
In general, the hotel gives a pleasant impression of the corridors, lobby, reception - all on a level. Near the hotel there are two swimming pools, one adult + children's with a children's slide, the second (as we later learned, a completely new, first season) adult with a large slide, there is an animation area with tables and bar, tennis table, volleyball court and indoor football field. The appearance of the hotel could be given four stars. Hotel guests: a third of Ukrainians (in our arrival were mostly young families with preschoolers - a great company), the rest are French. The hotel management is working well to attract customers - even in September the hotel fills. From the comments to the hotel: the lack of a playground and children's animation.
NUTRITION: this is where the negative begins. Food is a dark spot of this hotel and our holiday.
Monotonous, limited, tasteless.
Maybe after Turkish and Greek hotels I have high demands, but when they offer omelets, boiled eggs and fresh cheese for breakfast for ten days in a row, it's too much. Lunch is no different from a party: two concentrate soups, two side dishes, meat (mostly chicken) and fish (mostly capelin and tulk-like) + overcooked vegetables + fresh cucumbers-tomatoes-peppers (often sliced in the evening for lunch) ). In general, you will not stay hungry, but no gastronomic pleasure.
WEATHER: we were lucky - the beginning of September - a real velvet season 28-29 degrees of heat, 7 days out of 10 no clouds, the last three days the temperature dropped a bit, it was cloudy with clearings, but the rest was coming to an end that mood did not spoil.
NATURE: For me, the nature of Croatia is a combination of sea and pine. The air here is breathless.
And here, in contrast to the Turkish-Greek resorts, there are many walking paths: along the sea, on the waterfront, in the park, in the town itself. In addition, there is no club hotel closure. Outside the hotel, a real Croatian town filled with the lives of locals and tourists, creating a unique atmosphere unique to Croatia. In general, we liked northern Dalmatia and Biograd even more than central Dalmatia and Baska Voda, where we used to rest. It is greener and more spacious here.
SEA and EMBANKMENT: the sea is beautiful, clean, quite cold in September. I think a maximum of 22 degrees. The color of the water is uniform without fantastic turquoise-blue overtones of central and southern Dalmatia. There are many children's play areas (paid) on the waterfront, so that in the evening children have fun and parents are comfortable. Of course there are many bars and restaurants, ice cream trays and souvenir shops.
I want to single out mini-bakeries or Croatian BAKERIES that offer a wide range of fresh and incredibly delicious pastries.
EXCURSIONS: at one time we went on a bus tour of Croatia and visited all the excursion months. This time they chose a trip to Zadar in the evening. In short, the impressions are - Zadar is a wonderful interesting city - worth going, but alone and for the whole day.
In general, we are satisfied with the rest. If you love the sea-sun-pines and promenades you here!
Pros:
-Superior rooms are comfortable, clean, with good air conditioning, good plasma TV. Large balcony with beautiful sea views, large comfortable bed and comfortable bathroom. There is also a minibar in the room (where you can store minimal snacks).
-cleaning in the room every day (changed towels, vacuum cleaners, washed plumbing. Bed linen was changed 1 time in 10 days after being asked at the reception (()).
-I especially want to note two employees of a salt room - very friendly women, I thank them very much.
-food monotonous but delicious. There was always fish, meat, only salads often had problems (sliced vegetables were served in the morning for lunch and dinner, it happened that the tomatoes soured). but overall delicious, there have always been nets.
-location is good - to the sea about 400m, a lot of pine forest, a lot of beach infrastructure for a fee
-beautiful, comfortable pools near the hotel.
As for 3 stars, a good animation, the kids loved the mini-disco
- clean, warm Adriatic Sea !!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! !!
- Lots of pine forest !!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! !!
Cons:
-absolutely unfriendly restaurant staff (except for a blond waiter with an earring in his ear and a blond girl in a bar)
-especial fa to the hotel manager-attitude to guests is not professional, not friendly, not polite and superficial.
- It is difficult for tourists from Ukraine to communicate with the staff without knowledge of the Ukrainian language. They do not understand the Ukrainian-Russian language at all.
- disappointed the representative of Ukraine in the hotel. She looks like a nice, nice woman, but her job is to provide information and organize excursions and represent the interests of the hotel ((not very pleasant).
The only ad in Russian appeared on the 8th day of rest.
- The restaurant has the only high chair for feeding with a huge number of children.
In addition, the restaurant is decorated with huge glass vases in dangerous places - everyone can accidentally touch, break and cut. If a child does this, the consequences can be fatal.
-staff ignores requests from guests.
- the beaches by the sea are quite dirty - cigarette butts, leftovers, etc. everywhere. The sandy beach is not worth attention because it is difficult to call it sandy (sand with pebbles and du-u-little). There are no pines near the sandy beach (about 20 m from the shore, when you are with small children who need to be watched, this is not relevant).
In general, the rest of the hotel corresponds to the 3 stars, only the staff needs training or change or rotation !!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! . The attitude towards guests infuriates and spoils the general impressions and image of the hotel.
Croatia greeted us with fresh air and good weather, only on the day of departure it was overcast.
The hotel is simple but clean. Room on the 3rd floor overlooking the pine forest behind the sea. Comfortable mattresses on the beds and 2 types of pillows - higher and lower. Among the disadvantages: poor drainage of water in the shower, only 2 disposable bags of shampoo for 4 people for 7 days.
Food in the restaurant deserves all 10 points: delicious, plenty, safe for children. There were vegetables, several types of meat, fish, octopuses, once mussels, rice, pasta. Always fresh bread, from fruits: apples, bananas, plums, nectarines. There was baking every day (apple, cherry pie, puff pastry, once small croissants and another chocolate roll).
On Friday, all the waiters changed their strict uniforms into striped T-shirts, a musician played and sang in the hall, and everyone was offered brandy or cherry liqueur and mini-donuts at the entrance. It is very convenient that in the restaurant you could use their wooden chair for a child.
The sea is very clean. No special shoes were bought. Sunbeds, umbrellas are paid - 20 + 20 kuna.
After lunch we swam by the outdoor pool near the hotel.
With excursions we visited the beautiful old evening Zadar and Kornati National Park. Traveling by sea among the extremely beautiful nature is pleasant, but a little long - 2.5 years there and 2 years ago. The tour included swimming in a salt lake (even saltier than the sea) and lunch on the island (meat and grilled fish with fresh cabbage).
We took the opportunity to visit the salt room near the hotel.
In the evenings we walked along the promenade, ate delicious ice cream, which is really a lot at the corner, listened to concerts and marveled at the small performances offered on small stages near other hotels, drank cocktails.
I recommend for a holiday with children.
Organization.
Everything was well organized. Upon arrival in Zadar we were met by a Ukrainian-speaking guide with a sign and our group settled down near a comfortable bus that was already waiting for us. 40 minutes drive on the perfect road we are already in Biograd na Mory in the lobby of the hotel "Adria" where, standing in line at the reception, got the keys to the room.
During our trip from the airport to the hotel, our guide tried to give as much information about the tour: told about all the possible tours offered and said that we will have two information meetings with her during the week where you can get answers to our questions if such, of course, will be.
We arrived at Zadar airport just as comfortably and on time, when we were already flying home.
Number.
We got a room on the second floor of the hotel overlooking the opposite sea. This is a room of 19-20 m2 + bathroom. In the room: a double bed with two bedside tables on the edges, a single bed with a bedside table, a sofa, a coffee table, a bedside table with a TV (it has a trash can), a chest of drawers, a built-in wardrobe and hangers at the entrance. The floor is completely covered with a strip of not perfect purity, but thoroughly cleaned with a vacuum cleaner, smooth (not very smooth) walls are painted with beige water-based paint.
The room has a balcony, quite spacious, tiled, with two plastic chairs (but there is no table on the balcony and drying for speeches). The balcony overlooks the square in front of the main entrance and the pine forest, behind which looms the tiled roofs of private houses. The TV is very small with many European channels and two Ukrainian ("Channel 5" and "news one"). Hidden in the ceiling under the drywall, the air conditioner had a remote control on the wall and fully coped with its functions. Most claims to the bathroom. It was necessary to make a titanic effort by pressing a button in the door handle to open the door from the middle, which eventually led to the breakdown of that handle. The water in the shower and sink flowed downright badly and nothing could be done about it. In addition, in the shower form of careless movement constantly fell to the floor element of the holder per shower.
And not a single shelf for soap or shampoo was found in the shower. Towels were changed on time (two large, two small and one for the feet), the room was also cleaned without any complaints: they washed the plumbing, took out the garbage and vacuumed. The website states that each room has a minibar and safe, but in fact there was no safe or minibar.
Hotel.
This five-storey building, built during the SFRY, looks quite fresh after the renovation: doors with photocells, modern elevators, outdoor pool with children's section and bar, large restaurant with outdoor terrace. While swimming in the pool or having lunch on the terrace, there is always the opportunity to admire the large pine trees growing around and smell the needles of pine and lavender. On the ground floor there is a cafe, a room for children's animation (animation is poorly delivered), a room for spa treatments (including a salt room, one 20-minute visit which is included in the tour price).
The hotel is located on the outskirts of the city in a pine forest. There are tennis, volleyball and mini-football courts on site, but it's a bit "tiring". There are benches everywhere. There is a large parking lot where Lviv and Kyiv license plates were spotted. The contingent of vacationers is European: Croats, Slovaks, Slovenes, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Ukrainians. A large number of children of all ages, because the hotel operates on an all-inclusive basis.
Kitchen.
European cuisine was prepared, everything was delicious and everyone had enough.
For breakfast, many products in small packages (as in an airplane): cheese, honey, oil, jam, pate, "nutella". Cheese and sausage slices, sausages and bacon, omelet, muesli with various ingredients, salads, cookies, seafood and more. From coffee drinks, different tea, different waters, red and white wine, beer. The coffee was cold and not tasty, so we bought coffee in a cafe (10 kuna).
For lunch, different meat, different fish, two first courses, a lot of side dishes and salads, fruit, pastries. The drinks are the same, except, in my opinion, coffee.
For dinner there are also different options for meat, fish and side dishes. Brandy was poured by the pool from 10:00 to 22:00. There you could also drink wine, water or beer, eat cookies and ice cream during the day. It was forbidden to bottle and take food in the rooms, but no one monitored.
Sea and beach.
400m from the hotel is one of the few sandy beaches in Croatia "Soline", where it is convenient to go into the sea: there are no pebbles and the bottom is very empty. On this beach you can do without special bathing shoes, which are offered here to avoid meeting with a sea urchin and the convenience of moving on pebbles (50-60kun). The pine forest is close to the sea and many vacationers enjoy the shade of pine trees, saving on umbrellas.
There is a beach infrastructure (cafe, trade), toilet (2 kuna), automatic shower (for 2 kuna water flows for 30 seconds). Sunbeds and umbrellas cost 40 kuna. To the left of this beach stretches, also a busy pebble beach. The forest that approaches it is equipped with European savages - people from Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Holland, Norway come here with their houses on wheels, connect them to the networks and live there long and relaxed. To the right of "Soline" stretches a pebble beach all the way to the city center and throughout the beach there is a souvenir shop and various cafes and bars. Above that beach is a blue flag as the highest mark of purity of the sea and the shore. The sea is really very clean everywhere and twice as salty as the Black Sea. Fish are swimming, crabs are crawling. There is almost no wave, perhaps because the entire coast is protected by islands that stretch from edge to edge so that the sea horizon is almost nowhere to be seen.
The beautiful Adriatic Sea is, in my opinion, the main thing to go to Croatia.
Excursions.
We were offered 5 excursions. In my opinion, three of them are worth noting: Plitvice Lakes (54 euros per adult), nat. Kornati Park and Zadar in the evening (24 euros per adult). In Zadar, which is another city in demand (after Dubrovnik), there are two modern attractions: "Hello Sun" and "Sea Organ". "Sea Organ" is a pipe built into the waterfront, on which the melodies of the sea itself play: the waves beat and the organ sounds. "Hello Sun" is a model of the solar system on the waterfront, where the Sun and the planets consist of LEDs. During the day, the solar panels that power this system charge the batteries and in the evening it all automatically starts to glow and flicker. Very reminiscent of the dance floor in a nightclub. These things attract here the power of tourists, which is created by the crowd, similar to the Yalta in the peak season.
In addition, Zadar is 3000 years old and here are the remains of Roman buildings and a beautiful museum of archeology.
The most popular nat. . the park is "Plitvice Lakes", there is 2 hours by bus. This is a cascade of 90 waterfalls on lakes of extraordinary purity. You have to walk everywhere on narrow wooden bridges, and walk a lot. All this, of course, is very beautiful, but anyone who has seen the Carpathian waterfalls and nature, it is difficult to impress. Children under the age of six or seven are strongly advised not to take on this tour: it is dangerous and difficult. They did not go to Kornati, but they say that there is something to see: on a ship to the island, and there swimming in a salt lake.
Roads in Croatia are excellent, Croats are friendly and for those who speak Ukrainian, there is almost no language barrier, because there are a lot of similar or identical words.
We swam in the outdoor pool only a few times after dinner, because it is open until 10 pm, for variety you could drink wine at the pool bar.
We really, really liked the food. We were in a 4 * hotel in Istria last year, and I can say that there is nothing worse. There is everything. . meat, fish, soups, side dishes ...Of the fruits were bananas, melons, apples, one evening there were grapes and peaches ...
The hotel is really, as we were told in the agency is in a pine forest and the beach is a straight line between the pines.
The beaches are the best in Croatia. This beach, which is closer to the hotel - sandy, well with children. To another we walked about 400m. There is also a wild beach about 1 km from the hotel.
(were not but heard from other vacationers).
The city of Biograd is a beautiful historical town. Every night we walked its streets, ate ice cream, drank Croatian drinks)
In a word, I got from vacation all that I expected ...And I can safely recommend this hotel to my friends! Price-quality! ! ! ! !