-Europe.Croatia.Opatija-
Quite a number of Austrians favour driving to Croatian beaches for their getaway. One of the cities that pop up pretty often is Opatija. I heard it over lunch with my friend Liz who has been there multiple times and obviously liked it. We decided that a mild climate by the beach in winter sounds like paradise and was a mere 2.5 – 3 hour drive away. I came across Hotel Istra which had pretty good reviews in Booking.com and after checking out more about the Hotel , we were booked for a 3-night stay right after New Year 2023.
Arrival and Check-In to Hotel Istra
We arrived slightly after 1pm at the Hotel. There is a gate that opened for us and Rainer waited in the car while I went to check-in and to ask about Parking. I was surprised to see the busy reception and the queue of people there. Finally I could check-in and was informed that there is no car park at the Hotel but rather to park at the city street parking along the road.
We unloaded the bags and with sheer luck we got a parking space right in front of the Hotel. We were unsure how the street parking works but in the end it was rather straight forward – we would get a ticket placed on our windscreen daily and we just have to pay at our Hotel who then pays to the city.
Hotel Istra Room
The Reception gave us directions as to which wing our room was and we headed to the room on our own. Since Hotel Istra has 3-star rating , they did not have porter services which I am completely happy about. We got one key card and let ourselves in. The room itself was spacious with a good bed. The bathroom was a little compact but still had a shower stall and all the necessities including a hairdryer.
There is a large wardrobe with a safe inside, a desk and it has a balcony as well. The balcony opens up to such a great view like being right on top of the blue sea.
Now for the not-so-great part:
There is next to no sound-proofing in the room. The people next door was chatting way into the late night while we try to sleep and it was so loud that it was as if they were in the same room. We almost cut our trip short due to this but luckily after a couple of “Heys!!!” and banging on the wall , the neighbours got the message and piped down and went to sleep too.
Culinary Delights in Hotel Istra
We had the half-board package included in our Hotel stay. This meant having breakfast and dinner provided by the Hotel. Normally this means easy peasy and breezy. Our experience here is that there were so many guests here that it was a rather stressful experience when to go for the meals especially dinner. The dinner time was stated as 19:00 – 21:00 but people were already in queue at 18:45. The food finished up pretty fast and we felt we had no choice but to go early as well.
The food offered here was pretty good. They didnt serve those fancy seafood stuff but the focus was more on the fresh local seafood caught here which meant local fish. They offered pizza fresh from the oven , quite a good spread of salad offering and 2 kinds of soup every evening. Dessert included cut seasonal fresh fruits like pineapple, grapefruit and honey melon. There was often an assortment of smoothies, cakes offered as well but I was not such a fan as it was too sweet for my taste.
Hotel Istra Facilities
I didn’t expect much by way of facilities as the Hotel is 3-starred. However there is a heated saltwater pool that was very nice one afternoon when we had the pool all to ourselves for about 15 minutes. Needless to say we got out soon after as the crowd arrived. The pool was not very big and so it can get crowded very fast. I saw that the Hotel provided massage service as well which is really not bad considering that I was not expecting much. The direct access to the sea is the best facility of all in my opinion. I am guessing in summertime there are beach loungers for the guests.
The Verdict on the Hotel Istra
What can I say except location, location, location. This is a priority for me but then you already know it , if you have followed me for a while. The Hotel is right by the sea front. Upon stepping out, we were already on the Lungomare, the nice promenade walk 12km long. It is a nice 10-min walk to the town center.
Hotel Istra has been a mixed bag – while it exceeded my expectation of a 3-star hotel in terms of value to price ratio. Big room, comfortable bed, good food, top views and best location. All these things are honestly enough for me to forgive the bad soundproofing and the sometimes disorganized conditions at dinner. I think that they could do small changes for big improvements for example stagger the dinner times or/and providing fast checkout services. The final verdict is I would return to stay here but this time to request for a room at the newest wing which hopefully have better soundproofing.
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