Hotel Neptun, Porec
Submitted by: Elena (all pictures also by Elena)
Visited: Porec in July 2002
Organised: Tour operator Golden Sun, through www.bargainholidays.co.uk
Type of accommodation: Hotel
Name of hotel: Hotel Neptun

Comments:
My husband and I visited lovely Croatia in July of this year and I was kindly asked to write a review of our trip for this website. I hope you will enjoy reading it and pick up some helpful tips for your trip there.

When we first thought of going to Croatia on holidays I pictured myself a culturally rich country with a mild climate, and not so busy as Spain or Italy in July. Our main objective to get away from the chaos, hassle and stress of big cities and find a place where we could relax, experience new things and of course, what we all need when going on holidays, to forget about all the problems in the world.

We booked our holiday very late, just a week before it started in July. I have to note here that it was very difficult to find tours to Croatia at that time of year and that little time in advance. Very few tour operators offered it and even if they did the price was £600-£700 per person for two weeks. We started to look for last minute deals on the Internet and for those of you that need advice in where to look for the holidays, we found that www.bargainholidays.co.uk had more offers than any other website. We finally bought a package for two weeks for £360 each to Porec, which is in the region of Istria in the northwest of Croatia. The agency that actually sold us the tour was “Golden Sun” and the package included:

Flight from London to Pula
Transfer from Pula to Porec - 1.30 hours
Hotel Neptun ***, half Board: breakfast and dinner

The flight from Gatwick to Pula was enjoyable and short at only 1 hour and 50 minutes. On our arrival in Pula, we were met by the bus by the Golden Sun representative, who took us to Porec which took only one and a half hours, and only after travelling for 3.5 hours from London, it seemed to us that we arrived in a tropical paradise. It was 2 am in the morning and the temperature must have been about +30C. We arrived at our Hotel at 2.30 am and were given a cold dinner with drinks. I was pleasantly surprised with our hotel (the pink and red colour building on the photo above). It was one of the best looking buildings and was right on the main embankment of the town in the middle of the best restaurants and cafes. Apart from that, the inside looked rather like a 4 star hotel and the service did not disappoint us. Although when booking the hotel we asked for a room with a sea view we were really happy to have a room with a view of the Basilica instead. It was not on the sunny side of the town and therefore the room was kept cool during the day, which in temperatures as high as 35C+ is very important.

Every morning we had a good breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, croissants, yogurts, tea and coffee. But we liked the dinner most - it was absolutely bursting with variety! From any possible type of fish, mussels and sometimes oysters to 3-4 types of meat and lots of salads and garnish, followed by a wide variety of desert, which included ice cream, fruits and cakes. So it was really impressive and unexpected.

We discovered that Porec is the most stunning town in Istria and hence one of the main tourist towns in the area, which I have to note, was to an advantage. The town obviously enjoys good share of investment and is well maintained and polished. There are many things we could do in the town. We visited the Basilica - a very impressive sight of the 6th century church, protected by UNESCO; visited little art galleries; and just walked around the old town every evening; went to the local restaurants and, of course, shops. There were few people in the streets in the morning and afternoon, but close to the evening it seemed that all tourists and locals in the area would come to the centre and the town would be bursting with action. To get away from the crowd, we often went to a far side of the town to appreciate the superb sunset.

For swimming we went several times to the nearby island [Sveti Nikola]. It only took 2 minutes by boat for which we had free tickets provided by our hotel. The island was a stunning place with nice beaches. The walk around it would probably take about half an hour and you would walk through a forest, rocky beach, see many lizards and even rabbits, which was actually a big surprise to me. And it was really nice to chill out on the main embankment of the island with a stunning view of Porec.

Apart from the island we went to Plava Laguna and Zelena Laguna beaches, which were about 2-5 km to the south of Porec. You can walk there, take a little, childish looking train or take a boat. We used all three modes of travel, but out of all of them I really enjoyed walking. It was good exercise and the coast line is full of cafes, grills, nice beaches and people entertaining themselves by playing sports such as tennis or volleyball, and simply sun bathing. The sea was really clean and Istrian beaches have been awarded the Blue Flag of excellence by the European Union for the cleanest water in Europe. You can see a lot of fish in the sea and at night witness how 20-30 crabs crawl on the stones of the main embankment of the town.

The food was great in Porec, and it mainly consisted of fish and pizza. The prices in restaurants are reasonable, for a decent meal you would pay £5 per person including a glass of wine, however of course those who can afford a more expensive meal may go to a couple of “posh” restaurants over there and pay more.

There are lots of sports activities that you can do there. We had lots of fun, playing tennis, canoeing, hiring bikes, my husband went windsurfing, and just walking by the sea 2-5 km a day, which was just fantastic, especially because the air was so fresh in comparison to London.

Apart from exploring Porec and going for a swim you can explore the nearby towns and villages in Istria. Many boats depart from Porec’s main embankment, going along the Istrian coastline, visiting all main towns and islands. The boats offer on-board entertainment and dinner - all for £15 per person for the whole trip, which would take the whole day. One of the most popular destinations is Venice. The price is £40 per person and it takes 2.5 hours on a fast ship one way. The boat departs in the morning and returns in the evening. We did not go on the boat trips for a simple reason - I get sea sick, but I met people who did go and they seemed to enjoy it. Instead of going by boat we went to the nearby towns by bus. One of the towns that we visited was Rovinj (see picture below). It takes 1 hour on the bus from Porec to Rovinj. Apart from the views and walking through the main streets there is little to do over there and we left quite soon.

Rovinj	Elena in Vrsar

The other town that we visited was Vrsar and we loved it (above). It is a very hilly, old and beautiful town. And similar to Rovinj there was little to do, but we just enjoyed the breathtaking views from the top of the hill.

All in all we were charmed by Istrian region hope to go back there one day soon. The two weeks that we spent there passed very quickly and we did not really want to go back to a busy lifestyle in London.

Elena

Thanks very much for the great report, Elena! (Elena and I studied on the same course at university.)
Anna, Webmaster