Visit Croatia Review: Falkensteiner Funimation Hotel Borik, Zadar
School summer holidays can mean only one thing – family summer holiday time! If you have young kids, you’ll know that a family-friendly resort can be an invaluable choice for a holiday; despite such resorts normally being packed to the rafters with excitable young children running around for what feels like 20 hours of the day, there’s normally so much to do for kids and adults alike. This year, I decided to holiday at the Falkensteiner Funimation Hotel Borik, which is located in the hotel-heavy part of Borik in the North Dalmatian city of Zadar. Find out what I thought here.
A quick info bit before I start – The Falkensteiner Funimation Hotel Borik is owned by Austrian hotel group Falkensteiner, which, as well as running a number of properties in the Zadar region (and a hotel on the island of Krk), owns some lovely-looking hotels in its home country, plus Italy (mostly northern Italy), Czechia, Slovakia and Serbia.
The “funimation” part of the hotel’s name is because there certainly is plenty of entertainment practically all day long! As I mention below – there was aqua aerobics in the pool to evening discos and live music, kids’ clubs to swimming lessons, a decent-sized games arcade and even a nighttime quiz! The hotel chain itself rates this property as five out of five for entertainment, which I wouldn’t disagree with.
A friendly arrival, and we get acquainted with our room
Our late in the day Ryanair flight got us to the hotel at around 9.45pm which meant that check-in was a breeze – there was no one else trying to do the same at that time of day! This was also no doubt because it was a Thursday, a very untraditional check-in day of the week. Had we been arriving on a Saturday or Sunday, the lobby would have undoubtedly been fuller.
Our late arrival meant we had missed dinner, but upon reaching our room (a very short time after arriving at the hotel) we were greeted with a very full plate of salami, cheese and a massive basket of bread. Which I call a full dinner!
What was our room like? Well, we had a room on the second floor, overlooking the pool and with views out to sea. The room was a little bit of a tight squeeze but overall a decent size; a large and comfortable double bed in the centre, and two single beds for the kids in a small space separated from the rest of the room by a curtain. Great for getting them to sleep earlier than us adults!
The bathroom only had a shower – no problem for us – but with nonsensical doors that meant the bathroom nearly flooded every time the shower was used. Why?! Why do so many hotels do this?!
We were lucky enough to have a balcony – not that we ever had the time to sit on it – but it came equipped with a proper drying rack which is a great idea. Provide something for your guests to properly hang their pool towels and swimwear on, and they won’t clutter up the balconies.
First day – start as you mean to go on with some pool time
This is very much a family holiday, so what happens on a family holiday? Eat – pool – eat – pool – afternoon drink or ice cream – pool – small rest – eat – dinner, drinks and entertainment – bed. Repeat x 7 (insert your own holiday length here) – go back home.
And that’s essentially what this hotel is all about. Or at least, that’s how we enjoyed it! After our first experience of a buffet meal, the breakfast, we headed down to enjoy a long stretch of pool time. The pool selection is more or less excellent at the Hotel Borik. There’s one very large pool that’s divided in the centre, with one side I would suppose intended for swimming and the other for fun, seeing as that’s where the large slide ends up. In reality, both sides were used for fun – i.e. kids splashing about – all the time.
A second, smaller pool is off to one side that seemed to be more for smaller children and their parents to use. This pool was actually linked to the indoor pool by a doorway you could swim through – much to the delight of many kids. It looked as though this door would close in the colder months, and the indoor pool would then be self-contained. Both the indoor and outdoor sections of this pool had an area that bubbled up every so often, no doubt intended for relaxation but actually commandeered by kids (but of course) who shrieked with delight every time the bubbles appeared.
The “baby pool” was a fair bit away from the above-mentioned pools; I felt it was a bit of a disappointment. The pool was actually not really a pool at all, and in fact a small waterfall which saw water drain down into a large fountain – so, more like a splash area (but set on the ordinary tiled ground). Whilst some kids, I’m sure love splashing about in this sort of setting, I would have preferred a proper pool to allow my young one to walk around/splash around in confidence.
The water slide into the main pool provided literal hours of fun for some kids. Even I had a go, and I’m a total scaredy-cat! My verdict: very fun, a tiny bit scary, and I can see how some would go on this all day long.
I know the next question on your lips – are pool towels provided? Thankfully, yes! You’re given a number of cards (depending on your group size) that you exchange each day at the spa reception for towels. Then, when you return your towels, you get the same number of cards back. It’s a system that works really well, and there was never a towel queue.
And yes, to answer your next question, guests DO reserve sun loungers despite posters asking then NOT to. Sigh. But there were always enough loungers (with some spare) to find some free ones.
The beach is minutes away
Get this – a sandy…yes, sandy…beach is right outside the Hotel Borik.
And by right outside, I mean exit the garden gate by the pool area and woah – there you are on the beach. It takes just seconds to get there!
The beach isn’t a private one, but no matter – there’s plenty of space for everyone, although you do need to pay for beach furniture should you wish to sit down on something that isn’t sand or the small pier. But if you’re staying at the Hotel Borik, you will likely do what we did and just head down with some towels for a brief swim before retreating back to the pool.
The beach here is unbelievably shallow for ages – obviously, always great for kids. This kind of beach also makes for an energetic swim if you had far enough out to get to where you need to tread water.
The kids won’t stop playing
And I mean this as a statement, rather than a complaint!
Why? Well, there’s a great deal here for them to enjoy. There are two small-ish outdoor playground areas to explore, but a star attraction for any kid – even when they’re on a summer holiday with sunny, hot weather – is the soft play area. This indoor playground was actually of a decent size and had enough variety to keep my two entertained for ages. Even better, the soft play was open from 9am to 9pm each day, so we could pop by after breakfast, before dinner, after dinner, whenever we had a free moment…
The soft play was located in the kids’ club room, which had other toys and activities to dive into, and plenty of adults and entertainers on hand to keep an eye on things and interact with the children. Just off this room was a gaming room for older kids – not something we used, but I suppose an essential if you have kids of a certain age and interest.
The soft play/kids club room is cleverly located right by one of the bars, so adults can sit outside and be close enough to keep an eye on things (kind of) with a coffee or something even more relaxing. And on the left was the arcade/games space, which had a number of decent arcade machines (including one of those always impossible grabber toy things) and a game with the prize of a Luka Modric Croatia shirt. (For the whole week, we couldn’t figure out what the game actually was.) Then also perennial favourites such as ping pong, air hockey, sit-down football and more.
The kids club offered a very extensive timetable of activities, which were separated out into Falky ones (for younger kids) and those for Falkons (for the older set). Activities included circus workshops, slackline challenges, t-shirt painting, scavenger hunts, water polo, bath bombing making and much more. My lot aren’t into holiday kids’ clubs so I can’t offer much comment on the quality of Hotel Borik’s one – but from what I saw, the kids joining seemed to be having a good time.
And then the all important evening entertainment, for kids need to be included in something once the pool closes. It was always family-friendly – from kids disco to shows (we caught a very acrobatically-themed adaptation of The Greatest Showman) to a movie night to live music.
If all of the above isn’t enough, the hotel mascot – Falky the Falcon – makes an appearance every now and again to the delight of the many screaming children.
There was also a giant inflatable assault course next to the hotel (not actually part of it), which offered 15 minutes of play for €5. Just in case you needed another way to entertain the kids!
Eat as much as you want, when you want (kind of)
Whilst I suppose all inclusive means you could stuff yourself silly at mealtimes, all inclusive for a family holiday has the massive advantage of not having to think about meals for your children for the entire week. Worth its weight in gold, isn’t it? Sure, they’re eating doughnuts for breakfast, three portions of chips for lunch and one piece for pasta followed immediately by watermelon and ice cream for dinner – who cares?! You’re on holiday! Slightly more adventurous eaters may even sample something new!
Personally, I thought mealtimes at the Falkensteiner Funimation Hotel Borik – which were always served buffet style – were good, fine, not amazing…but is a buffet ever amazing? There was always a very decent choice, with multiple options – cereals, cold cuts, fruit and cooked breakfasts for the first meal of the day and so on. I loved the choice of salads, which were varied (with an option to make your own from basic ingredients too), and I thought desserts were also great; lots of nicely presented cakes, with a Croatian option (strukli, plum dumplings, orahnjaca, kremsnita and similar) always on offer.
There were two special nights – a Dalmatian night on Friday and a BBQ night on Wednesday. Both involved the food laid out on stalls in the courtyard, and a special welcome drink of a cocktail. The Dalmatian night was a nice touch, with dishes such as pasticada with gnocchi, grilled squid and more, whilst a klapa band wandered through the restaurant. The BBQ night was disappointing, only insofar as little of the food actually seemed to be being grilled out there in the open!
I have to mention the snack bar by the pool which also laid out items for lunch for guests each day. (Lunch was also served in the restaurant.) This was a simple affair, with chips, pizza, and salad available most days, whilst pasta dishes, hot dogs and burgers also appeared on some days. A truly easy and tasty way of taking a break from pool time.
All-inclusive also means all-inclusive drinks! Look, I’m not fussy when it comes to beer and wine in these situations; if I can apparently ask for unlimited quantities, I’m not expecting €100 bottles of wine to be cracked open. I normally opted for a glass of Grasevina white wine from the main bar in an evening; some nights I even went “wild” with a pina colada, which was stronger than I expected! The kids (mine and…everyone else’s) couldn’t get over the unlimited kids’ mocktails, with a Falky (a orange and red drink), a Blue Lagoon (a blue drink) and a non-alcoholic pina colada the top hits.
What about some R ‘n’ R?
Tending as I was to small children on my holiday, I didn’t get much of a chance to indulge in the spa apart from a few minutes in the jacuzzi!
The spa seemed extensive, surprisingly so, with the aforementioned jacuzzi, a cold plunge pool, relaxation area, sauna, steam room and private rooms for treatments.
Really, I should have booked myself in for a massage – my regret!
Unexpected highlights
Always pleasing on any holiday, especially a family one, is a surprise or two.
One of our surprise highlights was the coffee and cake offer in the Barbara Bar, just off the lobby, every day from 11am to 6pm. (We chose to enjoy the offer at a normal British tea time hour.) Some rather fancy-looking “cakes” (usually more of a dessert such as mousse) were also available to take from the small fridge in this bar, whilst coffee, wine or lemonade could be ordered from the waiter. (Other drinks were available for a price.)
I was also very pleased to see swimming lessons offered (for free!) to younger guests aged 4+. I spotted a jolly teacher leading small groups in the indoor and outdoor pools.
The central corridor between the two main buildings featured a small selection of shops, including a toy shop, a souvenir shop and what I’m going to call a “pool supplies” shop. (Swimwear, inflatables, sun cream and the like.) Whilst I didn’t need my children to gaze longingly at the toys every day, having inflatables to purchase on our doorstep – albeit pricey (but, you know, when in Rome…) – kept everyone happy.
The staff were all very friendly, particularly the Reception staff who always greeted me with a smile. Entertainment staff seemed to work long and hard each day, keeping everyone amused, and were always in good spirits around the kids. The barman in the Barbara Bar was also very professional, although he clearly wanted someone to ask him to make a proper cocktail or for a wine or whiskey recommendation! (Won’t someone please put him out of this misery?!)
More info about the Falkensteiner Funimation Hotel Borik and good to know
You can find out more about the hotel and what it offers guests on the Falkensteiner website.
The hotel is only around a 30-minute drive from Zadar Airport – a pleasingly short transfer time. It’s around a 20-minute drive to Zadar’s Old Town, and Uber and Bolt taxis can easily find the hotel and collect you right outside the door. The ride into town/from town costs €5-10 depending on the time of day. You could also travel to the Old Town by local bus number 5 or 8, with the bus stop outside the hotel.
A 15-minute walk away from the hotel is the marina in Drazanica Bay, from where you can get the Zadar Water Taxi directly to (or from) the Riva in the Old Town.
Local excursions can be booked in the lobby.
A doctor is available for consultations during certain hours each day. (Not inclusive)
There is a decent-sized Konzum supermarket across the road from the hotel.
There are numerous bars and restaurants within walking distance from the hotel, should you want a change of scene from the all-inclusive offer.
Note: This is NOT a sponsored post, and Visit Croatia paid for the entire holiday. All thoughts in this review are Visit Croatia’s own and not influenced by any company.
