Sol Istra Hotel Reviews

If you want a quiet relaxing holiday this is the one for your. The hotel is situated on red Island just a 15 minute ferry ride from the beautiful town of Rovinj, The ferries run every hour from 6.30 in the morning with the last returning at approx 12.30 at night and is free for hotel residents.

The Hotel food is Very Good with free beer and wine with the evening meal. Breakfast is not so good however it is adequate.

The Captains bar has its own jetty which you can sit on during the evening ovelooking Rovinj in the distance, whilst watching the sunset (very very romantic).

The poolside and beaches are excellent however if you use the beach the sun beds cost £2 per day with an umbrella an additional £1.50 whilst on the poolside they are free.

Red island links to Seagull Island by a man made jetty, again this is an attractive island with many areas you can swim from, This island is also used by Nudists so be warned, however they are discreet.

I would say that 95% of the rooms have fantastic sea views, and there is no surcharge for them. Hotel Istra has recently been modified at a cost of £27 million, This shows in the standard of the rooms bars restraunts and foyer etc etc.

The only negative is the seagulls which use the fresh water pool as a watering hole, they are also quite devious in stealing any food that they see, if you have a phobia against birds do not go, however if ornathology is your thing their are quite a few different types of birds to see.
Would I go back, Most definately of all the holidays I have taken this was by far the best, in fact perfect. Well done hotel Istra

Good priced family holiday.
Rovinj,historic compact town/port,a maze of narrow streets.Friendly locals.Not expensive.
Hotel Istra,Large clean hotel set on an island.Good food but not adventurous.large swimming pools together with other good all round facility's.
There are no sandy beaches here.
Boat ride to Rovinj is free to hotel residents,runs every hour while we were there in May.
We booked this on the Friday and went on the following Tuesday.2 hours from Birmingham and then a 45 min coach drive to Rovinj.Irena the rep was a local and very informative and pleasant.
Would recommend this holiday.

Hotel Istra is on its own island about a 15 minutes ferry ride from the mainland. The hotel provide free ferry rides for guests from the island to the mainland throughut the day. They are very professional, we arrived by car and they even provided free transport from the harbour to a carpark whenever we needed the car. The hotel has 3 pools, a full size sweetwater pool, a baby sweetwater pool and a salt water pool. The sun beds were very comfortable. The health suite was still being built so we didn't get to try that. We were impressed with the buffet, a large selection every day including a different fresh fish dish. We took our meals outside and ate by the sea which was lovely, but don't leave any food unattended or the seagulls will swipe it! There is another a la carte restaurant in the hotel bult inside an old chruch with amazing views. There is a great pizzaria and another seafood restuarant on one of the other smaller islands. We hired a small motor boat one afternoon and the hotel provided us with a packed lunch. We had half board and we were given the option to swap one of our evening meals for the packed lunch which we happily did as we wanted to eat out on the mainland a few times. So if you go on a day trip you can get the hotel to pack lunch for you.

The play area was amazing, ball pit, bouncy castle etc etc. the childrens clubs were great.

We found out on our last night the rooms in the main hotel had all recently been updated with new bathrooms and flat screen tv's. We were in the annex and didn't have any of that. Also there was no lift in the annex so not so great when you have to carry two tired children up the stairs.

The locatiion was beautiful, our only gripe was the seagulls, they were everywhere, drinking from the pools, swimming in the pools, stealing unattended food, not the place for anyone who doesn't like birds.

If you go here go and and watch the sun set from the tables at the edge of the sea at the Captains Bar, truly magical.

Although I have sent in reviews to ";Holidays Uncovered"; for the last three or four years. This was the first time I'd used it to guide us to a resort and a hotel. We were not disappointed and Rovinj now tops the list of locations we'd like to return to. Thanks to previous reviwers for their helpful frankness.

Hotel first. The Istra is on an island 15 minutes off the coast. It's serviced by a ferry that is basically on an hourly frequency but is not always on a regular pattern thruoghout the day. The rooms were comfortable and air conditioned, although the bathrooms were rather small. All rooms would appear to have a view over the water. The food was good but not adventurous. It conservatively satisfied a wide range of European tastes. Buffet service meant that you could determine the size of your own portions. The public areas of the hotel are spacious.The staff were helpful.

Although there is a pool, we did not make much use of it. We were able to find our own stretch of rocky coastline quite easily even though the daily tourist population of the island is swollen by day trippers coming from the mainland. They, especially ones with children, tend to concentrate by the causeway linking the main island with the adjacent one, where there is a lifeguard a children's playground and a busy lunctime pizzeria. We found the restaurant across the causeway much quieter for lunchtime meals. In the evening there is a bar down by the island,s harbour with some waterside heating.

The ferry fare to Rovinj was 15 kuna return(£1.50) and I couldn't help comparing it very favourably with the £1.50 Firstbus charge me to get just one way into the middle of town.

Rovinj is a town of great character, originally occupying a hilly island. The old town is a jumbled maze of narrow streets, largely occupied by arty carafty shops, all rising to a large cathedral at the top. Very atmospheric. There's a typical Mediterranwean/Adriatic feel to the harbour and the inevitable harbourside cafes and bars. We had no difficulty in finding good places to eat and drink when in town. We particularly liked the ";Amfora";.

We bought into the day trip to Venice. Fast crossing but you are kept inside the boat ";for your safety"; so now enjoying a sea breeze. The trip involved setting off before the hotel breakfast. We were pleased to find bars open ashore to buy our own (and of course we could have asked for a packed one). We did the two ";statutory"; local boat trips, round the islands and into the Lim Fjord - half day jaunts and good value for money especially considering the grappa and wine that we were plied with on board.

The islands to the south of Rovinj (including the Istra island) and the parallel wooded headland have protected landscape status so further development this way is unlikely. When the almost inevitable commercialisation happens, it will be in the bay to the north of the town. I do not see the special atmosphere we have enjoyed likely to be threatened.

A final comment. Our stubborness in going for a 10 day break rather than a 7 or 14 day one meant that we had to go with Crystal. No problem with the company, but it meant we had to fly Manchester - Ljublanja, which is a three hour transfer. It meant being up at 5:30 to catch the firs ferry and then on to a 12 noon flight. On 7 or 14 days we'd have been able to fly to Pula, only an hour away. When we return it will be the week or the fortnight.

And we will be back!

This place is ideal if you want to get away from it all. The hotel is a 20 minute boat ride from the resort of Rovinjon its own island.It is a very good 3 star + hotel with good facilities.There was buffet meals for both meald included and gave you plenty of choice. There was also a separate restaurant where you paid but we went there for a change and it is good to get waiter service.The service in the hotel was excellent and the staff liked to talk to the British if you talked to them. There were very few British people so don't go if you want to talk about the weather, tea or back home!!
Rovinj is a typical Croatian town with a busy harbour and lots of shops and bars where the food and service was again excellent.

While there we paid for an overnight trip to Venice which seems expensive but was worth every penny. The hotel Metropole in Venice was better than excellent. and I would recommend this trip to anyone who gas not been to Venice before but don' book any of the ";special deals"; the ferry company try to sell you.

I could go on about this holiday but I have been to Croatia a number of times and it is my favourite destination and I don't want it to become full of British. At the moment it is Italians, Germans and Russians who enjoy this fabulous country and that is good with me