Eden Hotel

2 readers found this review helpful

departed manchester airport 24/5/08.telephoned by direct holidays on the thurs. 22/5/08.& told that the hotel we had booked "hotel park 3 *** was not available. we had been moved to the eden 4****.
we picked the park because of the location of rovinj,the eden was 15 mins further away from the centre.
we were not told about the building work that was going on next to the eden hotel.maistra are to build a new 5***** hotel the muslini & a smaller hotel the hotel lone.
they are advertising now for bookngs for the muslini 2008,my advice is dont book,building work will continue into 2009 at least.
what about the hotel eden. a very nice 4**** hotel set in a nice parkland gardens,next to a national park.
you can hire bikes & go cycling or go for a good walk.and pass a few bars on the way in the woodland.
good big swimming pool outside & a nice indoor swimming pool inside.
from the outside the hotel looks very 70's but once inside it's very modern & clean.
rooms are very modern & clean.
the restaurant is a good size.
the food is not bad,maybe lacks a little imagination ove the full week.
the waiters aren't that bad,but could learn a great deal off the spanish and greek waiters.
entertainment average in the hotel.
bar area is all in one.which is reception area,entrance,lobby. very open plan.
would use it again.
as for using direct holidays again no way.
manchester airport avoid at all cost.plane landed but had no parking area,had to wait,then we had to taxi to the cargo area.
had to wait for some steps.
had to wait for some buses to take us to the terminal.
waited for the suitcases around 1 hour.
it took us 2hrs from landing to walking out.

3 readers found this review helpful

Second time we have been to Croatia having been to Cavtat previously. The Eden was pretty good, very well appointed rooms (if not a 'tad' small) and the Reception area was also very impressive. Rooms had flat screens and they had obviously spent a considerable amount of money on interior decoration. Our room was a shower only although booking said private bath - you might want to check if you like to have a soak.
We both thought that the food was uninspiring, not the worst we have had but certainly not the best - perhaps we were spoilt at the Princess hotels in Fuerteventura and La Palma! You get a reasonable greeting on entering the restaurant but the staff do little or nothing (mostly nothing) to help you find a free table and on occasions we were left wandering around trying to find a table - hey Boris why not allocate them on arrival like other hotels do?
The gardens were ok, although again I thought they were uninspiring and lacked imagination that I have seen at other hotels.
All said though the staff were very pleasant, and in the main helpful (exception was restaurant) and bar prices were generally pretty sensible, although the cocktails were small, especially during happy hour! House wine is very reasonable in both price and 'drinkability'.
Rovinj itself is very pleasant and we walked down most days or evenings. Do delve into the interior of the town to find the best places to eat and don't miss the walk to the top of the church - it costs 10 Kuna (£1) you enter near the 'shoppy' bit inside the church. The 'stairs' are 'interesting' but seemed safe enough.
We did the Venice trip; it was a bit 'whistle-stop' but I guess we had to do it. Other than that we didn't do any organised trips but hired a car (before we went out) and went to Plitvice lakes - a full day but a truly amazing place to visit. Driving through small villages with houses riddled with bullet holes was - sobering. We also went into Slovenia and went to the Lipizzaner horse stud and stables with English speaking guides - only cost a few quid - serious value for money and they do take Euros as well (as do most places in Slovenia) such as the caves we visited and the castle built into a cliff face. Don't miss the opportunity to get down to Pula to see the arena - what can I say - AWESOME - a don't miss site! Driving is easy, although many roads both in Croatia and Slovenia attract tolls. Don't drink and drive as the limit is - ZERO!
Go for it!

1 reader found this review helpful

We have just retuned from Croatia staying at the 4 star Eden hotel the hotel is set in lovely grounds with plenty of activities for sports etc. The food was average but never very hot, they advertise show cooking but every thing was left in the hot plate not given to you individually as done at other hotels.
At breakfast they used left overs from the previous nights menu veggie lasagne filled courgets carrots chips roasted peppers you could get the usual bacon tomatoes eggs cook whilst you waited, don’t try the omlettes like cardboard.
The rooms were very good, flat screen television and nicely furnished the bed linen was spotless all pure white bedding and duvets changed about every other day all though it was really hot there was no air conditioning working in the rooms no use asking reception not much use.
The public transport (bus) was unreliable ok from Roving but to return from Porac was almost impossible one lady had waited for the bus to return to Roving but left to another resort and had to get a taxi back we went on boats at least you got back to resort that way. The weather was excellent with just one day when it rained all day.

7 readers found this review helpful

We had heard rumours of the unexpected delights of Croatia from various acquaintances, then with the publication in the Daily Mail on May 28th of the ‘Time for an Istrian lesson’ article we decided it must be sampled.
On July 12th 2005 our holiday to Rovinj in the Istrian province of Croatia began, we booked with Portland Direct (£120 quid cheaper than with the parent company Thomson for exactly the same hotel deal),
As our flight was at 10am on the 12th from Gatwick, and we lived in Northamptonshire, we decided to travel to down on the 11th and stay in a hotel for the night, we had booked in at the Russ Hill Hotel in Charlwood, they provided parking for the car for the week and one nights accommodation for around £84, seemed like a good deal at the time. We arrived at the Hotel around 4.30pm and checked in, the hotel was in dire need of renovation, very old wood panel walls and very worn furniture and fittings, and the room was just about adequate and reasonably clean. The best description of this hotel was that it was a transit camp, specialising in the one night accommodation for travellers departing from the airport.
The first problem was that they did not have a lift! Which I thought was mandatory this day and age so we had to pull our heavy suitcase up the long stairs to our bedroom, luckily we are a fit couple of 60 year olds. Secondly we were informed that the coach transfer to the airport was £2.50 per person each way, this was not mentioned when we booked, we were given a timetable for the coach, our best time to leave was 7.15am.
The hotel restaurant did not appeal so we decided to go out and eat in Charlwood that evening, we had spotted several decent looking pub/restaurants on our way through, and picked The Half Moon, had a superb meal, but in true British tradition it cost us the best part of fifty quid.
The coach arrived dead on 7.15am next morning and we were taken to Gatwick South without problem, I have to say I hate Gatwick, it is so large and so busy, but flights to Croatia seem to be limited to Gatwick, Manchester and one from Bristol, not the most suitable when you live close to the Midland airports, however we checked in without a problem for our flight to Pula in Croatia. We had read in the Daily Mail some weeks before that the best breakfast to be had at the airport was at Est Est Est, we found this eatery and of course had to queue for a table, not too long though, the service from the staff was excellent, smiles and help at 8.30am, and the reviews were right, the traditional English breakfast was excellent, well cooked and hot and very good value at under six pounds excluding drinks.
Our flight to Paula with Thomsonfly was fine, the 757 was clean, all leather seats, on time and with a flight time of 1 hour 45 minutes shorter than we had imagined. We landed at Paula and it was raining (we had left the UK in a mini heat wave!) was this to be another of our poor holidays with similar weather we had suffered over the last few years, we seem to have collected umbrellas from all over the world!
The organisation on arrival at Pula was first class, you don’t need a brain on this type of holiday, the local Thompson agent was on hand to point you towards your coach for the transfer to your hotel, and it rained all the way on the 45 minute journey, but the local guide kept us entertained, first drop of was for the Adriatic Hotel in the centre of Rovinj then on to the 3 star Hotel Park, and finally to our 4+ star Hotel Eden. The rain had now stopped and we never saw a cloud again in the 7 days we were there, temperatures never dropped below 30C in daytime and 25 C at night.
Check in at the hotel was the simplest I have ever known, all details were at reception, just show your passports and you are given a plastic credit card size room key and numbers to stick on your cases for the Porter to bring your luggage to your room. The room card did not have to be inserted in anything all you had to do was flash it at a sensor on the door and the door opened. The room was immaculate well furnished, spotlessly clean and superbly modern and comfortable, the electronic safe allowed you to programme your own code in and the air condition was electronic and very silent. All in all first impressions were ‘top notch’.
Two invites awaited us, the Thomson get together at 9.30am the following day and a reception invite from the Eden Hotel Manager at 6.30 the following night, we had already had a letter from the manager welcoming us to the Hotel.
The Thompson welcome meeting was the usual sales pitch, but delivered by our rep Lesley, with great passion and enthusiasm, of course many of the trips seemed irresistibly, but after years of disappointment we now know how to read between the lines to get the full story. Anyway we decide to go for the day trip by Hydrofoil to Venice and the day trip to the Plitvice lakes, these two trips cost us £192! (Without the extra ‘options’ that were to follow)
The Managers welcome in the evening started with him personally serving you with ‘Champagne’ and the hotel’s PR Manager giving a talk about the Hotel and Rovinj, most unusual in a 330 room hotel.
Our first evening meal in a buffet type restaurant was approached with some concern, as we normally go bed and breakfast so as to sample local restaurants, that option was not available with this package, but this was soon dispersed with, the food was excellent, the restaurant was very large, excellently furnished and food was fresh, well presented and well cooked, a choice of at least 5 different meats and two types of fish plus vegetarian, numerous salads and sweets. I counted over 60 individual dishes were available, including many fresh cooked vegetables, this quality never varied throughout our stay, even if you went in at 8.30 (the best time we think as most of the rush is over by 8pm). Staff were on hand to serve your drinks, prepare tables and help in any way they could. The breakfast was equally as impressive, over 120 items available to cater for every nationality and every taste, over 20 types of bread, plus cereals, fruit, 12 hot dishes, eggs any way you wanted them, cakes and pastries and even roasted vegetables, and chips. I could go on for hours about the food standards, but I am sure you can see that the quality was excellent throughout (and we are a bit fussy).
Now, what about the excursions! We have learnt over the many years of holiday excursions that you need to be prepared for the worse, ‘what you read or are told by the agent is not always what’s inside the can’ (to coin a phrase) and no matter how hard you try to get all the facts always be prepared for the unexpected.
Our first trip was to Venice, well you have to go as you are so close, via a hi speed hydrofoil, brochure time to Venice was 2 hours 15 minutes, boarding through passport control in Rovinj was straightforward and we were directed to the lower deck for the English speaking guide, all other nationalities went up top, the hydrofoil seated 320 and it was full. We departed on time at 9am and glided across a mill pond Adriatic at 55 kph. Our guide was excellent virtually offering information throughout the whole trip, there is a small coffee shop on top deck where you get superb cappuccino for 90pence, served in china cups, no plastic rubbish here. Now this is what the brochure and the reps don’t tell you, the crossing time was as I said, advertised at 135 minutes, this was in fact the time to the entrance of the Venice lagoon, we then had a transit time at slow speed to the dock of 45 minutes thorough the lagoon, making a total of 3 hours, but at least you see a lot of sights like the entrance to the Grand Canal and St Marks Square from the boat, this was to be the same on the return. The options offered on board by our guide were; an arranged lunch in a Venice restaurant (with wine), a gondola ride (grouping up in sixes to keep the cost down) and a water taxi ride back to the hydrofoil from St Marks Square down the full length of the Grand Canal.
Being our first time there and with limited time we went for all three adding a further £82 in total for both of us, hence this day trip has now cost £172 for the two of us. Venice is fine, we have now been, wouldn’t rush back, but its an experience, the three options were in fact well worth the extra cash, especially the water taxi ride through the Grand Canal, if you only do one do this one, we left St Marks Square at 5pm, right in the rush hour for our 30minute ride to the port, a great experience. Our hydrofoil left at 6pm and we docked back in Rovinj at 9.10pm. The Eden Hotel (ours) was the only one that kept its restaurant open for guest who had gone to Venice, all others shut there doors at 9pm, so those unfortunate guests from the other hotels had a further expense of an evening meal.
All in all it was a great day out though there was insufficient time to go in the Basilica or up the Watch Tower (queues too long!)
Unfortunately the two trips that we wanted to do were back to back (as we only had a week in Rovinj) and next morning we were off on a very long day to Plitvice Lakes with the local tour company Gulliver Travel (also owned by Tui!) This is a Unesco World Heritage site close to the boarder with Bosnia. We knew this would be a very long day, but at least it included an evening meal on the way back. Our departure time was at 8.40am and with only two pick-ups in Rovinj we were soon on our way North East to Opatija on the Eastern coast of Istria, here we collected a few more trippers to completely fill the 60 seat coach. From Opatija we headed North to Karlovac, which was the start of the area that was occupied during the troubles. From Karlovac the route took us south to Plitvice Lakes, evidence of the war could be seen with shell marks on many houses. This journey was very long, with only one coffee / comfort break on route we arrived at the Lakes at 2.pm, some five and a quarter hours since we set out.
Our hotels supplied packed lunches and we were given 30 minutes in which to eat them, why did they not stop at around 1pm for lunch on route? Our walk around the lakes was breathtaking; it included a boat ride across the biggest of the 16 lakes, and about a 3-hour walk around parts of the others with waterfalls round every bend. We left the lakes at 6pm for a short ride to a restaurant on the way to Otacac, and in fact sat down for the meal at 6.30, bearing in mind that we only had lunch at 2.15pm. The route back was through Otacac to the coast at Senj then back along the coastal road to Rijeka, Opatija and back to Rovinj, arriving at almost midnight at our hotel.
Was it worth it? Yes, but I am sure Thompson along with Gulliver Travel could give it a bit of thought and take a shorter route with more time at the Lakes, looking at the map they could have knocked 80km of the journey by going direct to Plitvice, but even considering the long journey you must go and see the area, it is stunning, maybe better to hire a car and do it yourself, you need at least 5 hours there to appreciate it fully.
There are other trips which we did not have time to fit in, such as Lake Bled in Slovenia, another long day, if you want to do them all you will need two weeks, we shall next time.
Croatia and in particular Istria is stunning, right from the approach to Paula airport which takes you over wooded islands and stunning scenery, to all the clean towns villages and crystal clear waters throughout you won’t be disappointed. Rovinj is breathtakingly beautiful, take a walk up to the church on top of the old town, pay £1.00 to climb the 187 steps to the top of the church tower and admire the panoramic views over Rovinj and the islands, return to the harbour via cobbled streets and check out all the local artists small shops, then sit and watch the world go by at one of the harbour side cafés (the old town is traffic free).

However don’t go there if you want fast food, English Breakfast signs everywhere and rowdy evening entertainment, you wont find any, let’s hope we never will.
Do go there if you want superb hospitality, quality café / restaurants, leisurely walks through wooded hillsides down to small pebbly beaches, a perfect climate and either a very busy holiday, or just relax and chill out. We British are still in the minority, the Croatians are desperate to get us back, On July 17th the hotels completely filled up with guest from Germany, Holland, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Russia and many more, most of them of course drive down, lucky them.
PS. Just one more point our hotel had extensive gardens leading to an enormous pool, there must have been over 300 sun beds in the garden and around the pool, try and get one after 8am, the towels were out, and we noticed many of them were not used until the afternoon, so if you want one I’m afraid its ‘if you cant beat them, join them’ we know who we are taking about don’t we!