Sol Umag Hotel

A modern, smart hotel which easily merits its four stars. Transfer form Pula Airport (with no intermediate stops) takes just over an hour.
Set in peaceful pine woods and a 30 minute stroll past the Marina to Umag Village, there is a tourist train which runs past the hotel to the village and the 10 kuna (one pound approx.) one way fare is worth it, particularly once you have walked the journey a couple of times. The staff are multilingual, friendly and helpful. The rooms are spacious and comfortable with air conditioning, TV, (only CNN and Eurosport in English) and a small balcony. Sol Umag appears to be extremely popular with German and Italian groups (most of the hotel staff appeared to be fluent in both languages and their English wasn't bad either)
The breakfast and evening meal buffets have a huge assortment of dishes, and there is a pasta corner where pizzas and pastas are provided./ The food is more than acceptable and there will be something to suit all tastes. A half litre of local dry red wine at around £3 is good value. There is an outdoor pool with bathing platforms and jetties stretching out from the rocky shoreline.
The hotel's wellness centre provides a host of luxurious (some pricey) treatments . Try the Istrian Village - a sauna / steam room complex with citrus hot tubs, whirlpools etc set in a cave like setting. There is a relax room where you can stretch out on the tiled tables to relaxing music and soothing lights or alternatively just relax on the loungers in the sauna complex with a cup of complimentary herbal tea. When we were there in October they were offering a two hour session in the Istrian Village for 100 kuna ( £10).
The hotel's lobby cafe bar is open throughout the day and they have a small snack menu offering toasted sandwiches, burgers etc with a tempting cake trolley. They have a live musician in the evenings playing background music. Try some of the reasonably priced cocktails.
Our stay in mid October saw most of the local restaurants and bars already closed for the Winter and most of the excursions had also packed up. There is a small bus station in Umag (probably a 40 minute walk from the hotel) and it is possible to take local buses down the coast to places like Porec, Rovinj and Pula. The hotel will organise Car hire and at this time of year is probably a good way of seeing a bit of the Country. Places such as Trieste, Ljubljana and Bled are within fairly easy reach.
Try one of the boat excursions (Kristina Excursions) - There is a guy on a bicycle who tours around the hotels selling tickets ( about £25 ) they pick you up at the hotel (taxi or minibus) in the morning and take you to one of the nearby ports such as Novigrad - depending where the majority of guests are embarking, and sail down the coast with unlimited cheap wine, beer and plum brandy (served from a Fanta bottle!) and a simple but adequate lunch of barbequed fish or pork with bread and sauerkraut. A three hour stop in Rovinj allows plenty time to explore this typical Croatian coastal town and have an ice cream or coffee before embarking for the journey home arriving early evening. The multilingual and jovial host (Captain Kojak) provides basic commentary on the trip and entertains on his accordion (including Jimmy Shand's greatest hits!).
Weather in mid October was pleasantly warm and hot (ish) on sunny days although we experienced some rain and cloud as well. I expect the area would be buzzing during the high season as there are miles of hotel complexes, chalets etc stretching northwards from the hotel. A good place for a restful autumn break.