"Overall, this is a lovely hotel and we really enjoyed our stay. The standard of service is high and the staff do go out of their way to make sure you have a great stay.
Rooms are nice and it’s a good location just on the outskirts of Porec but close enough to stroll into town (around 20 mins) or catch the land train (the hotel gives you a timetable when you check in). If you walk along the coast path then there are a few beach bars on the way or taking the inland promenade road (mainly traffic free) is slightly faster.
When we were there in August it was all families and therefore pretty busy around the pool etc. We had our children with us and so it would have been better to have a small adults only area/pool to chill out when ours were using the kids club.
The pool and public areas are beautifully maintained. You don’t need to get up early to get a sunbed as there are still plenty available after breakfast, however people do go down early to reserve the cabana beds, so if you want one of those then you need to be down by around 8ish. The hotel does not have any rules or prevent people from reserving beds, but the majority don’t do it anyway.
Food/drink - is good, main restaurant is the usual buffet affair with a decent selection. They have a kids buffet station too, where they have plainer foods like pasta (plain and they can add sauce if they want), chips, fish/chicken in breadcrumbs etc they also always have pizza out too.
Drinks are reasonably priced (you can download the Valamar app and menus are on there if you want to check out in advance) and the cocktails are very good.
Water and juice is available all day at the main pool bar (self serve), alongside some dried fruit snacks. This is a nice touch so you don’t need to be buying bottled water all day. As mentioned by others, there is also a complimentary bubbly hour 4.30 - 5.30, where you can have Prosecco or juice and a selection of savoury and sweet snacks, plus icecream.
Alacarte restaurants - you do have the choice of visiting other restaurants offsite, if you ask at guest services then they will show you menus and make the bookings and complimentary transfers for you. The menus for these restaurants are special set menus if you are exchanging your half board meal. We ate at the Miramare on our last night as that’s the earliest we could book it, and it was excellent. It is fine dining but they do have a kids menu available, I have attached the menu to this review because I couldn’t find it online anywhere before and i know it’s important if you have a picky eater in the family then you want to know there will be something they will eat. As it’s a fine dining restaurant, I would probably have felt uncomfortable taking very young children there, but it was fine for my children’s ages 7&11 as they are able to sit through a meal and aren’t needing to run around or be too noisy. They were very welcoming and nice with the children by the way, it’s just my opinion that the atmosphere is more suited for older children.
Unfortunately the menu for the Fogal by Bekal restaurant, which is a 5/10 min walk from the hotel, was very limited and so we chose not to eat there. It was a shame as when we walked past it later that evening at 8pm, they only had 2 tables dining there. I think if the hotel extended the menu choices for half board guests then more people would go to it.
It’s also worth mentioning if on half board that the hotel will let you swap your dinner for lunch. We didn’t want to eat buffet every evening so we did this a few times and then ate dinner outside the hotel for a change.
The beach opposite the hotel is a public beach and was very busy and noisy every day, and we therefore didn’t use it. This isn’t a fault of the hotel as obviously it’s a public space which they don’t have control over. But worth mentioning if you are beach lover and would plan to spend a lot of time there.
The kids club was awesome and our kids loved the staff there, they can come and go as they please 9am - 9pm. You have the option of a green wristband which means your child can leave the club on their own or a red wristband where you have to collect and sign them out. There were always loads of staff members there so the kids were always well looked after and entertained. They were really great with my kids who didn’t want to leave them when we had to go.
One more thing - I used the tip of a previous review - and paid for my full booking on arrival at the hotel. This meant I then accrued some Valamar reward points and could spend them on food/drink during our stay. You just need to join the scheme and then will automatically accrue points when you pay for your room at the hotel."
