Heritage Hotel Kastelet

"We spent a wonderful 9 nights at the beautiful Hotel Kastelet. Our room and bathroom were clean, comfortable and elegantly furnished. Whilst we didn’t have a balcony the tranquil courtyard more than made up for it. Breakfast was amazing, the menu unlike any other that I have seen and the food was beautifully presented. This and being waited on by friendly helpful staff, far outshines the buffet breakfasts in other hotels. All of the staff were welcoming, kind and friendly. The hotel is literally just a few steps from the beach which is where we spent most of our time. The stone beach is narrow so got fairly busy but not uncomfortably. We thoroughly enjoyed swimming and snorkelling in the calm clear sea. Tucepi is a lovely village with plenty of restaurants within easy walking distance. We had a few favourites for the quality and variety of food. There is a very limited choice if you’re vegetarian and you would definitely struggle if you’re vegan."

"We stayed here 9-18th Sept, the Hotel is perfect. We feel its one of the prettiest hotels on the Rivera, 28 rooms, with a beautiful courtyard in the middle, small and comfortable the whole hotel was clean and tidy throughout, although the hotel doesn't have a swimming pool, to be honest I'm glad it doesn't have one, as you will see when you stay, as you can use Hotel Alga literally next door if you should so wish. We didn't, and took full advantage of the sea, as the water is so clear and warm the beach is so clean and swimming in the sea looking at the towering mountains is breath taking. The staff were friendly and helpful, a shout out to Tina, as her customer service was fabulous. Our room was 103 with a gorgeous sea view. Not noisy at all. Plenty of plugs with USB connectors, tea coffee and kettle in the room, but of you want a English brew bring a few tea bags with you, they don't supply Yorkshire tea. Air con worked, shower was great and spacious. No complaints at all. Housekeeping were brilliant and offered to clean room and change towels each day. A very good, thoughtful and tasty breakfast menu, with plenty of choice, from "plant food enthusiast" to "Brit in the city" English breakfast to American-waffle breakfast to fruit and croissants, which you can have at the front of the hotel, overlooking the beach, it is an Ala-carte menu and table service which adds a lovely touch to the experience. (You can also have room service or choose to eat in the Courtyard or restaurant). The beach is wonderful, please be aware there are no sandy beaches in Croatia, all pebbles, (But you will know that if you have done your research!) so buy beach shoes before you arrive as the cost is around 10-15 euros in Croatia you will need them!! There are enough sunbeds for all, there is a charge from the hotel, but well worth it if your spending all day on the beach, the hire for 2 sunbeds and a parasol is 28 euros a day, or 20 euros just for the beds, the hotel will provide beach towels at reception. its roughly the same price along the strip. Obviously there is a walkway in front of the hotel as seen on the advertised picture's before the beach, how else would you be able to walk the coastline? There are quite a few restaurant's, bars, supermarkets, gift shops and ice cream places to visit if your walking towards the Marina/centre of Tucepi, and not forgetting the bakeries, where you can buy freshly made Bureks, with choices of fillings and sweet pastries. prices around 2.50-3.50 euros. If you do browse the menus when deciding where to eat, the staff are not far behind you and will ask if you need any help, so choose your menu browsing wisely. Many of the restaurants vary in price, depends what your having, a beer is 4.5 euros and a glass of house wine is 3.50 euros, I recommend the "Dupin" as it has it has a good menu choice reasonable price, delicious and tasty meals, helpful and friendly staff, and the seating is superb for watching the sunset over the Island of Brac^, picture perfect! The Cinnamon roof top bar is an excellent place to watch the sunset whilst having a cocktail, although the bar is tired and could do with some TLC the cocktails were 9-10 euros each, Ouch... however the sunset and the view are stunning. highly recommended. Again.. Picture perfect! The other restaurant I would recommend is called "Postup", near the Marina, 15/20 minute walk from the Hotel, the menu is absolutely wonderful I ordered the salmon fillet with Mediterranean vegetables and my partner had beefsteak with mushrooms pasta, both meals were cooked to perfection, more on the expensive side, but so worth it. The restaurant is busy which is always a good sign. When your booking a day trip to visit islands by boat please note they prefer cash, they will ask for a deposit and give you a slip for timings etc. we booked the boat tour to Jelsa and Brac and visited the Golden Horn beach. cash deposit but they will except card payment on board, we also booked the skywalk tour by electric Tuk-Tuk it was 20 euro deposit each and the rest of the payment on the day in cash. Boat hire for 3 hours from Tucepi is 80 euros,(There is a choice of boats) this does give you plenty of time to see the coastline, moor-up close to a beach, have a picnic lunch snorkel and swim, "Part of the ship, Part of the crew Jack"! So my 5 Tips to help you. 1) Beach shoes ! 2) Ask for milk if your having a brew at breakfast. 3) Buy/take a snorkel as there are plenty of underwater life to see. 4) Bus times are not very frequent. 5) If you walk to Makeska, (1 hour ish) its Hilly but stunning views and so worth it so take a good pair of walking shoes/trainers, your feet will thankyou. if you do go to Markeska take a padlock and pen with you as if you visit St Peter the Apostle, statue on the Rivera he holds the keys to Heaven and you can add your padlock to the fence. overall 10/10 highly recommended."

"Kastelet Hotel I thought long and hard about this review and wanted to give travellers that haven’t yet been an honest review. The hotel by appearance and its position is beautiful however, what the photos don’t show you at front of the hotel, there is the walkway and then the beach. The first thing that was obvious is that you have to pay for the cheap, not comfortable sunbeds each day €28 for 2, (if paid for at the hotel) which is quite an amount over a stay. Please do not expect a nice sandy beach anywhere in Croatia, there are only pebbled beaches in Croatia. Narrow strips of pebble beaches and I have honestly never seen so many people cram into those small spaces. There were two outstanding hotel staff Stefan and Nenad, we can’t sing their praises enough. Nothing was too much trouble for them. We found it quite bizarre although we stayed at the hotel for 7 days, staff addressed us like they had never met us before even after a few days and quite honestly didn’t recognise us as hotel guests. Some of the staffs mannerisms were quite abrupt. We asked for an iron which to us is not an unusual request when staying in an hotel, especially 4 star and we were just told the only option was to pay for laundry. We were in a standard room 120. The room itself was quite lovely for a standard room however, you wouldn’t have wanted to open the windows as the hotel next-door is extremely noisy and not attractive at all to look onto. The hotel breakfast was a treat. It is the first time we have stayed in a hotel that served a range of food together, served to your table. We would much rather prefer to pick from a buffet style, it was quite overwhelming the amount of food that came together. On the first night we arrived at the hotel I asked for a cocktail which was delivered and beautiful. The second night to sixth night I was told there were no cocktails, just bizarre! Then on the seventh night a separate cocktail bar appeared! We chose to eat at the restaurant in the evening quite a few times, as apart from the Jarden Hotel, these were the only 2 classy restaurants in the resort. The food and menu choice was tasty and would recommend. Regarding the resort of Tucepi. We had travelled to Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar, Korcula, Brac, and loved all these places. The resort of Tucepi is low class, thank goodness it wasn’t our only experience of Croatia. The extremely overcrowded beaches and the kebab shops were just not for us. Cocktails range from €8-€15, a large Beer €4-€8. Sunbeds €30 for 2."