Category: Croatia

Valamar Diamant Hotel (Poreč, Croatia)

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We stayed in the Valamar Diamant Hotel in Poreč, Croatia during our family heritage trip in the summer of 2018. This family-friendly and sports-forward property is a huge complex, with residence-type units and regular hotel rooms, a large buffet restaurant, several pools, a beach, and tons of sports facilities and activities for children.

Kiddie beach part of the hotel

This is not a luxury property. It looks like it was built during the communist era and hasn’t been updated since. We weren’t huge fans (especially due to one specific dining experience – read more below!), but I’m reviewing it so that you know what to expect if you decide to stay at the Valamar Diamant Hotel!

Valamar Diamant Hotel’s Location

Sunset view from the beach area

Our family chose the Valamar Diamant Hotel for its location and proximity to the town of Poreč (pronounced “poor-ETCH”), where there are a lot of things to do for those visiting Istria. Poreč is one of Istria’s larger towns and a great home base for exploring the region. The purpose of our trip was to visit our great-grandmother’s house in Nova Vas, about an hour’s drive away. So, it made sense for us to stay in Poreč, where things were a bit livelier.

The Valamar Diamant Hotel is one of the more highly-rated hotels and my cousin had stayed here on a previous trip, and has similar taste to me, so we also stayed here. It was a good choice for such a large group (16 of us, all adults) with various room types for all. There are regular 4-star hotel rooms and there are 3-star one- and two-bedroom apartments for rent, too.

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Hotel More (Dubrovnik, Croatia)

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I can’t take credit for choosing the Hotel More in Dubrovnik, as my uncle picked it for our trip to Croatia last summer. But oh my gosh, I’m so glad he did. The Hotel More in Dubrovnik, Croatia was everything we could have wanted and…well… more!

Hotel More Dubrovnik Croatia
Location, Location, Location.

Hotel More’s Location in Dubrovnik

Located in the slightly more suburban area of Lapad (just north of old town), Hotel More is about a 15-minute bus ride directly from the Old Town main gate, plus a 10-minute walk. It’s actually a lovely walk, where you stroll the coastline of Lapad and pass lots of little shops and restaurants on the way to the hotel.

Three adults shown walking from behind down mediterranean seafront
Walking from the hotel to the bus stop to take us into the Old Town.

You’ll likely arrive at the hotel by street, though, if you come by taxi and you actually arrive at the top of the hotel in the lobby. The hotel offers a pre-booked airport transfer service (for a charge), and we arranged for a minivan to pick us up from the airport and bring us directly to the hotel. The driver was on time, professional and very kind. Nika, the hotel concierge who helped me arrange the transfer and our dinner plans, recommended that we use the minivan since we were 4 adults with 4 big bags.

The hotel is built into a cliffside, so it doesn’t look like much of anything from the street. But once you enter the lobby, the floor-to-ceiling windows show the beautiful coastline behind you and you’re immediately transported into vacation mode.

Hotel More Dubrovnik Croatia
The view from the hallway outside our room.

Arriving at Hotel More in Dubrovnik

The bellmen were really helpful and sweet, and the front desk/reception folks were friendly and professional. We got our room keys and set off in search of our rooms.

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