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.
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
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.
Would we stay here again next time we come to Poreč? Probably not. I’d like to check out the Hotel Parentium Plava Laguna, the Boutique Hotel Mauro or the Bo Hotel Palazzo next time. (Have you stayed at any of these properties? Drop a comment and let me know what it was like!) I’d much rather stay at a place like the Hotel More!
Getting to the Valamar Diamant Hotel to Poreč
Arriving/Departing by Air
The nearest airport to Poreč is Pula (PUY). You’ll likely fly into Pula and drive from Pula to Poreč by private transfer. We got there in a very unconventional way (basically Croatia Airlines screwed up our flights so badly that we had a van transfer from Zadar to Pula and I offered the amazing van driver cash to take us from Pula to the hotel – which Marko did. He was amazing.). However, Rome2Rio tells me that the taxi fare between the airport and the hotel should cost about $100 US. It’s about a 45-minute taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.
If you rent a car
There are car rental places in Poreč town center, so you can easily rent a car when you arrive at the hotel if you don’t rent one at the airport. We rented a car from Carwiz through RentalCars.com and it was pretty painless.
Parking is free for hotel guests, and the lot is secure to park your rental car. There are a guard and entry gate to the parking lots (that’s “carparks”, for you Brits), and they were always polite and friendly when we came and went.
Arriving/Departing by Sea
You can get a direct ferry from Poreč to Venice and vice versa, which made it the perfect last stop in Croatia for us before continuing on to Italy and then back to the States. A full itinerary is to come!
Getting from the hotel to Poreč’s town center
If you don’t mind the walk, you can walk all the way into Poreč town center from the hotel, along the coastline. There are a few paths and it’s about a 15-20 minute walk. You can also take a tourist train, which has several pickup points along the way. We walked, however, so I can’t recommend the train or not. We also took a water taxi from the pier by the hotel into town to watch the World Cup quarterfinals (if you recall, Croatia was playing!). The price was very reasonable, and we split the cost among us.
You can also rent bikes at the hotel and ride them into town, take them out for the day, and return them to the hotel later on.
Valamar Diamant Hotel’s Amenities
The hotel’s freshwater pool is pretty nice and provides towels to guests for use during the day. The Valamar Crystal is almost connected to this hotel and they also have a nice hotel pool that you can use if you want.
The beach is also pretty nice, but it’s a rocky coastline (not exactly a sandy beach). There’s a little cafe near the beach where you can order snacks and drinks, and you can make a nice little morning of relaxing out of it (although the costs can add up…).
Other than at the beach, you have to pay for pretty much anything you’d want to use at the hotel, separately. They clearly monetize every activity in the hopes that parents will pay anything to keep their kids busy and entertained.
There’s a spa, but they were fully booked while we were there (we wanted massages), so I can’t speak to the spa services.
The lobby bar was nice – plenty of seating for relaxing with a drink and catching up. The bartenders were nice and made a great Aperol spritz.
Some of the activities looked pretty cool, and my adult cousins all went on the water obstacle course. They *might have* done that without paying – even if they were supposed to. It was a riot to watch.
Finally, there’s a massive gym at the property, tennis courts, etc. If you want to stay active while on vacation, this hotel may be a good fit for you.
The Rooms
The rooms were functional – no frills here. Nothing to write home about. The rooms were clean and simple and the beds were comfortable enough. There was air conditioning. However, the bathrooms were pretty small and very 1980’s, with a stall shower that was on the small side and all white tile.
The Food at the On-site Restaurant
The food at the Valamar Diamant Hotel is served buffet-style in a large restaurant on the ground floor of the main building. This was great for us, as we had 16 adults with us, who could come and go as we pleased and yet all sit near one another to dine. We ate at the hotel for breakfast and dinner on most days.
The servers were nice enough, although many did not really seem to be enjoying their jobs and would rather be anywhere else. They had the sort of brusque demeanor of most of the Croatians we encountered during our trip. But, we had enough coffee and drinks to keep us happy during all meals.
Buffet Breakfast
The breakfast buffet was pretty good. But it’s kind of hard to mess up a breakfast buffet if you have eggs, potatoes, some kind of meat, an omelet station, and some assorted bread. They had a lot of options, which was nice. The coffee was fine and the juice was real fruit juice, but again, it’s not hard to achieve a base level of quality for a hotel breakfast.
Buffet Dinner
The dinner buffet was decent, but was pretty expensive and did not include wine. Bottles of wine were sold separately by your waiter at your table. We arrived towards the end of the buffet hours one evening and they literally took my plate off my table before I was done with it, while I had a fork in my hand. My cousins laughed because it was so brazen. It was obvious that I wasn’t finished. It was unbelievable.
Want to piss me off? Take away my food WHILE I AM EATING IT.
Then the staff broke down the buffet as we were serving ourselves dessert. They literally dumped all of the desserts into a big garbage can (to throw away) on a rolling cart at the end of the night. This happened when we were standing there, about to serve ourselves at the end of our meal. It was so wasteful. They literally were throwing the food out that we were about to eat! I was shocked and disgusted.
This occurrence left a really bad impression on me for the rest of our stay. If you’re concerned about sustainability, then avoid this property. I tried not to let it color my impression of the entire hotel, but it was difficult to look past the behavior of the staff at the restaurant after this.
In sum, this hotel was not my cup of tea – but it may be yours!
This hotel is ideal for families with small children who don’t care what they eat and just care about not being hungry during vacation. It’s good for people who need or want a huge gym at their hotel and who like to play sports while on vacation.
None of that is me!
More Info on the Valamar Diamant Hotel in Poreč, Croatia
Hotel Website: https://www.valamar.com/en/hotels-porec/valamar-diamant-hotel
Brulo 1, 52440, Porec, Croatia
Reception: +385 52 400 000
What about you? Do you have a favorite Poreč hotel that we should try on our next visit? Let me know and leave a comment!
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