Hotel San Rocco, Croatia

Hotel San Rocco is a fabulous place to stay and the photo shows the outdoor restaurant, pool and poolside eating and sunbathing area. In the background is the main hotel.

San Rocco is a small hotel with only about 7 guest rooms (sorry I can't remember exactly). It is a family run hotel on the edge of the village of Britoniglia, on the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia. Traditional village life carries on around it and we were lucky enough ...
...our stay. This hotel is popular with couples as it is a really quiet, romantic hideaway. The hotel consists of two traditional buildings that have been renovated to a high standard with the outdoor swimming pool (with its own integral jacuzzi at one end) being a central feature, surrounded by steamer chairs for relaxing and sunbathing, tables and chairs for eating a leisurely lunch and fig and apple trees which guests happily picked and ate the fruit ... more

Hotel San Rocco is a fabulous place to stay and the photo shows the outdoor restaurant, pool and poolside eating and sunbathing area. In the background is the main hotel.

San Rocco is a small hotel with only about 7 guest rooms (sorry I can't remember exactly). It is a family run hotel on the edge of the village of Britoniglia, on the Istrian Peninsula of Croatia. Traditional village life carries on around it and we were lucky enough to witness a Croatian wedding held in the village church, during our stay. This hotel is popular with couples as it is a really quiet, romantic hideaway. The hotel consists of two traditional buildings that have been renovated to a high standard with the outdoor swimming pool (with its own integral jacuzzi at one end) being a central feature, surrounded by steamer chairs for relaxing and sunbathing, tables and chairs for eating a leisurely lunch and fig and apple trees which guests happily picked and ate the fruit from. The pool overlooks the gardens with more apple trees and a small olive grove (the hotel produces its own olive oil and all guests are given a bottle when they leave as a momento of their stay). The pool area also includes a turkish bath house which houses a sauna and a massage chair-these facilities are available free to guests. There are always a good supply of fresh towels for the pool and cushions are provided for the steamer chairs. There were never more than 3 couples around the pool at any one time during the whole of our weeks stay. It really is a relaxing place.

Although we are in our 50's we befriended 2 couples in their 30's - this hotel is popular with all ages and because it's small and family run you feel like you become a part of one large family. The hotel has an indoor (only used in bad weather) and a partially covered outdoor restaurant. The restaurant won an award last year as the best restaurant in Istria-which says it all! It's not cheap but the food was very good, if a little salty for my taste. The outdoor restaurant overlooks the pool and the gardens below and on a balmy september evening it is idyllic. Just down the road and within easy walking distance, was the taverna that won last years award for the best taverna in Istria, and the hotel management also own the pizzaria in the village, so you have lots of choice of places to eat even if you don't want to drive. Breakfast at the hotel was the normal buffet you would expect with meats, cheeses, cereal, yoghurt, bread, pastries and cakes. Hot breakfast was also served and any individual orders (eg omelettes) were happily cooked to order. All the waiters were family members and always friendly and helpful. At any time of day they would make up large glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and pots of tea. Home-made biscuits were always available for you to help yourself to.

The hotel itself is traditionally furnished and quite plush. There is a small lounge/bar area with comfortable chairs and we spent a couple of evenings chatting into the small hours with fellow guests (with the occasional addition of one or more of the hotel owners!). Our room was not large but it was the cheapest ! Others were larger. All rooms have good quality furniture with very attractive soft furnishings and an air of romance. There are wooden beams and small windows - all of which added to the feeling of staying in a typical Croatian farmhouse-but a very upmarket one at that! It is literally a chocolates on pillow type of place. The bathroom was modern and a decent size and some nice toiletries were provided, although not as many as you might expect- but I think thats a Croatian thing. Everywhere was very clean and the whole hotel oozes style and comfort.

To really get a feel for this hotel you need to look on its own web-site. We Googled 'Hotels in Istria' and found it on Trip Adviser. We then phoned the Istrian Tourist Board for more information. They told us it was the nicest place to stay in Istria and that all their staff loved it- the person we talked to about it just couldn't have been more enthusiastic, so we booked with confidence and were were not dissappointed. We booked directly with the hotel and found our own flights (we flew to Venice and then drove to Croatia, which isn't far, as we could get really cheap flights to Venice). Its not a cheap place to stay (we payed £90 a night including breakfast) but it was well worth it to be in such a nice, welcoming , friendly, comfortable, relaxing and stylish little hotel. The only drawback was that the motorway had been built over the fields in the distance so there was some traffic noise but after the first day we really didn't notice it and it certainly didn't impinge on the feeling of calm that the hotel generates.

You should hire a car if you book a stay here so that you can explore all the lovely hillside villages of Istria and really sample the Croatian way of life. You can also borrow bikes from the hotel and explore the local countryside. This hotel does not take children under 12 but then its not a childrens type of hotel! Its definatly an adult hideaway! We will certainly go back again one day. 

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