Monvidal Residence — Hotel in Grad Pula

Where do I start with this review? It's been a month since our stay but we haven't forgotten the wonderful experience we had at Monvidal Residence.

Firstly let's start with the actual hotel itself, the esthetics are reminiscent to a Greek holiday. With its white features mixed with emerald green this is obviously the signature colours of the Residence. The whole building is new and every design has been well thought of, from the mirrored tables to the plants and decor outside and the simple but stunning large rooms which are incredibly clean and well looked after. While on that subject the cleaning and hygiene standards at the hotel are on another level, one of the cleanest properties I have ever stayed in. The location is also great, the Arena is only a 7 minute walk away and you have a supermarket and bakery round the corner as well.

Now to what made our stay even more special 😁 the staff. I can't praise them enough as they made us feel like royalty for the week.

From the first day we arrived until the last, they were incredible.

There was a beautiful routine that we noticed, having Suzana and her daughter Nika preparing breakfast and making sure we were comfortable in the mornings. Then we had Svjetlana who took over in the afternoon/evening's while Edo would be cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

I mean they went above and beyond every day, from giving us cold ice water while we were at the pool, constantly cleaning the ashtrays and checking up on us throughout the day to ensure we were comfortable.

Suzana, Nika, Svjetlana and Edo thank you so much for making our trip to Pula such a memorable one, we will always treasure the time we spent with you guys!

I would highly recommend this hotel depending on what your looking for of course. We wanted to be close to the city but not right in the centre, we wanted parking, a pool, air conditioning and something a little more quiet. This covered all of the above, yes its a little more expensive than some other hotels around the area but trust me when I tell you, parking in the centre can be a nightmare.

We want to thank everyone at Monvidal Residence, the team you have on site should be admired, the cleanliness is exceptional and the customer service went beyond our expectations.

True Croatian hospitality, love you all and to our next trip in Pula! See...

The structure itself and the rooms are very stylish, minimal but stylish. There are two pools and the location is very quiet. Non necessarily central, but quiet. Is on a hilltop so better be ready to walk up! But is fairly close to the bus station (where you can catch the bus from and to the airport). For some reason there was mini fridge (with drinks inside like in any hotel) but not coffee/tea making facilities. Not necessarily an issue but is worth noting.||||We had the room with hot tub and sauna. Too bad the temperature of the water wasn't really hot (or as hot as you would expect in a "hot tub"), it was more "warm ish" due to the overall outside temperature than anything else. I wonder how actually hot it would be in the winter. We told that to the receptionist but they didn't seem to have solved the issue, also I don't think there was enough chlorine in the water, as the water didn't seem to be the cleanest, so to speak. It was ok, don't get me wrong, but I could not smell any. Probably they didn't do it to prevent chlorine smell in the room, but still, how can we be sure the hot tub and the water was thoroughly sanitized?||Not all the jacuzzi's air blowers were working either, which was a bit of a bummer.||Also be aware in the room there is a constant background noise (we might deem it as white noise) coming from either the hotel AC units outside or the pools filters. We managed to sleep with no issues at all but it might be a nuisance if you are any sensitive to that.||||Also on a room of this level I would have expected things like slippers but there was none of that.||Breakfast (not included in the room rate, but we knew that) is ok but they should really have more staff because the service was incredibly slow. Also on a hot day we got served orange juice, fresh but at room temperature. I should have told the waitress but equally, things like this should be right on the first place.||For all these reasons, 110euros per person per night makes me deem this place...

This turned out to be a charming boutique hotel, quite modern and beautifully presented with great outdoor public spaces and two pools. We were offered an upgrade to room 3 which was a suite room with a small private pool and sauna. I've never seen anything like it in all my years of travel. As it was approaching the end of the season in Pula (close for winter) I think we were the only guests on the middle night of our stay, so we had the whole place to ourselves. As it was our first visit to Pula, we found ourselves somewhat confused with the location which turned out to be a mere 10 minutes downhill to the famous and iconic arena. Monvidal is a former fortification on one of the many hills surrounding the town. The staff were very friendly and welcoming and we very much enjoyed our stay.||The hotel might consider offering a fixed price for either continental or cooked breakfast as it offers a wide range of items and charges them individually (thus juice, coffee/tea, bread, porridge, eggs etc all charged individually). Plus, they ran out of the Indian tea we had on day 1. Minor minor things which didn't at all detract from our enjoyment. Ditto, the walk to and from old Pula to find restaurants for dinner. Some enterprising entrepreneur might open a small restaurant for the local community on top...