Istrian Villas Plava Laguna — Hotel in Grad Umag

The Istrian Villas are located some 2.5km from the town of Umag, they are set in a vast area within a national park with pine trees. The area is huge and within it are the Istrian Villas, apartments (Amfora and Stella), the Coral Hotel and lots of other properties that are part of the Plava Laguna Group. The setting is simply idyllic. ||||We landed at Pula airport and it took about 2hrs to reach the villas by coach, it sounds like a long way but it was a nice, relaxed journey by coach (organised by TUI). Roads were clear all the way. The coach made 5 stops along the way to other hotels so if you're coming directly from Pula airport, without any stops is should take just over an hour. ||We checked the price for a taxi and were told between 750-1000 kunas one way. ||||We had a standard villa, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, small kitchen area, living room and an outdoor terrace. ||The Plava Laguna website states that all villas are refurbished, when we got there we were told the standard villas are NOT refurbished, only higher category ones are (Premier, Plus etc). They are planning on refurbishing them next year, we were told. ||We had one twin bedroom with 2 single beds, one bedroom with king size bed with an en-suite shower & WC. The beds are hard but comfy, pillows are good. The kitchenette is small with a small fridge, two ring hob (no oven) , microwave, a kettle and a selection of pots, pans, cutlery, dinner ware - if you are planning on going self-catering the kitchen is probably not adequately equipped to cook dinners every day (unless you don't mind boiled and fried food only). ||The sofa in the living room is not that comfortable, so are the wooden dinning chairs. ||There were AC units in both bedrooms and one in the living area - they seemed to be at a set temperature at 25-26C, and were controlled by the hotel reception. We did ask if we could have it cooler and they allowed us 23C which we found cold enough. Bear in mind outside temperature was around 32-33C. ||||We had HB included (breakfast and dinner), this was at the EL Mare restaurant which is superb. Big shout out to Marijan (the manager) and all of his staff from the chefs to the waitresses (Milena, Teodora and the others I am sorry I can't remember your names) - all very professional, accommodating and friendly. ||Breakfast is from 7am-10am / Dinner from 7pm-9pm||We found the food quality and choice excellent. The restaurant is on the seafront, not busy and had a relaxed atmosphere. The views and setting is stunning. Marijan really knows how to run the place with the customer in mind. He keeps things relaxed and not over crowded. Well done for that and they should keep this up!!||On the other hand, the people that stayed in the Amfora and Stella apartments had the use of the Stella Maris restaurant which was much bigger and busier, depends what you are after but would not recommend the Stella Maris restaurant if you want a relaxed setting. ||||Within walking distance to our villa, there were 2 swimming pools. One large one was under cover (outside but had a roof top). Pool size was good, there were various massage jets and a hot tub next to it. Toilets, chaining rooms and showers next to it. The areas around the pool could do with more cleaning and general maintenance as we found the floor was not cleaned and was quite dirty with mud, various spillages etc. Often kids were allowed to jump, bomb, run around the pool and there was no lifeguard to keep the place clean and in order. The sun loungers were old and stained, some covered in bird excrement - there is a huge room improvement in this area. ||||The smaller pool was next to the El Grille restaurant and right by the sea. Water was warmer but also much busier with families and children. ||||The sea behind the El Grille restaurant is accessible by some steps, there is no sandy beach, the sea is rocky but the water is gorgeous. Clean and warm. There were white and brown jelly fish while we were there so we couldn't go in the water the whole time, only the last 2 days we were there. Shame, as we preferred going in the sea. It's good for snorkelling around the rocks but do be careful as some are quite high. Do not jump in the sea water and do check for jelly fish and sea urchins. ||There are also nice beach areas by the El Mare restaurant. ||||Within the 'complex' there is a bakery and a small but well stocked convenience shop. The shop also has a bakery inside which was half the price so we bough our breads in the shop. Across the bridge there are a few restaurants selling food, kebabs, ice-cream etc. A walk to Umag is around 25min along the seafront. There is a little choo choo train that can take you to Umag and back (they charge 30 kunas per person each way, I think kids under 10 are slightly less). In comparison, prices in general are high for everything and everywhere, we found Croatia more expensive than the UK to eat out, food shop, drinks, transport. ||||Overall, the setting where the villas are located is great. Open spaces, green, lots of trees and shade, nature. It was very quiet and peaceful. However, we went just before the high season started so can't comment what it's like in July and August which is their high season. I suspect it gets extremely busy. It's very family oriented so perhaps not ideal for a couple. All the staff we encountered we found pleasant, friendly, and helpful. ||||I think while you are on site, the use of the facilities are free for all, as some people were coming with their own picnic bags and using the pool, sun loungers without spending any money on-site. Not really fair for the paying guests. There is also a large camping site just across the road from the 'complex', people from there were also coming in. There should be a more strict control on the use of the facilities so to be fair towards the guests paying large amount of money to stay here. ||It was also noticeably more busier over the weekend with 'weekenders' from neighbouring countries visiting. But again, we went just before the high season, so it did not feel crowded at all. ||||We would recommend this place for families and perhaps in the low season. It's a beautiful setting and very safe. Once they've refurbished the standard villas, they will be amazing. Croatia is stunning, the people are very friendly. But watch out for the millipede bugs in the villas, they come out at night :-) , also, do bring a...

I stayed at the Playa Laguna Istrian Villas resort in Umag, Croatia, with my family last week (11-16th August 2024).||||The weather was fabulously sunny and hot, the flight through Pula Airport was so easy in comparison with UK airports. We hired a car from Alamo that allowed us to drive to the resort and then visit the wider area, which is packed full of wonderfully buzzing and historic towns like Porec, Umag and Novigrad, and we discovered the same with a quick trip across the border to Piran in Slovenia. We found the roads were first class and quiet, there was no rubbish anywhere, the people were great and there is no hassle or stress; I can’t recommend Croatia enough and returning to Gatwick and the throng in England was pretty tough!||||The Plava Laguna resort is extensive with varying levels of accommodation. We paid 1000 euros a night half board for a Premium Beachfront Villa with sea view and private beach access which is pretty much at the top end of the resort’s offerings. The location was really something with access to the Adriatic and a snorkelling paradise right from our garden. It is rocky in Croatia but, we purchased swim shoes locally at a tenner a go and were sorted thereafter. We didn’t need to move far from here but, there is extensive beach front in all directions as well as decent swimming pools and tennis courts; the resort generally was good and caters for all ages.||||However, there were issues that rather spoiled our experience and could have been very serious. The villa was very nice, spacious and well fitted but, as seen from the photos attached, one of the air conditioning panels and a bedside plug socket were hanging loose; Reception sent a technician to sort both quickly after I reported them but, the air con panel wouldn’t sit flush due to a design flaw in the bed head board and was left dangling out; as unpleasing as this was aesthetically it only used a telephone cable so there didn’t appear any risk. However, the plug socket was live and could have genuinely resulted in a fatality, especially had little ones with searching fingers been staying there; I was really appalled with this.||||The villa came with a hot tub which was a big selling point for us. However, it didn’t work and after several visits from up to 3 technicians over 3 visits, they could only get one jet working after nearly two days. The tub was located directly below a mature Holm Oak in the middle of the garden which dropped hundreds of acorns all over the tub and the lawn and was no doubt responsible for the issues and blockages. This tree was nearly 20m high and 10m wide and dominated the garden, casting shade everywhere and resulted in a much reduced sun bathing area, with us having to constantly move our sun beds around to find a sunny spot. The lawn could not be walked on bare foot either due to the acorns. A little management of this tree would have avoided all these issues.||||The breakfast in the Mare restaurant was alright but, we found the evening meals quite limited and only ate there twice. People are expected to serve their own ice cream and I felt quite unpleasant seeing all the hands using the sticky scoop constantly.||||The stairs from our villa down to the beach were missing their handrail which made access tricky for me as an older man and we witnessed one poor guy with his fault literally ripped open, blood pumping everywhere, caught by an exposed screw on stairs near the watersports area. This just underlined to me the lack of care the resort took with health and safety and for the money I paid and the lack of any management apology or interaction, I certainly can’t recommend it. That’s a great shame as it could have been very good had more care and attention been paid...

Absolutely not worth the money.

After you move in into what first looks like a very nice villa, you start noticing the details. Dirty microwave that smells like the previous guest’s dinner, not a single completely clean towel (all slightly brown or black after continuous use on the beach). They didn't even bother to clean the bathtub from the sand of the previous guests. Villa is advertised on Booking as a 4 adult person villa. In reality, trying to fit 3 is a huge stretch. One king size bed is fine, but the sofa that they claim can hold two adults, can barely fit one. In reality sofa can be unfolded after like 4 attempts and even then you are going to be lucky if it is somewhat flat. Overall it is not really long and definitely not flat. If you want to give your kids or yourself back pain - go for it. Pillows are so bad they can not even hold their own weight, besides that cotton that was in them is so old it turned into a bunch of huge balls (pictures attached). Super annoying to sleep on.

But here is the WORST part - concierge service. After requesting receptionist for the technician to come to look if the sofa can be fixed, we were told that he is going to be at the villa in 15mins. After 20 mins I first called the receptionist a few times, nobody answered. I went to reception and wanted to say that we waited longer than we were told and would like to schedule the technician after we get the dinner (we were traveling for more than 8 hours, we were tired and hungry). The person at reception didn't even bother to finish listening and yelled: “Technician will be there in 15 mins!” He said that in a very rude manner with an unacceptable attitude although that was already past the original time span. He also said he didn’t get any calls, then checked the phone and realized he did. Had to repeat a second time to make him understand, that even though the technician is late we are fine with that and just want him to check the sofa after we get dinner. He was clearly impatient and arrogant. Literally first receptionist I see who interrupts you in the middle of a sentence multiple times even after you explicitly tell him to listen till the end. Seems like he has zero clues about what hospitality is. After we met with the technician, the technician said: “de jure sofa is fine, but de facto it is unacceptable, so we can not do anything.” All they offered was a foldable short extra space bed - basically a cot. After us paying almost 300 euros a night? For real? After we came to the reception same young man who forgot where his salary is coming from showed zero interest in what we were saying, continuously didn't let us finish what we wanted to say and showed zero respect. His manager was not present at the hotel. ABSOLUTELY do not recommend.

Besides that, there are many smaller issues that make it not deserve 4 stars and not worth the price, (no dark curtains, extremely loud AC e.t.c) but they all fade compared to the things I had...