Sunnyside Apartments Petrčane — Hotel in Grad Zadar

This was our first time in Croatia and we couldnt have found a nicer complex. It's was a modern apartment with a superb terrace and retractable awning. The air conditioning was a real bonus and in all rooms. There was a great kitchen including a freezer. The towels were changed after five days and the bed linen after ten days. |On arrival, the reception is the door on the right of the supermarket. Its not clearly signed. The staff were really professional and helpful. If you've chosen to pay at the hotel, you're billed on check out, not check in. There was only one set of keys, which was a bit of a problem when our party did different things. |Most visitors are Croation, German and Slovakian. Its very laid back, and a bit off the beaten track. There's a reasonably priced supermarket, a bistro, and an ice cream parlour. The supermarket is open from 7am to 10pm. Thats about it apart from the Zanzibar restaurant next to the pool. There you can get a great Dalmatian breakfast of two fried eggs, two sausage, two bacon, two toast, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese for 10 euros. Its enough for two people and is delicious. Make sure you ask for the sausage rather than the hot dogs as they weren't of the same quality. They also do pizzas, burgers, pancakes etc. A pint will cost 5.5 euros and a half 4 euros. As mentioned in other reviews, for 2 sunbeds around the pool its 35 euros. Most people just sit on the whicker chairs and tables adjacent to the pool. Its not a problem. Plus all the sunbeds along the shoreline are free. If you get down there by nine o clock you can usually reserve a few by throwing your towels on them like everyone else. The staff at the Zanzibar were great. The pools are great. Three separate pools and a pool bar. The beach is rocky but there are jetties all the way along so that you walk out and go straight into the water. |To get to Petrcane you can go along the coastal walk. This takes about fifteen minutes and is a lovely walk. If you're looking out to sea at the Zanzibar just turn left and carry on walking. Or you can take the road above. If your outside of the supermarket staring at it turn left and carry on along the road for about five minutes until you come to a fork in the road. Take the downward route with the yellow sign for Petrcane Hotel. There's a handful of bars and restaurants in Petrcane. Its a really lovely place, with a marina, a beach, ice cream parlours etc. The Mojito is a great place on the front. You can get a pint for 3 euros. A coffee for two euros. Plus they do snacks and there's an upstairs terrace with views out to the sea. |To get further afield you'll need a car or taxis. There is a bus service but we didn't us that. We used Uber and it was quite a bit cheaper and quicker than a taxi. From Zadar Airport to Sunnyside it was 30 euros. A taxi would have been 50 euros. From Sunnyside to Zadar was about 15 euros and took roughly twenty minutes. We never had to wait more than ten minutes for an Uber. If you go from Sunnyside to Zadar put your destination as Eden Penthouse Apartments. This will drop you on the less busy side of the bridge. Its quicker and cheaper. You can then walk across the bridge and straight into the old town, which is absolutely gorgeous. If you want to see the Sea Organ you can get an Uber directly to it for about 17 euros, or just turn right when you cross the bridge and walk along for about ten minutes. When you start to turn left to follow the peninsula its right there. Go just before sunset. Great atmosphere. We exchanged pounds to euros on a Revolut and connected that to Uber for payments. Some bars and restaurants onlyvtake cash. Most cash tills will charge you 3.95 euros for withdrawing cash, even euro account cards like starling and revolut. So its better to withdraw 100 euros rather than 20 for...

So all in all not bad. Beach area is fine and apartments are nothing fancy but serves the needs for a family with small children. There are though some things that annoys me greatly which I base my low rating on. Firstly the floors in the apartment had not been washed or vacuum cleaned for a long time. The foot picture you see is my foot after walking bare foot in the apartment for only 5 min while unpacking. When we booked the stay we booked it, among other things, because there was a restaurant attached to the apartments. This restaurant is closed now but it's still a part of the 'offer'. Alternatively there is a beach bar with is serving beach bar food till 18.00. Food is not bad though if you take it for what it is. To the apartment there are also a private beach connected with pool area. This is also where the beach bar is located. There is a gate where you can use your chip bracelet to get in but 30 meter passed this there is another gate (the other picture I have attached). Here you are supposed to buy entrance but no one was sitting there once the 7 days we were here. This means that the private now public beach is full of locals and tourists from eg. The massive hotels next door. This had the consequences that if you come after 11 all sun beds are taken and people leave their towels there for the whole day even if they are not even at the beach. I understand why they do it. It means more people which equals higher sales at the beach bar. But it's not nice to the customers who are paying for being able to have access to a private beach.

Like I said it's not a bad place, but false commercials and no respect for paying customers forced me to remove 3 stars. Would have given 4...

We had one of the larger ground floor apartments for 5 people (2 bedrooms, bath/shower room & toilet & separate toilet (toilet paper was provided). Towels were changed every 3 days & clean sheets were given after one week. Beech towels were provided but very fluffy. We changed the sheets & cleaned the apartment with the broom provided. Dish towels were provided. The TV had only 2 - 3 channels in English. A safe was provided. No dishwasher. We had a private terrace with table and chairs and 2 sun loungers. ||We opted for the half board. Breakfast was great with a full English & Continental breakfast which also included fruit & yoghurts. Dinner included fresh salads, 2 soups & the main course always included fish & 2 other meats along with vegetables, potatoes, pasta/rice. Desserts were not great but there was always a great selection of different fruit. Teas and coffees were not included at dinner but they were at breakfast. ||The gym & sauna facilities were fantastic - towels were provided for the sauna. ||The pool area was not big so it was very rare to be able to find a free sun lounger - we didn't really care. There were plenty of sun loungers available outside of the pool area with great views of the sea & shade offered by the surrounding trees.||The staff were very professional and helpful and responded quickly if there was an issue. ||We were disappointed that there were no washing facilities onsite. We were provided with a laundry rack & basin to do...