Bluesun Holiday Village Alan — Hotel in Općina Starigrad

Travelled as a family of three with our 11 year old for a week on a Neilson active holiday for the first time. Pick up at the airport (Split) was all very easy and smooth. Apparently this year they have introduced the Neilson app to book activities. Although the app is a bit clunky and clearly some of the activity staff think so too, can't imagine what it was like prior to that. Also think, if they are going to get people to use the app they should really improve the wifi across the whole site and not just the main reception area. Signal can drop in and out depending on where you are. The app does mean you can clearly see the activities you want to book and we never had a problem getting onto everything we wanted to do, even last minute sometimes. Speaking with other guests that stayed in Greece with Neilson this sounds like a 'bigger' resort. Given our previous experience of larger all inclusive complexes this is not big at all, but we felt that adds to charm and ease of the place. It has a nice village feel to it. Everything is quick and easy to get to, which is great given that you may be doing back to back activities. We stayed in a cabin which I think was a great choice as you are a little bit out of the way and have a great big veranda with sun loungers, table and chairs an good sized drying rack. Bedrooms were comfy and very adequate with aircon. Although not luxurious more than adequate considering you spend most of your time out of them. We got stuck into a lot of activities and our son joined the Stingrays kids club. This is where this type of holiday comes into it's own. The staff are superb. Their logo is good energy and they live by it. They are friendly, supportive and energetic enough without being over the top, cheesy or in your face. Truly a credit to the experience. The variety of activities are fantastic and I'm sure you will find whatever floats your boat. The equipment is of a good standard. Aside from the variety another thing I really likes is how relaxed they were about changed plans, cancelling activities and sometimes dipping in and out of stuff. Although there was structure and good organisation it was not too rulesy. The reception staff were also brilliant. I had a tooth abscess during my stay but the reception staff were brilliant in getting me sorted with a local dentist and I could carry on enjoying my holiday. Our son enjoyed stingrays club and the daily activity schedule is a packed one. Again this was great as we were allowed to sign him in and out when we wanted, so not committed to the whole day type of thing. He missed his final session and the staff did a lovely thing of leaving a personal handwritten note inside our cabin for him. Lovely touch. Also a nice mix of having family mornings and kids club and dining out a couple of nights. Did see some people bring back pizza takeaways during these nights. It was great to get out and try some of the local restaurants. Very handy that there is a large supermarket next door if you want to cheaper drinks or need any holiday essentials. Prices for drinks seem to be around standard UK prices in the hotel so not cheap but not truly hotel extortionate either. Both beach bar and Sky bar were great places to have a drink. Really loved how friendly other guests were and how social it was, again without being in your face. We did the climbing in the National Park (extra with an outside organisation) right by the entrance. One of the highlights for us and my wife and I don't really climb. Beautiful setting, fun but challenging climbing. Given that you have to pay for entrance to the national park with hindsight once we finished the climbing we should have just stayed and explored the park more as it is not far from the hotel. Having the National Park as a back drop is pretty impressive. Being able to just get a bike, paddleboard etc when you want and head out is great. Would recommend beach shoes if you want to get in and out of the water comfortably. Restaurant was clean and in a week we felt there was enough choice to eat as healthy or as unhealthy as you want. It's not fine dining but it's tasty enough. Deserts were some of the nicest I have had. This was a different type of holiday for us and it was one that we loved. Places are important but people make places and both the staff and other guests make this place. If you are teetering on the edge of this type of holiday, as a newbie to it I would strongly recommend this one. We would...

Just back from the Neilson Beachclub Alana which was our first experience of an active holiday and it was way more than I had expected. ||ACCOMMODATION- family of 3 we had prepaid to secure a cabin so we were nextdoor to our friends and I loved our cabin. Our son had his own twin room with ensuite and air con/heating and the rooms were bright, comfortable and in great location. Our friends cabin next to us experienced a lot of noise from the boat park with maintenance going on most days. The cabins have a large veranda with sunloungers, table and chairs and a clothes dryer and I'd chs we got the sun a fair bit allowing clothes to dry and relax in private. ||FOOD - the restaurant is large and has seating outside (mostly undercover) and inside holds a lot of people. The restaurant was crazy busy on Saturday and Sunday nights as everyone seemed to arrive all at once at 7pm but was more staggered other nights. The food was outstanding at every meal and there was so much choice. The staff bring water to you and you can ask for more and every one of the staff were amazing, especially Mia who paid attention to small details and made us feel welcome and looked after. They all work so hard and deserve to be acknowledged. ||On the fresko nights there are several restaurants to walk to - ask the reps and reception for recommendations and they can book for you. ||DRINKS - my only criticism is the Price they charge for coke, sprite etc. It was €3.50 for a small bottle which was more than a glass of wine. ||KIDS CLUBS - our 12 year old son did the Hotshots club the first week and absolutely loved his time on the water with instructors Millie and Nessa, passing levels 1 and 2 in windsurfing, worked towards sailing seamanship level, paddleboarding, waterskiing and much more. ||He joined surf Squad with Anna the 2nd week and had great fun doing so many activities and made new friends. ||ACTIVITIES - My husband and I made use of the other activities and the neilson planner is great to help with this. Download it to your phone on arrival. I came down with a temporary medical condition a few weeks before travel restricting me from doing everything I'd hoped to but I did manage to do the green sailing and passed my stage 1 , despite problems with my vision and concentration, which was hugely down to the support and encouragement from the amazing instructors Trixie and Abbi and the other participants. I cannot thank them enough. ||The Spa is amazing and included in the holiday and I wish I'd used it more. ||The quiz was really good fun - Mark, Ethan and Charlie were extremely entertaining hosts. ||HOTEL - well kept, clean and lots of areas to relax and enjoy. The reception staff were extremely helpful and pleasant. ||The pools were freezing cold but a really nice area to sit and no sunbed wars here!! Though it is October 😆 my son preferred the leisure pool of the 2. There are loads of sunbeds along the waterfront too allowing you to watch the watersports.||PHOTOS - absolutely sign up to the photos package (€165 unlimited photos for 14 night stay) as the quality of the pics are stunning. We checked each evening and added to our favourites as we went. I can't wait to get our link through now we are home and share them with our family. |||There is a supermarket next door to hotel where you can get everything and the prices are comparable to home so next time id not pack so many toiletries to keep weight down .||Most of the Neilson staff were extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and we will definitely do another Neilson holiday after our experience here at Alana....

We booked with Neilson and visited July-Aug25 with two children. The positives - the staff of both Neilson and the hotel were great. They genuinely seemed invested in your enjoyment and experience and minor gestures and interactions often reinforced this. I was really impressed and at ease.||Food was decent and freshly prepared with good variety. The staff in the restaurant were very nice.||The room was comfortable and although configured the wrong way around for us, room service immediately switched it back and fixed another minor issue. The beds were comfy and the aircon worked great.||The activities were great with plentiful sailing, tennis etc. We tried lots of different ones and were exhausted by the end of the trip. Equipment was in good order and the staff took safety seriously and were on hand at a moments notice.||I would just criticise the timings however as for example, many people observed that it was too hot to cycle in the day, and by the time you went to go in the late afternoon, you had to bring the bikes back for the 6pm close, so there wasn’t time to do a longer ride. I would suggest closing for lunch and opening in the early evening so that people can ride into town etc when it’s cooler. Or drop the bike back later after they had closed somehow.||My main gripe was the cost of the drinks. Cocktails seemed more expensive than surrounding bars and restaurants (including next door’s campsite bar owned by the same people) and the beer was 38% more expensive than a restaurant just down the road - 3 euros 90 there and IIRC, 5 euros 40 in the hotel. That’s almost the same price as the UK and was enough to put us off buying drinks when you know it’s a lot cheaper everywhere else. Having paid over 7k for a holiday for four of us, we were nervous about running up a bar tab. I’d also add that turning off the juice machine after breakfast was a bit tight. At least provide squash and juice for kids at lunch and dinner.||The sea and resort itself were very clean and it was nice to go swimming in the pools and beach areas. But we sometimes noticed that guests were turning up from outside the hotel (from neighbouring campsite) and using the loungers, seafront etc. Didn’t really affect us, but my son reported back that 3 teenagers had smashed up a bottle one evening and were quite obnoxious, having drunk alcohol despite being under 18.||Overall I would certainly consider coming back, but stock up the fridge with supermarket beer unless they reduce the bar prices to a more sensible level. I would say to the owners and Neilson that they have a terrific team of staff on hand and...