Hotel Katarina, Rovinj
Hotel Katarina (Maistra Select Island Hotel Katarina) is located on a small island – a short boat ride from Rovinj’s Old Town. This charming hotel was recently renovated and is now rated as a three star hotel and is part of the Maistra group. It is excellent value for money and was a pleasant surprise.
On arrival at the hotel, the staff transported our luggage to our room from the ferry. We had Room 612 on the first floor with lovely views of the sea towards the Old Town. There was the added convenience of a lift in our building.
Our room was a family room and was made up of two bedrooms, bathroom and balcony.
The main bedroom was quite spacious and had a large bed, wardrobe, sofa, small table and French doors onto the balcony overlooking the bay towards Rovinj. There was also a small safe in the wardrobe and a small fridge.
The second bedroom (which we walked through to get to the main bedroom) had bunk beds, a desk with a couple of chairs, a wardrobe and French doors onto the balcony.
The balcony had a white outdoor table and 4 chairs and was a lovely spot to have a drink and take in the view.
The bathroom was small with a pedestal basin, very small shower, plenty of shelves and towels. The only toiletries were 2 tubes of conditioner and soap in a dispenser. This seemed typical of the 3-star hotels we stayed at throughout Slovenia and Croatia.
Hotel Katarina has beautiful gardens and a gorgeous pool area.
The hotel has a very good restaurant and we ate there both evenings. We found the staff to be very friendly, helpful and went out of their way to accommodate our requests.
Breakfast was included in our stay and was excellent – everything from pastries, fruit, cereal, bacon, eggs, sausage, etc. There are lovely views of the pool from the dining room.
Take time to walk around the pool, gardens and around the island (it is about 1.4kms). There are lovely views and, in summer, plenty of places to take a swim.
Getting to and from the island from the mainland is by way of a small ferry – it’s a quick trip of about 5-10 minutes. The transfer is free for guests staying at Hotel Katarina. The ferry runs hourly which we found not often enough – a half-hourly service would be a great improvement – especially in the mornings and evenings. We asked about private transfers using a water taxi and were told that there are only a couple of private operators in Rovinj and that by the time we phoned and waited for them to pick us up, we may as well wait for the hotel ferry.
Driving into Rovinj, there are signboards listing hotels and we followed the signs for Hotel Katarina, looking for the Delfin pier. Arriving at the pier, we unloaded the luggage to wait for the ferry. While one person waited with the bags, the other drove the car (following a hotel minibus) to a carpark about 5 minutes drive away and was then driven back to Delfin pier on the minibus. While this all takes time, we found it worth the effort as we so enjoyed our stay on the island and Hotel Katarina.
AccommodationGuru.com
21 & 22 May 2015