Eden Hotel by Maistra Collection

"Location: Excellent. Going north, nice 20 min coastal walk into Rovinj. Immediately to the south is the beautiful Punta Corrente Park, with miles of well laid out paths. 10 min from supermarket, open long hours, closed Sundays. Reception: Friendly, efficient and helpful. Room: Excellent. Roomy, with plenty of cupboards and surfaces. Working aircon. A little feeble, but got the temperature down to 21 deg (but it was October). Lots of electrical sockets. Silly modern bathroom basin, very shallow. Feeble bedside reading lamps. Could have done with bedside drawers. Pools: Excellent. Two saltwater pools, unheated but swimmable. Plenty of sunbeds. I liked the idea of having them set apart from the buildings, surrounded by grass and trees. Restaurants: A bar in the reception area next to the restaurant. No beer on draft. Main restaurant – Dinner: Linen napkins, always a good sign. Efficient waiters. Quick “drinks at table” service. Got very crowded, with a very inefficient “hot selection” system, whereby one long queue formed. The management should find a better system. Food reasonably good. Cold selection a little repetitive. Less-than exciting desserts. Hint: Take reading glasses, the print giving food details is very small. The waiters worked very hard to keep the place running. No sign of a “floor manager”. Main restaurant – Breakfast: Good. Plenty of choice. I liked the way they presented the natural honeycomb in chunks. The coffee machines produced good coffee. The absence of a bread toaster might displease some. Beach Bar: Nice little place. Good for lunches. Best pizzas I’ve had for many years."

"We stayed for 10 days in mid September and had beautiful weather everyday. The hotel is in the most beautiful location on the edge of a forested nature reserve, right on the coast and within a 20-30 minute stroll to Rovinj old town. The whole area is very picturesque and the location is in an ‘up market’ area, surrounded by large 5 star hotels, designer shops and a marina full of expensive looking yachts. Having said this we found the prices in supermarkets, cafes, bars and restaurants very reasonable. The beach is large pebbles, very difficult to walk on, and the sun beds on the beach are free to hotel guests. However, there is an abundance of sun beds within the hotel grounds, either around the pool or on the grassed areas. At busy times it was difficult get a sun bed by the pool but there was always availability somewhere in the extremely spacious grounds. We have never been to a seaside hotel with so much outdoor space. The pool is shared with the 5 star Hotel Lone next door. It is large and on two levels with bubble features at intervals around the pool. It is salt water and I don’t think it was heated, but on a hot day it felt quite warm. Towels are available on request and can be changed whenever you need. One thing we detested was the constant ‘music’ piped around the poolside from the many speakers. It was the type of music which I would call ‘womb’ or ‘spa’ music, supposed to be relaxing but it was extremely monotonous and irritating, and almost impossible to escape. Management, please take note that not everyone wants constant noise and some quiet areas around the pool would be appreciated. Also, looking at the older age group of the hotel clients at this time of year I would say it was not the sort of music they would like. The rooms are simple but comfortable with lots of storage. Note - we had a junior suite which was large inside but the balcony was tiny as it was tucked into the bend of the hotel. The bathroom was large with a rain shower and plenty of hot water. Bath towels are fairly small. The restaurant lets the hotel down. The restaurant opens at 6.30pm and there was always a huge queue of people wanting to sit outside. Then the queue transferred to the so called ‘hot’ food where you had to wait in line for sometimes 10 minutes to access the choices. The food was tasty enough but was never hot, luke warm at best, and you didn’t know what was on offer until faced with the food. There was no ‘show’ cooking like in some hotels. The salads were quite uninspiring and the deserts were very monotonous - the same selection of fruit every night, a mousse and a couple of cakes which looked very similar every night. Breakfast was the same, almost cold food unless you had an omelette cooked specifically for you. The fruit juices were basically just squash or so watered down as to be unrecognisable. Coffee was from a machine and was pretty disgusting. Although the food at this hotel was unremarkable we would consider coming back to the Eden because of its location. The staff were really friendly and the hotel is kept spotlessly clean. Rovinj is very beautiful and the sunsets are to die for!"

"We have not been to The Eden or Rovinj before. We did quite extensive research plus it came with a recommendation from a very fussy friend. The staff welcome was really good and helpful. For some reason, despite being on a TUI package we were upgraded to a garden/sea view immediately, on arrival. Lovely. I can see from other reviews that if there were any conventions occurring (tennis clubs etc) things could become a bit noisy and tight in the Wellness Centre. We stayed 'in season' but at the end of it. Everywhere is exceptionally clean. Breakfast is abundant and delicious. Dinner varied but quite bland tasting as it caters for probably, all tastes and age ranges. Next time (!) we will bring our own chillies and flavourings. Dinner normally not warm but to be expected. The Wellness Centre and staff were amazing. I had a massage. The indoor pool was actually my favourite place to swim in the morning or evening - it is fresh water. My partner used the sauna and loved it. The steam room was out of use. There is an abundance of towels everywhere. Robes and slippers are provided in your room and people walk around in them from the beach to their rooms. There are two small meal/snack and drink bars both on the Eden beach and by their 3 large swimming pools. Plenty of sun beds although the beach sun beds were always full (for 7 days). Beautiful showers everywhere and good quality changing cabins. The walk into Rovinj is really pretty and flat but it takes a good half hour so if you weren't having half board it would be a bit of a stretch every night plus town food was pricy. The bar at night is quite lively with fairly bland music playing but on a couple of nights it was good to sit in there (it is in the same area as reception). The bar staff were super efficient. We did one amazing sunset dolphin watch. I would definitely go back because you can completely relax."