In a selection made by Germany’s most influential news magazine, Focus, the Hotel Katarina in Rovinj and the Hotel Astoria in Opatija have been proclaimed one of the top 550 hotels in the world. This is the first time that this German magazine has published a list like this and only 13 hotels were chosen from Eastern Europe, including these two Croatian hotels.

Over 400 German journalists, hotel managers and other professionals from the tourist industry took part in the selection.

The Hotel Katarina was listed among the 100 best hotels for a family vacation in the world four years ago by the British magazine The Times. Both nominations are thanks to the quality of the hotel itself and everything that surrounds it.

The Hotel Katarina, namely, is located on the island of the same name just off the coast of Rovinj. There is no traffic on the entire island, and the vista shoots out to a stunning view of the old town of Rovinj, which all together leaves a special impression on the vacation. It was opened in the year 2000, has some 130 rooms and offers its guests excellent service, to which this nomination bears witness.

Unlike it, the Design Hotel Astoria is one of the best designer hotels in Croatia. It is a top category hotel and offers 51 superbly appointed rooms and an entire range of additional facilities, and as they are located in the very centre of Opatija it is the right choice for guests who love to enjoy a stylised ambience.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Hotel Katarina
• Design Hotel Astoria

Hvar’s first private hotel, the Hotel Park, was recently opened in the city core, situated in what most of the people of Hvar consider to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. A full seven years was spent on the renovation and restoration of the building so that the new Hotel Park can truly boast of a flawless appearance that should see that hotel, as the owner points out, return to its former status.

The Park, namely, once called the Villa Maca after the proprietors of the time, the Mazza family, was at the start of the last century reputed as one of the most popular summer residences.

It was one of Hvar’s first hotels and, at the time, the favoured destination of foreign guests. But, a great deal of time has passed since then and the building suffered the wear and tear of time, so quite a lot of effort was needed to return it to its former splendour.

The result of this complete renovation is a hotel of traditional Dalmatian appearance decked out in a combination of wood and stone.

The hotel features 13 luxuriously appointed suite-rooms each one of which offers a view of the Hvar city port and the Paklene islands. The rooms, that remind one more of suites, are of varying sizes, and most of them have a large antechamber. There are two double-floor rooms on the hotel’s second floor with large balconies, while the attic houses the largest apartment. What is sure to catch the eye is that all of the rooms are luxuriously outfitted and that each of them has a massage tub or Jacuzzi in a large bathroom.

Although the emphasis was put on tradition during the entire renovation of the hotel, especially in the restoration of the outside of the building, all of the rooms are equipped only with the latest technology - plasma televisions, a stereo sound system and DVD player.

The hotel will be open year-round and as it does not for the moment have its own restaurant, the construction of one will kick off soon so it will be ready for the next season - with a restaurant and small gallery in which guests will be able to purchase works by local artists.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Island Hvar
• City of Hvar Tourist Board

According to the results of an analysis carried out by the Star Alliance association on passenger service satisfaction on European flights, travellers selected the Croatian national air carrier Croatia Airlines as the best regional member of this; the most highly regarded global airline association. The analysis, which covered the second quarter of 2006, besides Croatia Airlines, also covered Finland’s Blue1, Spain’s Spanair and Slovenia’s Adria Airways.

The results of the analysis show that passengers evaluated Croatia Airlines as best in four of five service segments – in-flight service, transfer service, departure punctuality and overall flight evaluation.

In the pre-flight service segment, that evaluates the quality of airport services, Zagreb airport shares second place with Madrid airport.

Besides the Star Alliance, Croatia Airlines itself has for two years running carried out its own continuous passenger service satisfaction analysis on international flights, and the results show that passengers flying with Croatia Airlines consider it a company that provides a high level of service, both in relation to their expectations and in relation to other companies present on the Croatian market.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Croatia Airlines

Since existing maps of the Dinaric Alps, a mountain chain that stretches along the length of Dalmatia, and that is every year visited by more and more people, are no longer accurate and to a large extent deviate from the situation on the terrain, the cause of which is entirely in natural change, the Dinaridi Adventure Team association in collaboration with the Alpine Rescue Service have launched an extensive project of the precise mapping of the entire area. The team, made up for the most part of experienced alpinists has so far covered the area of Mount Mosor and the Omis part of the Dinaric Alps, is currently covering and mapping the Kozjak area after which Peljesac is to be covered.

All alpine routes - horse trails, macadamized trails, dirt roads, hiking and cycling trails, have been plotted on their maps, while caves, springs, wells and shelters have been precisely indicated as have places where chance travellers can seek medical and other assistance.

Two of the planned 60 maps have been completed so far that will, besides the Dinaric Alps, also cover inhabited parts of the islands. All key historic localities have also been plotted onto the completed maps, which will also be the case with all of the remaining maps.

The old maps of the entire area are nowadays quite unusable as the temperament of nature is such that it is in a constant state of flux. Some trails or springs can move up to a kilometres over a period of ten years, which makes going difficult for both hikers and the people of the Alpine Rescue Service. Considering that there are a growing number of hikers and tourists coming to Croatia every year who wish to explore the endemic rocky country and Karst phenomenon, these maps will help them all. Besides that, all significant localities will be plotted on the maps along with loads of expert advice in English and Croatian making them also useful as tourist maps.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Dinaridi Adventure Team

Rest and recreation, fishing, horseback riding, cycling, cuisine, peace and untouched nature - these are some of the many possibilities offer on one spot by the recently promoted Association of Blanje Fans and Nature Conservationists.

The village of Blanje is situated in the municipality of Viljevo, not far from Osijek and Donji Miholjac and the proprietor of the Branimir - Blanje village farmstead has found in it a place that can be outfitted as an appealing place for tourists.

The farmstead stretches over about five hectares of land on which there is a 300 square metre building adapted to the needs of the members of the association including rooms and eight beds.

There are two artificial ponds surrounding the building with their own spring water from which the Karasica River flows into the surrounding greenery.

As a part of the offer of village tourism there is a horse stable on the farmstead with two horses that should be joined soon by a further two, and there is a real old-time carriage.

For those who do not like that kind of pastime or recreation, there is the opportunity to take a bike ride along the nearby cycling route that will take them on a tour of Blanje and its environs, and everything is ready for a photo-safari on the Drava river, archery, volleyball and foot-tennis - a new sport conceived as a kind of combination of soccer and tennis. The proprietor has already arranged a series of additional activities in which the surrounding municipalities will take part - Kopacevo, Orahovica, Ladimirevci and Vukovar, so that tourists could tour all of these places and experience the real Slavonia.

Visitors can enjoy original Slavonian culinary specialities at the farmsteads and tour an ethno-collection featuring some 2000 antique exhibits.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Municipality of Viljevo
• Donji Miholjac Tourist Board

At the Velebit Nature Park, located in the heart of the Lika region, a new kind of organised visit has been launched recently. In collaboration with the national railway company, Hrvatske zeljeznice, excursion trains are now bringing tourists to the Cerovac Caves, the most attractive locality in the park.

The national railway company has already set up excursion trips like these to, for example, Ogulin, Mount Klek, and the Lonjsko polje and Kopacki rit wetlands… The Cerovac Caves consist of three cave systems – the Upper, Central and Lower Caves, the latter, about 700 metres in legnth, being to only one currently open to visitors.

The caves were discovered during the construction of the Zagreb – Split railway line at the start of the past century and, on account of its wealth of cave “decorations” by far surpasses all other speleological structures in Croatia. Because of their unique beauty the caves were in 1961 given legal protection as a protected geological natural monument and were in 1981 made a part of the Velebit Nature Park. Besides this, the caves are also one of the largest cave bear sites in Croatia. Along with the numerous archaeological remnants from the Bronze and Iron Ages, to which collected pottery, bone points and bronze clasps bear witness, fossilized human bones have also been found in them and a bronze axe that clearly belonged to the so-called cave bear hunter people.

source: Croatian National Tourist Board at www.croatia.hr

Resources

• Directory: Nature Parks in Croatia » Velebit Nature Park
• Velebit Nature Park official website