Brioni

Just Fine For Me, but maybe not for everyone

Overall, I was happy with the hotel, though I concede that it would not be to everyone’s taste.
On the downside, it has to be said that the hotel is in need of refurbishment - I would not describe it as tatty, but the decor is certainly dated, and whilst not worn-out, the carpets in the public areas looked faded and had certainly seen better days. The rooms did not have air-conditioning and in the July temperatures, I ended-up sleeping some nights on the balcony using a beach mattress! An excellent sea view from the balcony, certainly worth paying a supplement for. When I did sleep in the room, the bed was comfortable, all of the bathroom plumbing worked perfectly and we had satellite TV, but tea and coffee facilities would have been nice too. In short, if you want to spend a good deal of your holiday in your room, this is probably not the hotel for you; if you want to use your room for sleeping, washing, changing clothes and small-scale relaxing, it is just fine.

The public hall/lounge was air-conditioned and was very comforting when the midday heat became oppressive. Free wireless internet access was available here and in the bar for those with laptops and it worked faultlessly. Internet terminals were available at a charge on the first floor for those without laptops.

I was happy with the buffet service breakfast and dinner. I have heard people complain about the lack of choice, but I can honestly say that I was able to have something different every day. What was on offer did not change a lot, but there were plenty of choices. Clearly, if you pile your plate high with everything you see every day, you will not notice a great deal of difference though.

Sample breakfast: cereals (approx 4-5, choices), x3 fruit juices, selection of cold meats and salads, yoghurts, selection of bread rolls, cook your own toast, hard boiled eggs, fried eggs, scrambled eggs, sausages. These were available every day; some days bacon, mushrooms, hash browns, fried bread, fried tomato and baked beans were also available. Fresh fruit, fruit salad, peaches in syrup and small cakes were also available every day (water melon was particularly popular). Black, green and fruits teas, coffee, cappuccino were always available as well as hot water if you wanted your own beverage.

Dinner: the hot plate consisted of about 8 different choices, of which around 3 changed every day. These included beef Bolognese, seafood stew, pork and mushroom casserole, fillets of beef chicken, pork, liver, sausages, various fish and seafood. Rice and fried potatoes were available as accompaniment every night. Cold meats, cold meat and seafood salads, sliced cheeses and green salads were always available, but did not change a great deal. Around four-five choices of desert were available very night, including the ubiquitous fresh fruit salad, water melon and cakes. There were no free drinks offered at dinner, but any beverage could be ordered from the waitress, to be paid for then or on the room tab.

Once a week there was a gala evening where extra local specialities were available, a long with a free cocktail and folk music.

Prices at the bar were reasonable and compared favourably with bars and cafes - the outside terrace was particularly pleasant on warm evenings.

The Brioni has an excellent, large indoor swimming pool, but only a small, shallow outdoor pool, which was very popular though. Having said that, it is barely 20 metres from the hotel terrace to the waterfront. There is no sand or shingle beach, just the rocky coastline (bathing shoes are highly recommended as a precaution against urchins and jagged stones and are available everywhere, including from the hotel shop). There is a beach bar on the lower terrace, though prices were higher here than the main bar and it seemed to close unreasonably early in the evening. The Brioni beach sports club is only a short walk from the hotel.

The Brioni is part of a complex of three hotels, the others being the Hotel Park and the Histria and the facilities of all of the hotels are available to guests. Other facilities in the complex include are large sports club (including approx 20 clay tennis courts), restaurants, bars, supermarket, clothes & souvenir shops. The Park and the Histria have higher official ratings, but in my opinion, the Brioni is in the best location and has the best views.

I would definitely stay here again.