Falkensteiner Iadera is a lavish design hotel with pools and just steps to the sea, with a sublime spa/hamam, and a breakfast buffet to die for. All as it should be… but, oh those gulls: look out below!
In researching places to stay during our prospective Croatia trip, I stumble on the Falkensteiner Iadera Hotel. Unsure if Walter would go for this hotel, I take a closer look at its website.
It looks big — too big. We tend to prefer the more intimate boutique hotels and try to avoid resorts with lots of room to roam.
Still, a few facts about the hotel get my attention: the building’s modern architecture, the naval-themed rooms, the extensive garden and pool layout, a big spa area. And, saving the best for last: the fantastic location right on the seashore.
All right, Walter will just have to fall in line, because I’m convinced that he will wind up liking it, even if he initially turned up his nose at my choice.
Falkensteiner Iadera – the tang of the sea, a touch of the naval
On entering the Falkensteiner Hotel Iadera, I note with satisfaction that Walter seems ready to be impressed by the light-flooded lobby with its designer furniture and greenery.
And then, as we step into our room with sea view, a “cool” escapes his lips. Well, ok, then let’s go and check out the pool and the shore so I can convince him that, without a doubt, it was a righteous choice to spend two or three days here.
Even if the hotel has many rooms, guests can expect to have plenty of personal space in the spacious hotel buildings and grounds, be it in the café, the lounge, the pool area or the garden – people don’t bunch up anywhere.
And so, we have no trouble snagging two secluded chaiselounges under a Mediterranean pine for ourselves.
Sunset – and then some…
With the sunset drawing our attention, the perfect moment has arrived for a seaside stroll!
By now, I figure Walter ought to be ready to fling his arms around my neck in gratitude for my having found this perfectly dreamy place. Though Walter generally is not romance personified, in moments like this he does show he is all heart, and …
…a gull chooses the moment to attack and leave a poop deposit on his shoulder!
While he is steaming about why the gull had to target him of all people, a second gull swoops to double down with another splat — directly on his favorite SLR camera this time!
Well, bravo, and thanks for nothing! So much for the romance and the gratitude…
They say that gull doodoo brings luck — and, since Walter typically sees humor even in the crappiest situations and makes the best of it, he brightens up again in reasonably short order.
And me, I still get to enjoy the sunset ;-)
Culinary arts in Hotel Falkensteiner Iadera
Another horror for me in big hotels are the cavernous restaurants. But, we had no cause to be alarmed here on that score.
That’s because, in the Falkensteiner Iadera, you can choose among four different restaurants, so that all those hungry guests are well distributed around the premises.
What impressed us most was the breakfast buffet. It is the biggest one for miles around. I had a hard time thinking of what more they might have regaled us with.
Spa and hamam
Another amenity that the Falkensteiner Iadera aces is the spectacular spa with the superb hamam or Turkish bath. Check the hotel website for some impressive pictures of it. After all, we weren’t going to photograph nudes with a “crappy” camera…
Hotel address
Falkensteiner Hotel & Spa Iadera
Resort Punta Skala
23231, Petrčane
Croatia
We made the hotel our base for excursions to
- scenic Zadar
- Plitvice Lakes
- Krka National Park
Of interest: several of these spots, such as the Rijeka backcountry in Istria, served as locations for Indians-and-cowboys Winnetou movies. “The Treasure of Silver Lake,” for one, was shot by the Plitvice Lakes as we will discover in this post.
