Valamar Tirena, Dubrovnik
For May half term this year we went island hopping around Croatia. We started with 3 nights at Valamar Tirena resort. The Valamar group is Croatia’s leading hotel chain and there are several of their resorts on the Lapad peninsula. It’s almost like a big Valamar village and it’s perfect as you can stay in one but use the sister resorts beaches/gyms/pools. ad PR invite stay but not in exchange for this blog post.
Valamar Tirena is seriously family friendly but still stylish. On arrival they give children a special Maro {the resort’s friendly hermit crab mascot} story, activity book, bag with games in & colouring pencils which was a sweet welcome then there was a bag of children’s toiletries waiting for usi n our room! They definitely aim to make travel with kids as easy as possible, from little things like stacks of nappies under the baby change in the restaurant toilet and a baby food station/microwave open all day to the ultimate kids club.
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What are the rooms like? There are lots of options depending on how your family set up. You can find the full list here with the number that they can accommodate easily viewable. We had an interconnecting family room which gave us so much space with two bathrooms {the kids one had a bath in} and two terraces. We phoned to ask for bed guards when we arrived which they then fitted to give us peace of mind for the kids not to fall out. They had: a mini fridge, safe, good open wardrobe area, tv, comfy beds, tea/coffee area. The resort seems fairly newly refurbished and modern. The corridors to get to the rooms felt like a bit of a maze though, even after a few days of being there we had to follow the signs every time haha.
Pools - Tirena has a large fresh water swimming pool with a swim up pool bar, lots of loungers and umbrellas and then an infant pool with a slide in it. There are big thrill seeker water slides for those over 120cm. The pools were unheated and we didn’t have the warmest weather during our stay, I didn’t swim because it was too chilly but the kids didn’t mind! You’ll need to take your room card to the pool kiosk to register for towels {a tiny bit of a pain and a reminder that its not a 5* resort, although the Valamar President resort seemed to have plenty of towels for use at the beach unlimited}.
Tell me about the food. -
An extensive breakfast buffet is included and served from 7-10am and then dinner if you’re on half board is from 6.30pm. You can choose whether to go for a half board package or not or dip in & out of the dinner buffet when you’re there {it was €30 pp}. I think it will depend on your plans for eating as to which is best. If you want to be out for some evenings in Dubrovnik it might be better not to. We were glad to have had dinner included as it was so much easier with the kids and meant we could go out in the middle of the day in between breakfast & lunch. The food was also really good and extensive. Croatia isn’t particularly known for its cuisine, it’s said to be a mix of Italian and Greek but not really specialised in either. But here we found delicious cheeses, meats, seafood, grilled meat, lots of salads, some pasta/risotto dishes, stews, lots of vegetables and pizza - surprisingly really great pizza. The cold desserts weren’t anything special and were the only things not labelled but our kids enjoyed the help yourself ice cream counter and we loved the cooked fresh/hot pudding section. Croatia is really famed for its olives and olive oil {I feel like it’s not well advertised or regarded in the same way Puglia or Greece is} but actually it’s the same geography and as such there’s a big celebration of the olives there.
For little ones they can be as adventurous as they want with a buffet which changed every night but you’ll also always find chips, some kid friendly pastas and pizza.
For babies there’s a weaning station with a few steamed veggies & a meat, lots of baby bowls/cutlery, baby food jars, a microwave, milk and boiled water. That part is open all hours which I thought would be helpful for those with babies.
Breakfast had a really good variety with freshly baked croissants constantly going in the oven, lots of bread, pancakes with all different kinds of spreads, an omelette counter, fried eggs, scrambled & poached eggs, meats, cheeses, cereals, granolas, local honey including an impressive honeycomb, a mix of yogurts including some with chia seeds, flax seed, all the milks you could think of, some hot savoury dishes and sweet options. The only thing not included was a juice/smoothie bar and we could have done with some berries if I’m being picky!
There’s a mix of indoor and outdoor seating. They’ve done their best to make it not feel too canteeny although the included drinks are served from dispensers that you help yourself to {our kids loved this part! And there are lots of plastic cups for them}. Alcohol is an extra.
There’s an a la carte restaurant next to the pool for lunch called Oliva. We had such a big breakfast each day we didn’t end up needing lunch but it looked good and we saw people ordering food to take away from there to the pool.
What is there to do? So much! Firstly, get the Valamar app ahead of arriving as you’ll be able to get a feel for the activities on during your stay. There’s fitness classes for adults {even some family fitness which is cute}, and a plethora of amazing children’s activities throughout the day over at Maro World. For over 6s there are free tennis lessons included every evening. You’re really close to Dubrovnik, there’s a beautiful promenade to walk along into Lapad, there’s the sister hotels just a short walk away {President & Lacroma} where you can use their beach, pools and gym. Lacroma has an indoor swimming pool. Then there are private beach clubs {Copacobana and Coral Beach club which are uber cool, you just have to buy some food or drink to use them}. We only had 3 nights but really could have happily spent a week here enjoying everything.
Beach wise they’re pebble and shingley beaches with a beautiful clear sea, the Valamar President resort is a blue flag beach.
We were slightly early in the season {and had a couple of overcast days} so we didn’t actually make the most of the beaches as there was so much else to do. I have to tell you about Maro World…
Oh, Maro World! What a brilliant concept and so rare to find anything of this standard for children in the Adriatic. It rivals American children’s museums. And the best part is that it’s only for Valamar guests so it’s mostly really quiet. There are 2 parts to it, the Maro Club which is a staffed crèche and childcare is included from 9am-9pm for those aged 3-12. You fill out a passport for your child with their details on & your phone numbers etc, tick whether they can leave by themselves or use the video games and you need to bring that anytime you want to drop them off. There are playrooms in there with parts for all ages and interests. A drinks machine but no food provided other than ice cream time at 3pm daily with Maro. They have a daily changing activity schedule here in such an impressive craft room where they do all kinds of painting, making cactus, treasure maps, mini beach scenes, crown making, sometimes baking. You can also just go in there to play with your children {or do the activities with them} at any point if they don’t want to be left so it’s the best of both! It’s very much drop in & out whenever you fancy. You don’t need to prebook anything.
Then there’s the rest of Maro World which is an impressive space set over 2 floors with a soft play {don’t miss the metal slide into the ball pit!}, a baby lounge, an interactive aquarium where you can draw a sea creature & launch it into a big fish tank and interact with it on the screen, a large virtual room with all kinds of games, a Lego area with wooden ramps to build cars then race them down, a light art wall, wooden busy boards to build ball runs, construction areas with our kids favourite lightweight blue blocks {but the biggest collection of them we’ve ever seen! They’ve definitely invested £££ on the best things here}, Rigmajig which is a collection of wooden planks, wheels, pulleys to build to your heart’s desire. Lots of STEM inspired fun and creativity to be had. We all spent a lot of time on the rooftop trampoline park, it was so fun even for the adults with games to play whilst bouncing and then there’s the a parkour course. Especially magical at sunset and as it got dark.
As parents we valued the comfy seating around to sit whilst our kids were engrossed in play!
Then there’s the Maro theatre which has nightly kids discos, shows {don’t miss the clown magic show. It absolutely captivated our children. I’ve never seen Raffy laugh so much}, a big room for table football/ ping pong and then an upstairs gaming lounge.
Here’s a bit more on Maro world with a map if you’re curious.
Make sure to tell the lovely Maro Club staff before you leave and they’ll give you a bundle of Maro goodies to say goodbye with and remember Maro by! So sweet.
Dubrovnik. What a city! It’s small but so iconic, famous for Game of Thrones these days which goes over our heads but so unique and is built out of such beautiful stone. This is why we loved this resort so much, it’s the best of a city break whilst being on a quiet peninsula. There’s a bus stop right outside the hotel which goes to the edge of the city walls. It costs €1.75 each way {kids under 6 go free} if you buy your ticket from a counter or shop, I think it’s €2.50 on board * or buy a city pass if you want to walk the walls; see below. The 6 bus runs every 15 minutes or so and takes just 10 minutes to get to Dubrovnik. Then it’s really easy to get a return. We actually walked in as it was a bit cloudy one morning & we love to get some exercise. It took around an hour. We had a great morning exploring the old city and then took the bus back! We’d been to Dubrovnik before so focused the majority of our time in the resort this time around but it would have been lovely to have gone in for an evening.
We found it to be buggy friendly but I don’t think climbing the walls would be.
Top tip; if you want to walk the famed city walls then it’s well worth buying this city pass. You can get a day pass or a few days but it works out cheaper for the walls and includes public transport so would include your bus ticket and a few museums. Go early in the day or in the evening to avoid crowds, it’s popular with cruise ships!
Don’t miss -
The Dubrovnik cable car looked like it had amazing views. A few other spots worth checking out; this for one of the best photo spots, the famous Banje beach, this playground for kids within the walled city, this shady park away from the hustle & bustle of the old town.
If you have more time I’d really recommend getting a boat trip over to Lokrum island, an island filled with nature {the forest is protected by UNESCO}, swimming spots, peacocks and a fort. Again we did this on our trip here a few years back and didn’t have enough time this time but I remember it being beautiful. And easy to get to from Dubrovnik.
Also Cavtat is a really picturesque beach lined town with some mega yachts, pretty streets, clear water and pine trails. We stayed there back in 2015 and got a boat to/from Dubrovnik.
Don’t miss this beautiful promenade walk to Lapad. It makes for such a stunning walk along the sparkly coast that Croatia is famous for and is very buggy friendly. Access it from next to the Royal Blue Hotel next to the Valamar President hotel. There were some lovely looking restaurants along this bit too.
What to pack? Dinner can be as dressy as you want. As a rule people wore shirts/ dresses but not anything fancy. I’d definitely pack conditioner as there wasn’t any in the room. We ended up going out to buy some peanut butter as there wasn’t any at breakfast and my kids can’t really do a day without a PB sandwich haha. From welcome gifts and kids’ toiletries, to interconnecting family rooms, high chairs, bibs, nappies, and even a 24/7 baby weaning station, everything’s thought of. It’s for the most part very buggy friendly so I’d take a stroller, we even managed in Dubrovnik with one. I wouldn’t bother with toys or books if you’re short on space as you’ll find them at Maro World.
Getting there. You can book either direct or through booking.com if you want to organise your own flights & go to a couple of different places. Or as a package through jet2, easyJet, love holidays etc where you’d get bags included!
We actually flew into Split as flights were a lot cheaper compared to Dubrovnik and we were going to Hvar after too
We hired a car {which was really cheap} and it did mean a 3 hour drive when we landed so won’t be for everyone. If you’re solely going to Dubrovnik you could definitely get away without a car and just use the public transport/boats/uber to get around. The hotel had free parking if you did need a car though or were going multi centre like we were.
If you have any questions about anything, please let me know, always very happy to help as when you’re booking a trip like that you just want to know it’s exactly what you’re hoping it will be!
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