Just returned from a relaxing stay in the Hotel Mediteran. We booked it directly through the Plava Laguna website and got a family room for 9 nights half board for the bargain price of £1100. I travelled with my husband and 2 young children. The family room worked perfectly for us. The room looks as though it has recently been refurbished and had a double (2 singles pushed together) and a fold down double bed which the children shared. As has been mentioned by some other reviewers the bathroom has not been refurbished and needs updating (big time!), but if you can get past what it looks like it actually works fine - the shower is powerful enough and the toilet flushes. One of the nicest things about the bedroom (and the hotel communual areas) was the effective air conditioning which was very welcome in August.
In terms of the communal areas it is very light, but I did find that there was a constant smell of smoke in the air, not completely overpowering but noticeable enough in this day and age where communal areas are normally non smoking.
The pool area is really nice. There are 2 pools - the main pool isn't huge, but was never really busy. It certainly made a change from some previous holidays we have been on where kids were throwing balls around the pool and dive bombing each other. On the lower level there is a children's pool and there is also a separate area just with sunbeds in. There aren't enough sunbeds to accomodate all the guests, but I think quite a proportion must go down to the sea, because we never experienced a problem getting sunbeds for the family.
Every day the animation team have a couple of activites organised for both adults and children. For the adults these seemed to be games such as giant connect 4 or hoopla. For the children there was a mini club every day. Our children went to the late afternoon session (art club) and really enjoyed it. They also enjoyed a kids only dinner run by the team. At the end of the week there was an exhibition of all the art that the children had done over the week. Our kids haven't been to a holiday kids club before, so I haven't got anything to compare it with, but I
was very impressed with the amount of effort that the animation team put in.
Staff - at first I have to admit that I thought the staff were a bit offish, but then I realised that it was just their manner - not rude, not overly friendly, just doing their job.
Food - on the whole the quality of food was very good. There was a decent selection in the buffet. Breakfast had the usual hot counter, cheese and meats, cereals, fruit and toast. Dinner had a very good variety of meats, fish and pasta every day. I personally found the salad counter a bit boring and was a bit disappointed with the desserts (but I've got rather a sweet tooth). There was usually some little cakes, but it was pretty much the same sort of little cakes every day, not very exciting. That said, there was a very good selection of fruit. There were also chocolate mousses and ice cream, which the kids enjoyed. There are also free drinks with dinner; beer, wine and soft drinks, which was a welcome bonus. There isn't anywhere in the hotel to have lunch, but there are several lovely reasonably priced restaurants nearby, all overlooking the sea and selling pizza, pasta and good seafood.
Porec - the resort itself is beautiful and very relaxing. You take a path down towards the sea from the hotel and can walk either towards Porec, which would probably take you about 15-20 mins (without children) or you can walk towards Zelena Laguna in the opposite direction. The nice thing about the walk is that there are no cars. There are lots of cyclists (and the occasional motorcyclist) but because there are no cars and lots of trees it gives it a bit of a Centerparcs feel. On the way into town there are trampolines, crazy golf and childrens playgrounds. There is a little train that runs frequently from Porec to Zelena Laguna and back. From Porec back to Brulo, which is where you would get off for the Hotel Mediteran, it is 10kn (about £1.20). Another option of travel into Porec is the boat, which you can get from the bay near the hotel. This is hourly and costs 15kn for adults and 10kn for children. Porec town itself is lovely. We only went in the evening and it was bustling and lively, with quite an Italian feel.
Overall, I would recommend this resort and hotel for a very relaxing chilled out family holiday.
