Europe 2022 (Part 3): Staying at a Kinderhotel in Croatia

This is third part of a four part blog post series all about of our trip to Europe this summer! This blog post is about our time staying at a kinderhotel in Rovinj, Croatia! To quickly back up, we flew into Venice, Italy and then drove to the Lake Garda area for a couple days. Next, we drove up to The Dolomites for several days in the mountains. We always love being able to visit new countries and when planning this trip, decided to add Croatia to our trip because it’s not too far from Italy! We actually got to add two new countries to our passports – Croatia and Slovenia! To get to Croatia from Italy by car, you drive through Slovenia. There are also ferries from Venice to different parts of Croatia. FYI It was about a 5 hour drive from our hotel in The Dolomites and about three hours to get back to Venice.

Okay – so let’s talk more about our stay at a kinderhotel in Croatia! We stayed at the Family Hotel Amarin in Rovinj, Croatia. My IG video at the bottom of this post really shows you all about what a kinderhotel is and the features this hotel had, but I’ll share more in this blog post too! A kinderhotel is a hotel designed specifically for families. Everything – and I mean everything – is made with families in mind. Read below for all the details!

ACTIVITIES & ENTERTAINMENT / there was SO much to do for the kids! The hotel had multiple indoor and outdoor pools, including splash pads, water slides, a lazy river, hot tubs, and more. There are multiple playgrounds, swings, climbing structures, etc. throughout the hotel grounds. Inside the lobby was a massive two-level ropes course that kids could climb in. There was also a kids gym which Lucy and Winnie loved! It had balance beams, mini ellipticals and treadmills and other gymnastics-type equipment. There’s a game room, you can freely borrow bikes and scooters, you can sign up for swim/dance/etc. private lessons, and more. Throughout the day, there were tons of planned activities you could participate in free of charge including family-friendly exercise classes, dance parties, and more. Every night, there was live entertainment (singing, dancing, etc.) and a movie night in the theater after.

ROOM / All of the rooms at Family Hotel Amarin had a water view and a balcony (crucial for parents to be able to hang out after kids go to bed!). We stayed in a Standard Room with an Extra Bed (and a crib for Winnie). The hotel had anything you might need when traveling with kids for your room including bottle warmers, video monitors, sink step stools, strollers, baby potties, baby bathtubs, and more.

FOOD+DRINK / when you book your stay, it includes three meals/day. So basically, it’s an all-inclusive (not counting alcohol, coffee, or other drinks and snacks outside of set meal times). The main dining area at our hotel had tons of seating inside and out and SO many food options. There was an area of the buffet that was at a child’s height for traditional ‘kids food’ like pasta, nuggets, fries, etc. Every evening, there was a chocolate fountain for fondue and ice cream available. There were tons of high chairs, booster seats and cushions available so all kids could sit and eat comfortably. There were two other restaurants onsite that you could also eat at included in your stay. They were more traditional non-buffet style and we wish we would have visited those more than the one time we did! More about the restaurant options here.

BEACH / the hotel had it’s own private beach with tons of lounge chairs available. You can rent stand up paddle boards, kayaks, etc. We love SUPing so both did that with Lucy on different days which was really fun! The water was crystal clear and just beautiful! The grounds of the hotel is also beautiful with walking trails for exploring and pretty views, especially at sunset.

KIDS CLUB / Family Hotel Amarin also had a kids club that differed from other hotel’s kid clubs offerings I’ve seen! First, it was fully included in your stay and you could drop your kid off as long as you’d like, free of charge. Second, they accepted ALL ages of kids! So many hotels only let kids 4+ at the kids club, so this was an awesome offering especially for those with little kids. The kids clubs were arranged by age and VERY impressive. Lucy did a lot of art projects and imaginary play and the kids club environment featured very Montessori-style play areas. More about the kids club at this hotel here.

SPA / There was a spa onsite and Eric and I enjoyed a couple hours of spa services while the girls did the kids club one morning! They even had a ‘kids spa’ where you can get services done with your kid – so fun!

EXCURSIONS / the hotel can help you arrange excursions! We did a sunset dolphin boat tour one evening which was a sweet memory! 🐬

Candidly, Eric and I are on the go adventurous travelers and would have liked to explore more of Croatia. We had booked tickets to Plitvice Lakes National Park, which we had heard amazing things about. We ended up not going to the national park because it felt like too much driving with the kids (about three hours each way from Rovinj) after a lot of driving to get here. Being flexible and going with the flow is always key when traveling with kids. The kinderhotel was AMAZING for kids, but definitely a bit overstimulating for us grown-ups. There were, obviously, just a lot of kids there and so much going on at all times! It was SO sweet to see how much fun the girls were having and how much they enjoyed their daily routine at the kinderhotel and that made it really worth it for us. 💛