After a couple of nights of adults only luxury in Zadar, we headed to Hvar, party island and home to one of our favourite hotels of our whole trip, Amfora – in fact, it went some way to convincing me that resorts aren’t something that I should turn down as often as I do.
Check in was a breeze: we arrived at 10am, long before check in time, and so we were allowed to leave our luggage and head down to the pool, enjoy the day and check in later when the room was ready.
The room had the most beautiful view as we were on the top floor of the hotel, and we had the perfect balcony from which to watch the sunset.
The room itself was extremely luxurious: with beautiful linens, more than enough space for my suitcase to explode and wonderful modern fittings.
I love it when hotels really ensure that all the details in a room are up to standard: from the high quality linens to the relaxing, neutral colours that decorated the room and finally, to the most wonderful private balcony, it really was the perfect place to relax at the end of a day of exploring.
In fact, had it not been for the gorgeous pool, or the fact that we wanted to go island hopping, I might never have left it!
The hotel itself is quite large, but not in a soulless way that large hotels can sometimes be: the staff still new who we were and the attention to detail was still of a very high level.
Though I loved staying in period hotels, I really appreciated the modernity and clean finishes in Amfora.
The hotel restaurant followed the same decor as the rest of the hotel, and was beautifully kitted out with modern features and, my favourite feature, full length glass windows to allow you to look onto the bay, no matter what time of day or night you’re there.
One night we chose to have a buffet dinner in the hotel, which though well priced, I have to say I thought let the otherwise excellent hotel down.
Though the local wine that they served was great, I didn’t find the food that flavourful: we much preferred eating out.
The reception and lounge area were beautifully decorated – I adored the light fitting that glinted every evening, and it was never particularly busy (apart from when the American Open tennis matches were on!) which made it a great place to enjoy a pre-dinner or post-swim drink.
Breakfast is a buffet affair, which I found much better than the dinner, but not quite as good as the breakfast at Hotel Adriana, Zadar, mainly as I didn’t like that you had to pay extra for a proper coffee in Amfora.
Having said that, Andy loved that there was a much larger selection of food and he thought the hot food was of a better quality. Afraid I’m a croissant and fruit for breakfast lady on holiday so I’ll have to take his word for this!
…or my favourite part: drinking insanely good frozen daqueris in the pool. Mhmmm with a Swim-to-Bar it’s very simple to order one, two, three or four delicious cocktails.
And since you can pay everything on your hotel room key, you don’t even need to take your wallet to the pool!
Now this is what I call paradise!
Though the food at the restaurant didn’t impress, I have to say the food at the pool was much better. In fact, it was a welcome treat at lunch time.
Especially this delicious club sandwich!
Under the drop of the main pool there is a smaller, separate pool for children, which we thought was a fantastic addition as it meant we could enjoy our afternoons in a much quieter environment.
I’m sure you can see from the length of this post that we had an incredible stay at Amfora: a real gem of a luxury hotel in Hvar and both a great base, and a fabulous pool to laze away our days at! If you’re looking for a picture of relaxation in Hvar, Amfora is your hotel.
Don’t forget how handy it is to be able to visit so many different hotels just by using your room-key, it’s one of the best benefits we came across on our whole trip!
We paid a media rate for our stay but all opinions and photos are my own.