We have just returned from an amazing week long holiday in Croatia with Jet 2 holidays.
This was my first package holiday since Magaluf but this holiday and maga were very different, as you can imagine. We paid £455 each for a week, half board in The Medora Auri hotel, including transfers and hold luggage.
Once we arrived into Split airport we were greeted by a Jet 2 representative and led to our coach transfer to our hotel. We got an envelope with all of our holiday details including things to do in Podgora, excursions, and details on our meal times as we were half board.
Hotel:
We stayed in the gorgeous Medora Auri Hotel in Podgora, Croatia. It had just gone under a massive renovation so everything is new and very clean. The beds were comfy, a kettle was provided (which we used for pot noodles rather than the camomile tea) and the rooms were cleaned every day.
The main hotel building was only a couple of minutes walk from the Pavilion and our room was just a few steps away from the beach.
The hotel itself is in an absolutely stunning location and designed so well that from everywhere you have the most amazing views out over the sea.
The swimming pools, lobby bar and restaurant all have the same stunning views. The restaurant has the option to sit indoors or outdoors, we sat outdoors every time.
Location:
The hotel is in a quiet area but Lewis and I loved that. It wasn't overcrowded and you could really enjoy how beautiful it was. The promenade in front of the hotel is lined with restaurants, shops etc all the way down to the marina at the end (about a 20 minute walk) so plenty of choice of places to eat when you're there. We ate and drank a lot in the Banana bar which also had great live music. The food everywhere we went was super cheap and we didn't have a bad meal once.
The beaches are all pebbly rather than sandy but this makes for the most amazing clear water to swim in. Most sections of the beach have sun loungers to hire if you want one and at the section of beach in front of the hotel they throw in a cocktail from the beach bar in the cost of the hire. The sun beds were 100 Kuna for two and included the free cocktails which works out at £12 in total.
Food:
We were half board, it cost us £50 each to go half board with Jet2 and included our breakfast and dinner everyday. The food at the hotel was great, breakfast had different types of cold meat, cereals, a crazy amount of breads, croissants, eggs, bacon etc. Most mornings we had coffee and croissants or eggs. For dinner there were different types of meat every night which were cooked at live cooking stations, such as steak, grilled chicken, turkey etc. They also had things like garlic potatoes, pastas, fish, and tonnes of fruit and vegetables. Most nights I had grilled chicken and chips (stolen from the kids buffet) or chicken nuggets (also stolen from the kids buffet. Lewis ate alot of pasta, pizza and veg aswell.
Things to do:
There was plenty of boat trips to the islands leaving from Markarska, you can get them from Podgora too there was just more choice from Mararska.
We rented a boat from the harbour in Podgora which cost us £45 for 6 hours and it was one of the best things we did. We brought sandwiches, a speaker and plenty of vodka and had great craic on the boat, so much so that we rented it again on one of the other days.
I will say that the busses from Podgora are not good, we waited for a bus to the next town (Markaska) for a good two hours before a lovely woman and her young son stopped at the bus stop and told us to jump in. The woman that stopped for us was easily the nicest person we met in Croatia and she also said Ireland is better than Scotland so a win win.
We then got the bus from Markaska to split and it was great to see a big Croatian city, it was also great to do some shopping and we spent a good hour in Zara. We had lunch in a gorgeous little Italian called Pizzeria Portas that had "The best pizza in Split" on trip advisor. I had Spaghetti and Lewis had a pizza, both were gorgeous and we recommend you go there if you're in Split.