Hotel Flamingo

We stayed at the Hotel Flamingo for a week in early October in a superior Sea View Room which is situated above the main building with a view over the swimming Pool and with a good sea view. The room is of reasonable size and comprises a balcony with table and chairs, twin beds placed together, bedside cabinets with lighting, dressing table with drawers / large desk with mirror, chair, easy chair, flat screen TV, small fridge - mini bar, kettle, Large wardrobe with hangers and 4 drawers, room safe, bathroom with large walk in shower, WC, Bidet, basin plus complimentary toiletries (no bath). Plenty of storage space. Free WIFI. The room and the whole hotel were spotlessly clean and well maintained. The grounds are very pleasant with plenty of greenery and a large attractive swimming pool again kept very clean. Free sunbeds and sunshades around the pool. The Hotel has its own beach marked out with netting. The beach is sandy, but with a very stony area as you enter the sea before sand again, but if swimming you should have footwear to get over the stones. There are nice walks in both directions along the beach and in surrounding area. This is quite an underdeveloped area with a few medium sized hotels well spread out and a couple of up market camp sites set amongst pine trees. Not busy in the area at the time of our stay. There is a large car park and a bus stop just outside the hotel entrance - bus running about every 90 minutes to Pula in one direction and Santa Margareta in the other. The food was of good quality at breakfast and in the evening on Half Board basis. Buffet in the morning and waiter service in the evening. However the actual service was not good - not through lack of effort, but appeared to be short of waiting staff - quite slow in the evening on occasions and replenishment of the buffet salad bar in the evening and with items at breakfast was slow. On the subject of food there is a very good restaurant, Ortoristorante, a couple of hundred yards down the narrow road from Hotel which is very good indeed - we had an al fresco meal there which was really excellent in the gardens. There is a very interesting large Roman Site at nearby Nora which is certainly worth a visit. Our stay cost 272 Euros per night (about £240) Half Board which is on the high side I think in comparison. However we enjoyed our stay - previously stayed at this hotel 5 years ago and has probably improved a bit on then. There were some small aggravations: 1. Supposed to be dressing gown and slippers provided in room - not there and despite chasing only slippers arrived. 2. Supposed to have a free session at the Health Centre, but had closed on 15th September. 3. Supposed to have free paddle board Session, but not available. 4. Charged 3 Euros for each beach towel and 3 Euros again every time that you want to change it !! 5. There are two large bamboo covered areas on the beach with lots of deck chairs underneath which are free to use. However the actual sunbeds further down towards the sea are charged at 20 Euros or 30 Euros (Front Row) per couple per day. During our stay these were very little use made of these presumably because of excessive cost. Staff were all friendly and helpful - most spoke some English. Guests were a mixture of Italian, German, French and English. Although a bit expensive I would recommend a stay at Hotel Flamingo.

our stay at the hotel was great! live entertainment every now and again, clean pool and a secure facility. The food and wifi however did let me down at times but would recommend to anyone looking for an amazing affordable stay. Maurico from reception and Yazmin from the restaurant were two of the most honourable characters that we have come across. Will be back again!

Stayed here for 4 nights in September with a friend. We were the youngest by far (and we're both just either side of 40), the hotel certainly seemed more geared towards an older clientèle. Not many children at all, which suited us as we came away to have a mini break from ours. Subsequently the hotel was relaxing and quiet - which was just what we were after. We were B&B, so can only comment on the breakfast which wasn't amazing but was adequate - you wouldn't starve but you'd struggle to find enough variety to fill you up for the day ahead or to make you look forward to breakfast. We had a cocktail each on arrival - €13 each and certainly not worth anywhere near that, as they were basically diluted squash with lots of ice and barely a splash of spirit - hugely disappointing. Glass bottles of pop were €4 each, so the bar really wasn't cheap. The pool was fabulous, cooling but not ice cold like you find in many hotels. The only minor quibble would be the only ladder to get out of the pool did not feel secure at all. The rooms were lovely and spacious, plus super clean. The beds and pillows were fairly comfortable too - I've slept on far worse when away. The air con worked really well and felt like walking into a fridge everytime we went back to the room, which was glorious. The entertainment was practically non existent, but that could be due to the time of year we went. Some water aerobics late afternoon and a bit of live music on some nights, nothing at all other nights. I found it bizarre that other than the bar men blasting rock music on 1 day, the hotel has no music playing anywhere at all, not even gentle background music, which just made the hotel feel quite soulless at times. There is a shop in the campsite opposite but it is super basic, but it has a pizzeria too. Pizzas were a little disappointing if I'm honest, not anything special. We found an amazing campsite about a 25 minute walk down the beach (Campeggio Cala d'Ostia) which had an amazing pizzeria and cocktails to die for - certainly worth the walk. There is a local bus immediately outside the hotel entrance which runs to Pula (and Chia I think) - it only runs every 90 mins or so, so you have to check the notice board in reception for the most up to date schedule, as you wont find it on google maps, etc. Taxi's to/from Pula cost €20 each way. Pula is a fabulous town, we went a couple of times during our stay. Most restaurants, etc, don't really open for food until 7.30/8pm, so you are limited for choice until then but the town really comes to life from about 9.30/10pm onwards. There are so many good restaurants and bars to choose from. All in all it was a perfectly pleasant hotel, for a few days of rest and relaxation - which was all we were after. Not sure there is enough to do at the hotel or locally to stay any longer than we did.