We had a great 3 nights at the Hotel Sipan. We booked direct with the hotel after a recommendation from friends. We completely wound down, but not the place to go for any kind of nightlife/shopping sights! It is set at the heart of the harbour, which is a quiet but lovely place. Our room (and the front of the hotel) had fabulous views out to the harbour & the islands beyond. We spent a lot of time just lazing on the loungers in front of the hotel, watching the world go by & going for an occasional dip in the harbour. Don't come to Croatia for beaches - they don't really exist, however the water is beautifully clear.

The hotel is stylish, but not really a 4 star. Rooms are not huge but fine, beds were comfortable. Slightly oddly, despite having airconditioning clearly installed, we were told by reception that 'we do not have airconditioning in the hotel' - the panel flashed annoyingly so we had to cover it up to sleep.

To get there you need to get the ferry from Dubrovnik, then the local bus which meets the ferry - a lovely journey, don't be put off.

If you're going to Sipan, take enough cash - the only cashpoint was out for the whole of our stay, which severely restricted our dining options - the hotel is the only place that takes credit cards. The hotel restaurant caters for half board guests - the appetizer buffet was fine so we filled up on that, however the main courses were almost comically bad - I'm not a fussy eater but they were practically inedible. At least it was cheap! The other restaurants around the harbour are far better, there are 4 options to choose from if you have cash!

The Hotel Sipan does not have A/C or elevators, they do have beach towels available for use, however they will not tell you any of this. I can live without either, it would have been nice to know in advance. It was hard to get much information out of the staff, we are easy going people but it was a little frustrating. Breakfast was so so, we did not eat lunch or dinner at the hotel. We were not fans of sit in the same seat at all meals theory. The other restaurantson the island were fantastic, great seafood, wine and service.
The island is beautiful beyond words, it is a wonderful place to get away from it all.

++ GOOD POINTS ++

The Hotel himself is really great :
- on a peaceful island with beautiful view on the sea, in a lovely village
- food is absolutly decent for the price
- the rooms are small but very clean & new
- you can take your meals with a fantastic view on the sea, and on sunsets.

You can travel to Dubrovnik and other island with very cheap ferries departing from Sipan island.
For snorkeling and nice paths, go to the near islands Lopud (down the church) and Kolocep (10 minutes walk on the right of the ferry harbour when you're looking at it from the sea, just right a restaurant on the sea, on a naturist beach "FKK").
Spend a day to visit Dubrovnik, it's incredibly lovely!

Sipan island itself is lovely too : charming village, nice creeks, very pleasant atmosphere and good places to swim.

If you're looking for relaxing holidays in a peaceful and traditionnal place, it might be your paradise!
If you're looking for great animation, night life and swimming pools, you may as well go to Dubrovnik, or maybe even somewhere else!

- - (VERY) BAD POINTS - -

The hotel Sipan have (very) few drawbacks in our opinion :
- small rooms
- no air conditionning (but they give you a fan if you ask for one)
- staff sometime rigid (but still polite)

The REALLY BAD POINT is about the travel agency VISITEUROP/TRAVELEUROPE who obviously is in charge of almost all bookings in this hotel.
DON'T BOOK WITH THEM! They will just bring you to average hotels in the suburbs of Dubrovnik without letting you the choice. They were really impolite, insulting and not professionnal in their behavior with us.

We had to fight for 6 hours to finally obtain rooms (because we threatened them of legal proceedings), but many other travelers could not get what they booked.

Adriana, one of the employee of TravelEurop/VisitEurop, insulted us the last day at the airport. She would really deserve to be fired for her behavior.

A collective legal proceeding has been launched in France by 15 people victims of those people.

And for sure, Hotel Sipan perfectly knows about this. The same happened the next week, so that was not like a one-time mistake from them...

ONE LAST POINT: even if you book Sipan with a well-known Travel Agency (like LastMinute, Selectour, etc), you will still end in the hands of VisitEurope/TravelEurope.

BE CAUTIOUS!

Two days on this island allowed us to totally unwind. The hotel was charming and the staff helpful. Although they were busy with a wedding party they allowed us to change room and were great in organising us a taxi back to the ferry port. The location is very beautiful and we enjoyed walking around and dining in the fine restaurants nearby.
Our only slight criticism was the breakfast which was poor in relation to everything else. The coffee was out of a machine and the bread wasn't particularly good. The buffet was very busy due to afore-mentioned wedding party and things were not replenished quickly enough. Most of all we would make a plea for good freshly made coffee to be served at the tables.