The hotel is dated and worn. Much of it needs paint, the décor is 1957 or something, and the ambiance is not memorable. At no time did I want to hang out in the hotel or even look forward to returning to it.

But the services were fine (for instance, laundry was picked up and returned OK, the room was cleaned adequately each day, the children seemed to have plenty of planned activities with lots of staff around, there were nightly “lounge acts” out by the pool – cheesy Vegas-style but probably entertaining to some, and the restaurant was well kept up), and the place was overall clean and functioned well. The pools looked very large and nice, but we didn’t use them. In short, it completely lacked any charm to me and was miles away from elegant or even modern, but it was a perfectly fine place to base one’s activities.

Our “single” room had a bed and small bathroom and little else. No air conditioning, and it was hot in the evening after the hot days but quite OK after the more moderate days (which I suppose makes sense). The TV was tiny and mounted high on the wall, but it received programs and movies in German, Italian, Russian, and English (at least those; we didn’t use it much). The sea gulls made a horrendous and insane racket outside for much of the night which took getting used to. I drank tap water quite a bit with no problems. There was a small closet and some shelves. A decent place to change clothes, get cleaned up, or sleep in, but little else. Perhaps other rooms were larger. I don’t know.

The restaurant for the buffet meals was quite large and air conditioned. The buffet was large with a large selection. The offering didn’t vary to speak of over the 6 days (one wouldn’t expect it to), and I didn’t find any of it exceptionally tasty, but that’s my own opinion and based on my own tastes. It was the usual stuff you find in European places. The tables were cleaned up nicely and quickly. This was the only room (three large rooms, actually) that seemed attractive, and it was run very well.

They do pay good attention to the grounds. The many flowers are kept up and blooming prettily. The location is a kind of pine woods with a rocky shoreline, and it’s all right outside the door. I often saw large numbers of workers raking up the pine needles and otherwise caring for the place; I could tell they were paying good attention to it. No trash lying around. It looked nice. It was very pleasant in the evenings to walk along the path and watch the sunset over the sea.

The “beach” is a rocky shoreline without consistent sun due to all the pine trees. Sunbathing as such is problematic and requires moving around a lot to find the sunny spots. Swimming is tricky to get over and through the rocks and into the water. I scraped my leg up on some rocks but no big deal. You must wear the water shoes they sell everywhere. The water was warm and seemed clean, the bottom pebbly, a little weedy. No sand anywhere, which was odd to me but also kind of interesting. I think there was a "safer" place to swim on the side of the hotel we didn't much get to.

The best way into Porec was on the little train (a tractor that looks like a little train engine followed by open-air cars with roofs and bench seating) with the terminus about ¼ mile (or less) from the hotel. It meanders every 30 minutes along the shore, picking up other passengers from other hotels on the way. It cost 15 Kuna (about $3.00) each way, each person, and was pleasant. A taxi to town cost me about $17.00, and we avoided taxis.

I would neither suggest this hotel nor dissuade anyone from going there. I don’t know what comparable hotels were like in the area or what hotels in this kind of resort are supposed to be like. There’s nothing wrong with Parentium but nothing glorious about it, either. It’s not, itself, a destination, but it’s a pretty place (outside the hotel itself) to base yourself and is convenient enough. The excursion plans we arranged at the hotel went flawlessly (3 day-trips) if you like those kinds of things. It all could have been much worse and much better. I have no complaints but no great praise. It depends on what you expect and what you’re willing to pay for, as usual. It’s old and rather dull but well run.

Our family of four people – two children and two adults stayed in this hotel for two weeks from 16-th of July till 30-th of July. We lived in two hotel rooms, which consisted of two rooms, separated by the door. This room wasn’t very big, but it had two bathrooms and two balconies, which was certainly very convenient. Each room also had a TV with eighteen channels and a phone. One of the inconveniences was that the room hadn’t been provided by the air conditioner. The weather was mainly hot, so it was insufferable to stay in the room at the afternoon and sometimes even in the evenings. If you want to have a fridge in your room you need to pay 23 kunas (about 3 euro) per day. But it is certainly worth it. Room was quite clean, there weren’t any problems with towels and bed linen, as maids changed them properly.
We were very satisfied with the variety of meals served. There were also special offers for vegetarians and those, who are on the diet. Also the variety of dishes for breakfast was quite ordinary – e.g. sausages, toasts, yoghurts, mueslis, but everything tasted really good. Suppers were very delicious too. There always were a number of salads, meat and fish courses, fruits, vegetables, cakes and ice-cream. There was no dinner offered, but a huge amount of shops, markets, restaurants and cafes were at our service, so we weren’t hungry.
Hotel has two pools - indoors and outdoors, filled with sea-water. Deck-chairs by the pools were free of charge, but because of the great amount of Russian tourists, which woke up early and occupied the greatest part of them, paying no attention to other visitors, we had to get up early too if we wanted to occupy some. Deck-chair on the beach costs 20 kunas (about 2 euro) per day. Frankly speaking, “beach” was only a green grass under the pine-trees, which make a nice shadow, pleasant to lie under. Water in the sea was warm, but the floor was covered with bigger and smaller stones, so you need special shoes if you are swimming there not to hurt your legs.
Animation team wasn’t very active. Daily program was a bit boring. Parents had to entertain there children themselves. Tour guides offer various excursions, which are certainly worth visiting. On the hotel’s territory there were a lot of squirrels and seagulls, and though the formers were very pleasant, screams of the latter early in the morning woke us up and really tired us out. It was the biggest inconvenience.
Hotel’s stuff is very kind and polite. They speak English, Italian and German perfectly. They are always on your service, trying to solve any problem and make your holidays unforgettable.
To cut a story short, despite some disadvantages we had a great time in Parentium and we strongly advice you to visit it too.

Having the misfortune of being stuck in the Parentium hotel, stuck being the operative word, being in my sixty's & in a wheelchair. The entrance is up a slope and with multiple flights of steps to the front and rear thus not suitable for the disabled but still Newmarket Holidays thought this a good place to stick us. The rep said it was because of over booking but we had no notice of the change - only finding out from the rep at Porec airport along with other passengers when we landed although we had booked the Neptun in the centre of Porec in January!. Food: I'm not a fussy eater and I will try most foods but I draw the line at eating reheated garbage; reaheated is being too kind as it was only luke warm! but this is my opinion along with a lot of other holidays makers .
The rooms were extremely basic, small, and looked well worn!.
With the bars closing during the day, and nothing else to do we became bored prisoners in the hotel - all we wanted to do was get out of there permanently.
If you are looking for a holiday where you can access bars and cafes and have places to walk after your evening meal, and/or are in any way disabled then this is NOT the hotel for you. We were lucky to have been moved to the Neptun in Porec as it was either the move or go home; we could not stay in this dismal, concrete prison. Colditz would have been a palace!

Not the hotel I chose, Newmarket Holidays changed us to this hotel with less than 24 hours notice so it was not where we expected to be and not our choice but I will be objective about this hotel.
The location is about 4 miles south of Porec, on a peninsular surrounded by pine trees. The hotel is a large sprawling concrete complex built in the 1960’s and nothing can disguise its dated appearance, furnishings and décor. Meal were self service in a huge dining hall and at first seemed quite good but varied little in style or content over the week and by day 5 had become tedious and repetitive.
Rooms were small and the decoration of red and black gave them a dingy feeling. The ants that seemed to be everywhere didn’t add to the atmosphere, neither did the black beetles that ran for cover when you turned on the light.
Porec, (where we wanted to be) was reached by boat, bus or land train. Quite a regular service but all stopped by 9pm so unless you were prepared to pay out for an expensive taxi each way you were trapped in the concrete jungle every evening. The hotel seemed to recognise this with drinks being particularly expensive (a bottle of local plonk was £20 when it was £2 in a supermarket).
The “restaurant” dining room is the only part of the hotel that is air conditioned, out room was very warm in May so mid summer must be extremely hot. The hotel pool is great as is the sea around the hotel with plenty of places to swim and shelter from the sun under pine trees that go down to the waters edge. (The hotel surroundings are superb) its just the hotel and its location that were wrong.
Last word I think should go to the man on reception when we arrived. He asked where we were from, then said “We used to get a lot of English hear, haven’t had any for the last few years” A note Newmarket Holidays should bare in mind.