Tui Blue Makarska - Adults Only

Our first visit to a TUI Blue Hotel (Adults Only) and Croatia. Very impressed by both. The beach hotel, it’s facilities, its friendly & helpful staff and international clientele make this an elegant and charming holiday. we’ve had a great holiday. Very much recommended and looking forward to returning next year maybe later in season (see later about pools) Our TUI package holiday flew us into Split Airport – small but spacious, efficient & stress free . The TUI transfer to the hotel was very good and gave us a scenic tour of the stunningly beautiful Dalmatian Coast. Whilst it’s a 2hr journey we don’t feel enough time would be saved to warrant an expensive private taxi transfer. We had messaged TUI Blue ahead of the holiday to seek an upgrade on our Standard Room to a Sea view room. Whilst they deferred this until our arrival the reception staff were fully aware and immediately offered a free upgrade to a side Seaview. We chose to purchase a full Seaview upgrade (Room 307) and thoroughly enjoyed the stunning views over the Adriatic Sea to the nearby island of Hvar from our private patio. Always something interesting to watch and the soothing noise of the waves gently lapping the beach below our bedroom was sublime. Room was perfectly functional. Freshly decorated and bed and shower were especially good. Our week in the middle of May was still early in their season : • Weather was very largely sunny and dry throughout with temperatures peaking daily in the low 20’s centigrade. No rain. • We were told the hotel has a capacity of about 350 guests and was just 40% full. But staff still on their game . We liked it being quiet. • Importantly Both pools were too cold to use – TUI adverts suggest one is heated! Took score from 5/5 to 4/5! • Igraine was very quiet and charming but already had 5 restaurants open with prices to suit all wallets. Souvenir shops opened during the week. The Studenac (Super) Market is excellent especially the fresh bread. • We used The narrow public beach outside the hotel a lot (free of charge). It was great and popular but we never struggled to find space. The sea was also very cold. . Beach shoes are a must due to stones! • I’d read that the a hotels la carte restaurant (Culinarium) was open last year for dinner but now closes at 6pm, although we only used for a light lunch. Food is important to our holidays and we were looking forward to the much complimented local fish and seafood. We’ve had mixed experiences of TUI hotel buffet dinners so chose to go B&B . The hotel buffet breakfasts and snack lunches were good in quality and offering . The hotel buffet dinner is available everyday at €28pp although we didn’t try it. As planned we enjoyed the Igraine restaurants, particularly SKIF, Ante and Excalibur Snack Bar (the name undersells its qualities) – see separate reviews. The Café Dona, ice cream parlour & café is also great. Everywhere portion sizes were very generous and quality high. Hotel

We arrived at Split airport and even though the minbus transfer was rather long, the views were incredible. Hotel is in the sleepy town of Igrane, which is south of the more lively Makarska. Hotel was superb. We stayed in a quiet bungalow type of accommodation at the end of the complex (above the quiet area of the infinity pool, which we preferred more than the main pool). Huge selection of food at breakfast and dinner, which we couldn’t fault. Water dispenser was available at breakfast but not with dinner, so had to pay for bottled water. This was only downside and as a non alcohol drinker, think it should have been made available each meal time. Really friendly & helpful staff and a great Tui rep, who recommended a great boat trip to Brac island (this place was beautiful)! We hired a car for a couple of days and drove to Dubrovnik. Long drive but again, stunning views and the old town of Dubrovnik and the GofT tour is a must. Will definitely return to Croatia as we’d love to explore Split and the region north of the county.

Hotel as expected for a 4 star. No complaints. Staff very helpful. Food great. Unfortunately we were quite down beat after renting a lovely sea view with a balcony 2 cars could park on we are reliably informed that no loungers are available to use on balcony. We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary (2nd time round!) and looking forward to some lovely evening looking out on the sea view which granted is fantastic. We were told the manager refused our request. Very very disappointed

We flew out of Manchester on the early flight to Split with the intention of an early arrival at the Hotel in time to catch some lunch and afternoon sun. Upon arrival it soon became apparent that at least 15 passengers had not received luggage. No Tui Rep in the arrivals terminal to approach and only a transport coordinator to be found at the main exit who when informed of the unfolding drama inside the terminal offers no help or advise and merely proceeded to ring the drivers to say passengers would be late. Arrival at the hotel and the situation got worse with a three hour wait for the Rep (Lara) to arrive who then advised us to take a 20 minute drive into the nearest town and purchase a few days essentials and full reimbursement would be forthcoming as we only had the clothes we were standing in. No offer to accompany us or arrange transport all had to be organised by myself. For three days we received no updates on luggage no support help or advise and relied on using the app to communicate with TUi UK as the in resort Rep was not interested. This is no reflection on the resort staff who work tirelessly only to be let down by the rep only interested in selling trips and excursions. The hotel is in need of some maintenance especially the infinity pool which daily had green slime on the entrance steps with tiles missing and sharp concrete showing. Also the room we had the doorway is half blocked by a wardrobe so larger people may struggle to get into the room. There was black mould spots on the bathroom shower wall grout and I don't think the ledge above the bed has been dusted in months as it was thick in dust. TUi advertise "Discover the perfect blend of relaxation and top-class service with our TUI BLUE holidays" This hotel offers scenic views and a small port village next door but apart from that it's far from a 4 star experience. The staff are all wanting to help and can't do enough for you but are being let down. Without them our week would have been a total disaster.

The resort does a lot of things well, but needs to tweak things to become a very good/great resort experience. The resort is quite far away from Makarska (20 mins) and there is very little in Igrane aside from a supermarket, restaurants and some souvenir shops. Prices for food and drink is a little higher than the UK, but the local dishes are excellent. The hotel is based on a public beach and there are a few locals that come and this is probably the only place where you will see children, as it is an adults only hotel. They charge for umbrellas and sunloungers, so I'd recommend going to the main pool and grabbing a lounger and umbrella then walking down to the beach to have a swim to return to the pool. The pool area is lovely, but the main bug bear I have is that people take an umbrella each instead of using 1 per 2 people. This leaves a shortage of umbrellas and is annoying when common curtesy should prevail. The hotel should have someone on the gate when people arrive in the morning and hand out umbrellas which would sort this issue out. The hotel says in the paperwork that they remove towels from loungers when people are away for over an hour, but we saw no evidence of this and people would grab an umbrella each and put their towels down and disappear for over 2 hours. The rooms are a decent size, but why have an air conditioning unit that doesn't go below 24 degrees? When we mentioned this at the desk to try and reduce the temp we were told that they dont go below that. We found it too hot in the room and couldnt sleep well at all for the entire stay. The fridge is a good idea, but didn't keep things cold as the temp again couldn't be adjusted and was too warm. We had a balcony which you couldn't sit out on as it was surrounded by walls apart from a small area and didn't really appeal to sit out on. The restaurant is large, bright and airy with plenty of choice. However if you are vegan, lactose intolerant or have other dietary needs then you will be very disappointed. My wife struggled to find anything other than fruit and some bread that she could eat which is very disappointing considering the resort is large and should be able to have a vegan offering. We had a transfer booked back to Split airport and the hotel was able to do a packed lunch for us as we missed breakfast. Reception asked if there was any vegan or dietary needs and we stated Vegan. We knew it wouldn't work out and sure enough when we opened the sandwich there were strips of cheese with cucumber! It seems to be a problem everywhere in Croatia which is strange considering how common vegan options are elsewhere. So all in all a fairly decent stay, but we were left frustrated by so many things that could be easily fixed by the hotel.

What an absolute gem of a hotel. We were looking for a week of total relaxation in beautiful surroundings, with some sunshine and we could not have been happier. Igrane is a wonderfully scenic location, very peaceful, crystal clear sea and surrounded by mountains one way and the islands out to sea the other, the views were amazing. We were very warmly welcomed by the staff from the minute we arrived and our room was very comfortable with a generous balcony and spotlessly clean. Excellent selection of food at breakfast and in the evening. We especially loved the drinks terrace in the early evening sun. It was lovely each evening to be greeted by Renato, Davor and the gentleman from Macedonia, we felt thoroughly looked after and totally relaxed. Thankyou Blue Makarska, this was our first trip to Croatia and one of our favourite holidays ever. We came back feeling so rejuvenated, we can’t wait to stay again!