Camping Polidor - our first stop in Croatia

Ahhh. . . Camping Polidor, our first campsite home in Croatia, and worth its own little entry.

Picked because of its compact size by Mrs B from the plethora of ACSI sites that are scattered along the Istrian coast (there are only 70 touring pitches at Camping Polidor compared to hundreds – and counting, at most of the others). Small is indeed beautiful here, think camping-meets-glamping-meets-boutique hotel.  The high level of care, attention to detail and quality that has gone into designing and developing this family run site is second to none. In addition to the pitches, there are cluster of chalets and ‘glamping’ facilities that sit on the edge of two of the site’s sides and we noticed a number of campers meeting up with friends/ family staying in chalets during our stay.

Ordinarily we’re not overly choosy about where we stay, so long as we like the vibe when we arrive and the facilities are half decent. So, walking the site to choose our pitch, we were pleased to see a mixed layout of fairly standard (and large) open pitches, and then what could best be described as a lovely wooded glade, set with two concentric circles of pitches. The extremely helpful staff at reception had said we could choose between sun and shade, and now we could see why – so, without further ado we chose a large raised pitch in the inner circle, sheltered by trees and providing loads of space with dappled shade.

A proper exploration of the site then delivered one smile after another. The ‘shower block’ was equipped with state of the art washrooms and showers (think sensor operated lights and taps, and tropical rain shower heads in the shower rooms that are guaranteed to keep your clothes dry with their separate glass doors) and vanity rooms with extendable magnifying mirrors and hairdryers. There’s also the cutest kids’ bathroom area too. Everything is maintained to a very high degree of cleanliness (we came to see how with the large, efficient and friendly staff that work here). Downstairs were more discoveries; a modern laundry room, a small gym, a massage room, and a well equipped children’s play area (complete with a great tube-slide between the two floors).

This also has to be the best ‘library’ we’ve seen for campers to swap books they no longer want to keep!

There is also a compact infinity pool (with a bar), a children’s pool and outdoor play area, a large decked area for lounging in the sun (complete with very comfy loungers) and a small restaurant/bar that serves good food at lunch and in the evenings. A mini market (with fresh bread daily) is just outside the site. Another nice touch – if you order bread/pastries from reception before 2100, it will be delivered to your van at 0800 the next day!

The site is a 15/20-minute walk from the sea, where there is also a Polidor beach and bar, with some rather swish arrangements including gazebo-type structures, complete with curtains for shade/privacy. One is even moored out to sea on a small pontoon! The same access road to the beach also lets onto a cycle path that runs north to Poreč (see next entry) and south to the local village of Funtana – both with plenty of shops. Of course, Polidor also does bike hire! 

There’s plenty of wildlife too, and as well as being serenaded at night by what we now know to be Scops owls, we saw a pair of golden orioles swooping across the tree canopy as we cycled for a sunset drink one evening! There are also bee-eaters, kingfishers and hoopoes about, but they saved themselves for another visit…

We often say that the vibe of a site lends itself to the general level of friendliness of fellow campers, and here, this is driven by a combination of the amazing staff who are always cordial, helpful and speak excellent English (as well as being very patient with Mr B’s valiant attempts at learning Hrvatski) as well as the high quality of the facilities, the beautiful surroundings and coastline.

It will come as no surprise that we ended up staying a week, where not only did we have the benefit for a couple of very pleasant nights of drinks and natters with fellow Brit travellers from Hampshire, Mike and Suzy, but we also fetched up alongside the only other home made Iveco camper we’ve seen in mainland Europe! We met the very friendly owners, Klaudia and Jōrg from Langelsheim in Germany, and after admiring one another’s creations, we swapped addresses with the hope of catching up with one another in our own countries, or even on the road!

So, thank you Camping Polidor for a very enjoyable stay and a high quality experience – at €17 a night on ACSI, there’s every chance we’ll be back, as it’s a great base for exploring the Istrian peninsula!

S&J.