Camping Vestar or Polari Rovinj - Recommendations?

Hartwithss
Hartwithss Forum Participant Posts: 26

We have been looking at Camping Vestar or Polari near Rovinj visiting beginning June. Both these appear in ACSI but not in new CMC guide.

Has anyone experience of either or can recommend a site near Rovinj please?

Comments

  • chasncath
    chasncath Forum Participant Posts: 1,659
    1000 Comments
    edited May 2018 #2

    Follow this link for all you need to know about Croatian camp sites. Just select 'Istria'. Note that mini-camping equates to CL-style small sites.

    http://www.camping.hr/

  • Tigi
    Tigi Forum Participant Posts: 1,038
    500 Comments
    edited May 2018 #3

    Its a while since we have been but we used Porton Biondi which was fairly close to Rovinj . it had been wet prior to our arrival and pitches were quite badly rutted so it would`nt be my first choice again. The sites we saw all looked to be of a good standard and if you are going at the beginning of June it should be reasonably quiet. Rovinj is well worth the drive! 

  • chasncath
    chasncath Forum Participant Posts: 1,659
    1000 Comments
    edited May 2018 #4

    Rovinj

  • reynoray
    reynoray Forum Participant Posts: 106
    edited May 2018 #5

    We did that coast in May 2014 and loved it ( we stayed three weeks).  We started off at Vestar and it was fine, good facilities though toilet blocks were a long way away. Vestar and Polaris are very big sites compared to many.  The photo is the view of the bay at Vestar which is its big plus point.  Vestar is generally a bit scruffier than Polaris (We had a walk round Polaris to suss it out.). Polaris sits in the waterside and has great views across to Rovinj Town.  I'd say if I was going again I'd probably pick Polaris.

    We also stopped just up the coast near to Novigrad at Camping Mareda.  Loved it there.  Seaside salt water pool if you don't fancy the sea and the most amazingly well presented toilet block I've ever seen anywhere!  Constantly cleaned throughout the day and just for those late night trips there is changing mood lighting in all the cubicles.  Novigrad is a brilliant little fishing town and there is a tractor train shuttling folks back and forth from the campsite for a modest fee.  

    Hope this was helpful.

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #6

    In Camping Polari now, stay every year for about 8 weeks, This is our 10th year, so I would have to recommend Polari as your first choice. Bavarian school holidays finish on 1st June so no problem about pitches after that and all traffic will be going the other way!!

    Town is easy to get to along good coastal path and there is a good car park if you prefer to drive. Pula to south and Porac to the north are 30 mins drive and worth a visit.

  • Martatin
    Martatin Forum Participant Posts: 306
    edited May 2018 #7

    Thinking of Croatia for next year. How early can you go to get good weather. Late April?

    Would be travelling from Rotterdam or Zebruggee  Any suggested route with suitable night stops ? 

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2018 #8
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  • Unknown
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    edited May 2018 #9
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  • Hartwithss
    Hartwithss Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited May 2018 #10

    Thank you very much all of you for the very helpful advise. Croatia looks beautiful. Can't wait now.

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #11

    Just went out the front of our pitch and tested the water! Because it is very rocky along the coast the beaches here are man made with gravel so the first few feet into the water always feels warm..sea on the hot rocks, etc. Neadless to say at 0715hrs there are Germans in the water doing their morning swim.....but not for me!

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #12

    Most of the campsites in Istria open around 20th April and by then the weather is fine, 20 to 24C, it was 27C yesterday, a bit hot for me. Inland in Istria are mountains and early in the year when you get long periods of hot weather down on the coastal strip, it can be followed by thunder storms moving off the mountainous interior, but they don't last long.

  • Martatin
    Martatin Forum Participant Posts: 306
    edited May 2018 #13

    Thanks Another David route looks good. DJG live reporting looks good cool  What date did you arrive?

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2018 #14
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  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #15

    22April

  • Martatin
    Martatin Forum Participant Posts: 306
    edited May 2018 #16

    Thanks DJG

    Do you need to book sites April May or just turn up ?

  • Sanchas
    Sanchas Forum Participant Posts: 35
    edited May 2018 #17

    We’re at Aminess Sirena Novigrad at the moment, lots of space we just turned up no booking, were given a map of the site and told to pick where we wanted to go. 

    Short walk into the town along the seafront, lots of restaurants, hardly anyone in them at lunchtime today.

    Really enjoying Croatia, tomorrow we are moving over to the other side of Istria to Moscenicka Draga, a smaller site in a fishing village for 8 days.

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #18

    Just turn up, even at weekends when the Italians come from Trieste and Udine there are lots of pitches free. Be careful of arriving over the start of the Bavarian school holidays, this year it is weekend 19/20th May, roads will be a nightmare, this site alone has 800 arriving on that weekend, Sat morning will fined 100 plus unites waiting overnight to book in!!!

  • Dave Nicholson
    Dave Nicholson Forum Participant Posts: 408
    edited May 2018 #19

    DJG - That’s pretty much the same on prime, coastal sites in Italy. We’re in Italy at Capalonga at the moment and the site is relatively quiet but come the 19th May it will be full for two weeks. However, after those two weeks it wil be quiet again until the first week in August for about three weeks.

    To make matters worse on the roads, the 14th stage of the Giro di Italia starts from close by San Vito on 19th May so anyone contemplating using the A4 between Venice and Trieste on that day would be well advised to reschedule their plans. Unfortunately there are few alternative routes along the north Adriatic coast.

  • Hartwithss
    Hartwithss Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited May 2018 #20

    DJG- Sorry to interupt your holiday but wondered if you knew whether it's possible to pay a supplement on the ACSI price to get a water and drainage pitch? Acsi book says their price is Standard only.

    I have emailed site but no reply yet. The price on website I looked at was 2015 so couldn't work out what it might be today.

    In view of what you said about the German holidays we plan arriving 27/28 May. In your experince have they started returning home then?

     

    Thanks

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #21

    All the Maistra sites of which Polari is one will take ACSI as part of the payment if you take a serviced pitch. Until the 18th May (Bavarian school holidays start) the front sea view pitches are ACSI plus €6 a day, all the other serviced pitches are plus €4. On 18th May the front sea view pitch's supplement goes up to €12 a day on top of the ASCI payment. I don't know what the increase for the rest of the serviced pitches are after 18th, as I am on a sea view pitch. 

    The big rush home for the Germans is mainly over the weekend 2/3rd June. At the Slovenian/Croatian border crossing it fells like all the border police have also been given a holiday, leaving only one on duty, the queues can be horrendous.

    We are all in Europe with free movement, but not in this part of Europe. Strange how Brussels is tough with little old UK, but does nothing with big powerful countries in this part of Europe.

  • Hartwithss
    Hartwithss Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited May 2018 #22

    Thank you DJG. Very helpful.

    Will try and see if we can book something at this late stage, otherwise take pot luck.

     

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #23

    If you are heading for Camping Polari, even over the next two weeks you don't need to book, unless you want a sea front pitch and they will have all gone. It is nowhere near full, only during July/August is it ever full.

  • Hartwithss
    Hartwithss Forum Participant Posts: 26
    edited May 2018 #24

    Thanks once again DJG.

    We prefer not to book as we never know, within a day or two, how long we will spend in places on the way down .

    Will try Polari first. Keep the sun shining for us please.

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,389 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2018 #25

    You can see the route I used this late April >here<. FYI it has been very hot these past few days but it is forecast to cool down. Croatia has much changed since I was last here 12 years ago, it is now more built up along the coast and much busier. It seems to lost a lot of its charm but is still a great scenic place to visit and the roads are much improved.

    peedee

  • DJG
    DJG Forum Participant Posts: 277
    edited May 2018 #26

    If you have been to Spain or the South of France, that is what you call built up, but I would not call Croatia in any way built up, or more built up than in the past. Here in Istria none of the coastal towns have been developed. Places like Dubrovnik (another 400 miles south) have been developed by "Disney World" for tourists so the cruse ships can offload their passengers by the thousands!! I wonder if many who have travelled the extra hundreds of miles to see it are a little disappointed as "local" it is not. Maybe that is a little controversial.

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,389 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2018 #27

    I have not been to Istria this trip but have travelled the full length of the E65 as far as Omis and there have been a great many changes on this route since 2006, not all for the better in my view.

    peedee

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2018 #28
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