Best of the Adriatic

Not sure what hotels you are looking at. RS tours change hotels often so you won’t know your hotels until you are signed up. You’ll get your first and last hotels soon after, the rest just before your tour. We found the hotels on this tour adequate. In a town like Mostar there just are not great hotels. And, keep in mind, this is a Rick Steves tour. You won’t be staying at 4 star hotels. They will be well located, comfortable. If you don’t like one, don’t worry. You’ll be checking out soon enough.

Have you contacted the RS tour office as was recommended in your previous post?

I haven't been on this tour (I'm signed up for next May), but have been on 6 others. Hotels vary, and may be different from year to year. Is there something besides AC that is a concern?

Bonnie, we took this tour in September of 2019. All the hotels we stayed at were comfortable, clean and as Alan reported "adequate." Our favorites were in Ljubljana, Split, Korčula, and Dubrovnik. TripAdvisor is not my "go to" for reviews. I have found more honest appraisals on Booking.com. That said, this is one of our favorite RS Tours!

Bonnie, what kind of hotels do you like to stay in? On a Rick Steves tour, some of the hotels in the bigger cities are standard "American" style hotels. Wow, the first hotel in Ljubljana was pretty awesome. Most, though, are comfortable and usually pretty basic. If you're looking for great rooms with lots of amenities, these may not be the tours for you. I have never felt uncomfortable or unsafe in any of the hotels. That being said, the hotel we stayed at in Mostar was not very nice, but it was only one night, so manageable. It really just depends on your expectations. This is a great tour with so many interesting places to visit. I was not expecting it, but my favorite portion was the time in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Thank you for your response. I have a lot in Europe and stay at most of RS hotels, if they are available. I do not require a modern room with all the amenities, but cleanliness is important to me. Thank you again for your insight.

I took the trip in April of 2018. This tour offered a range of hotels, from nearly posh to very basic. In fact, I found a couple of the hotels to be sub-par by Rick Steves' standards, but not terrible. All were very clean but because I took the tour during non-summer months, all but a couple had their AC systems turned on. It was unseasonably warm during my tour (mid-70s-low 80s) so I had difficulty sleeping as a result. Hotel Mrak in Ljubljana and the Hotel Plitvice were particularly problematic in this regard. The hotel in Mostar (Hotel Almira) was also pretty basic but otherwise fine. Hotel Mangart (Bovec), Hotel Globo Split, and Hotel Aquarius (Dubrovnik) were on the nice/more comfortable side. And Hotel Korsal (Korcula) and Hotel Kastel (Motovun) were downright luxurious (again, by RS's standards).

I am very picky about hotels myself but the tour was so wonderful that I would take it again in a heartbeat, even if I have to stay in Hotel Mrak and Hotel Plitvice.

Bonnie (and Lori), I stayed a few nights at the Hotel Mrak in August, 2018 after the Eastern Europe tour. They had just finished completely renovating the two rooms on the same floor as reception and were starting work on the upper floors. I took the Adriatic tour several years ago and only the hotel in Mostar did I feel was just a little on the "rustic" side. But just as someone else reported, the fact I was able to be in and be educated on that city at all more than made up for the accommodations. It's such an amazing tour, I will be re-taking it with my family (daughter, son, son-in-law and two college age grandkids. I am excited to be sharing this special tour with them.

We took this tour at the end of September and were happy enough with all the hotels because they were clean,comfortable and well located. While it was warmer than we expected, we did not have need of AC anywhere. One of the things RS looks for, particularly on first and last hotels is customer service. When Adriatic Air went out of business when some of our tour members were already in the air, Hotel Mrak drove (for a fee) to a small airport 100 kms away where a travel agent had re-routed them.. The last hotel, Hotel Aquarius, made separate arrangements for each tour member to get to the airport. Since many of us had intentionally spent down our last kunas, they recommend a service that will take dollars at a reasonable exchange rate. Were there hotels I wouldn't stay at again? Yes, but it was more because I didn't like the fact that there was one coffee machine, brewing one cup at a time, for everyone at breakfast. We all have our own deal-breakers.