offwego

Has anyone stayed at Hotel Ilica in Zagreb? Seems too good to be true--decent location/price -2 tram stops from Trg Jelacica and $449 kuna/night.

RebeccaM

Offwego: I'm so glad someone asked! It *is* too good to be true. Hotel Ilica gets great write-ups, but we were very disappointed and felt betrayed, actually. When we arrived, the manager did not give us the price he had promised, and I had even confirmed it by fax and had the fax with me! They then put us in a room with bath in the hall that was still being constructed. So we asked to move - the room they gave us in the old part was small and the bed was very uncomfortable. We did stay two nights, but when we returned to Zagreb after traveling around the country, we stayed at the Jadran, which is fine and right in the center of the city. No character, but that's OK. I don't understand why the Ilica is recommended except that it presents an attractive face, and it's on a great street. I even e-mailed Lonely Planet and Rough Guide to tell them but don't know if they listened or not. By the way, we were there in 2001. If you do decide to stay at the Ilica, I would love to hear about your experience. Good luck! (This was our only bad experience with lodging in Croatia.)

offwego

RebeccaM

Thanks so much for the feedback on the Ilica!

Not sure if we will risk staying there or move on to option B, which was, oddly enough, the Jadran. If we do stay at the Ilica, I will be sure to post a report

Does anyone else know of a moderately priced hotel in central Zagreb?

eurotraveller

I will be there in a week so I am researching it right now. Here are a few that I have found:

Jadran
Central www.hotel-central.hr
Slisko
and of course Ilica.

eurotraveller

I just returned from 2 weeks in Croatia and, unfortunately, I stayed in this hotel. It was terrible! The bed was sagging, springy and creaky and barely fit into the room. I figured we could live with that for one night. I then went to use the bathroom and watched as bugs crawled out of holes in the tiles. I went to the check in area to see if they could move us to a different room and the woman at the front desk seemed really pissed off. I said, "Please don't get angry at me for telling you there are bugs in my room". She said she wasn't angry at me but frustrated with the owner because he never took care of any problems and the hotel was a dump. It was the worst hotel I have ever stayed in and I have travelled extensively for over 20 years.

StuartPDX

We just stayed at the Ilica and didn't find it as bad as Eurotraveller. The Ilica is a basic hotel and our room was tiny. Fortunately, we didn't notice any bugs and didn't have any problem with the bed. We thought the location was pretty good and the price was reasonable (449 kuna). It's certainly nothing special and has no charm, but for the price and location, we'd stay there again.

offwego

eurotraveller: The plus side is that they do not take credit cards for reservations, so I figure I can have a look at the room and if it creeps me out, I'll get on outta there. Sounds like it's so hit and miss. Hmmmm. A travel agent in Dubrovnik told me there's no such thing as "charming hotels" in Zagreb. Imagine that.

eurotraveller

Offwego, I am not easily creeped out. I camp all the time and backpack as well but the strange bug that crawled up out of the floor followed by a parade of ants really did creep me out, especially since the carpets were too dark to see what was crawling on them. When I went the the front desk the woman stomped off to a closet with me in tow so I could see where she was going, grabbed a can of raid and came back to our room where she hosed it down. This was obviously not a one time thing with the bugs!

JulieVikmanis

We stayed at the Dubrovnik. It's smack in the middle of the main part of town. Though it's a pretty standard, high rise, business hotel, its location made it well worth the 143 euros per night it cost us.