The Best Hotels Near LABRAX, by the Record
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A boutique hotel built inside the remains of Zadar's ancient city walls, which makes for a slightly surreal check-in. Inside, the rooms trade centuries-old stone for soft grays, cool whites, teak floors, and handmade furnishings, so the contrast does the decorating for you. The in-house restaurant, Kaštel, leans into Dalmatian and Mediterranean cooking, and the terrace tables are the obvious move when the weather cooperates.
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The art on the walls in this boutique hotel is for sale, which means you could genuinely redecorate your living room during check-in. Spread across two restored historic buildings in Zadar's old town, the 16 rooms run from cool grey minimalism to deep blues and mustard, depending on which building you're in. The in-house gallery rotates local and international work, and the restaurant keeps things grounded in Dalmatian coast cooking.
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Floor-to-ceiling Adriatic views set the tone at this seafront Hyatt Regency, a full-service hotel a short walk from Zadar's Old Town and its Roman ruins. Rooms run gold, yellow, and sea green, the spa has a hammam and both indoor and outdoor pools, and two dining spots cover everything from casual drinks to Asian and South American plates. It sits close enough to the sea organ and the famous sunsets that you barely need a plan.
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A Croatian architect hollowed out a hillside on Dugi Otok and built the walls from the stone he pulled out, which is either very logical or very poetic, probably both. The result is a small luxury resort with eight rooms styled after ships' cabins, each framing either olive groves or open Adriatic. The kitchen leans on housemade olive oil and island culinary tradition. A Michelin 3 Keys property.
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Stone villa turned boutique hotel, set among the family's own vineyards and olive groves just outside Novalja on Pag island. Rooms are named for local plants and finished with handmade details and natural materials, and the views stretch to the sea. There's a winery on the property and a Michelin-starred restaurant, so a quiet evening here can take a while. For travelers who find beach resorts exhausting, this is a different kind of Croatian summer.
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Exposed stone walls meet clean-lined contemporary furniture in this boutique hotel tucked into the old town of Šibenik, where the views run from medieval rooftops to open Adriatic. The residences step it up with private hot tubs or saunas. Two restaurants cover the spectrum from straight Dalmatian grill to something more playful, and the terrace catches the sunset over the Šibenik channel at a reliable angle.
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A restored 15th-century palace on a cobblestone square in Šibenik's car-free Old Town, a short wander from two UNESCO sites most tourists in Croatia have never seen. This seventeen-room boutique hotel keeps its period bones intact, with stone doorways, wood-beamed ceilings, hand-painted murals, and gilded mirrors. The ground-floor café spills onto the square, which covers breakfast and the wine-at-dusk moment. Dinner means wandering the medieval lanes, which is not a hardship.