This Model-new Palace Resort in Croatia Is Proper on the Water — and We Acquired a Sneak Peek Inside

When checking in to the brand new Palazzo Rainis, you may surprise: Is that this Croatia or is it Italy? In a manner, it is each.

Opening to company on Mar. 25, the boutique lodge is situated within the historic Croatian seaside metropolis of Novigrad, nevertheless it’s housed in a brand new constructing designed within the fashion of neo-Renaissance Venetian palazzos. That is as a result of the property’s unique proprietor, Giovanni Rainis was, maybe unsurprisingly, from Venice. On the flip of the twentieth century, he constructed his personal villa on this website in the identical fashion, although that constructing not exists. However because of Croatian structure studio Atellior, the villa has been reconstructed, expanded, and transformed right into a luxe boutique lodge.

There are two wings of the lodge, one with classical structure and one with fashionable structure, permitting for a complete of 16 visitor rooms that vary from customary doubles within the fashionable annex overlooking the pool to the grand Bel Etage suite with sea views. Every of the rooms is the proper mix of old-school Italian luxurious and new-age Italian modernity — suppose: conventional herringbone parquet flooring and plush velvet seating within the bedrooms and daring, Kelly-green loos with black-and-white geometric tile flooring.

By way of the general public areas, there's a restaurant by chef Tom Gretić known as Chemistry and a bar known as Potions that makes a speciality of Croatian and Istrian wines and spirits — each names nod to Rainis' 63-year profession as a pharmacist in Novigrad. There's additionally a spa with a sauna, steam room, fitness center, and out of doors pool.

The lodge is about alongside the Novigrad Marina, only a 15-minute stroll from the red-roofed buildings of the previous city and Rainis Seaside, the place the lodge has sunbeds and a drink station. Novigrad itself is a small metropolis within the area of Istria, situated on the northern coast of Croatia, which is thought for its historic fishing villages and seafood. As a sleepier seaside vacation spot, it's an ideal juxtaposition to bustling Dubrovnik, a much more fashionable (and due to this fact crowded) Croatian scorching spot — go to each in your subsequent journey to the Dalmatian Coast.

The Palazzo Rainis, a Small Luxurious Motels property, is now open for bookings, with rooms from $310 per evening.