Hotel Kristal - Terme Krka

The hotel is one of the best in this range (4 stars superior) that we have been in Croatia and Slovenia. Rooms are spacious with big balconies and everything is very nicely decorated in the hotel. We especially liked sayings in different languages in elevators. Personnel at the reception is very polite and helpful, as well as in restaurant. The food is really very good and there are plenty of choices. For dinner, there was a buffet for everything except the main course, where you can choose from several dishes. Indoor pools were ok for us, although probably not very interesting for children. We were there during the winter, but they have water slides at outside pools. On Friday evenings they serve sparkling wine at the pools. There is a long glass corridor to wellness and saunas. We usually spend a lot of time in saunas. They are not very big (to our standards), including the one where sauna programs with air swirling are held. During our weekend there was a crowd, because saunas are open also to outside guests. There are smaller saunas also at the top floor of the hotel Balnea. They have a weekly program that offered some kind of recreation every day. Next to the hotel is also a nice garden with sculptures of Slovenian artists. Dolenjske Toplice are small but nice. Our biggest problem was afterwards. I applied for membership in Terme Krka Club when leaving and despite several emails and promises, I never received a club card. So the follow-up care is not very good, but I will not lower my grade because of this, since it is not relevant for all prospective guests.

The hotel is one of the best in this range (4 stars superior) that we have been in Croatia and Slovenia. Rooms are spacious with big balconies and everything is very nicely decorated in the hotel. We especially liked sayings in different languages in elevators. Personnel at the reception is very polite and helpful, as well as in restaurant. The food is really very good and there are plenty of choices. For dinner, there was a buffet for everything except the main course, where you can choose from several dishes. Indoor pools were ok for us, although probably not very interesting for children. We were there during the winter, but they have water slides at outside pools. On Friday evenings they serve sparkling wine at the pools. There is a long glass corridor to wellness and saunas. We usually spend a lot of time in saunas. They are not very big (to our standards), including the one where sauna programs with air swirling are held. During our weekend there was a crowd, because saunas are open also to outside guests. There are smaller saunas also at the top floor of the hotel Balnea. We also had a massage - it was ok, but masseuses were not very engaged and didn't asked for any problems that could affect the massage. They have a weekly program that offered some kind of recreation every day. Next to the hotel is also a nice garden with sculptures of Slovenian artists. Dolenjske Toplice are small but nice. Our biggest problem was afterwards. I applied for membership in Terme Krka Club when leaving and despite several emails and promises, I never received a club card. So the follow-up care is not very good, but I will not lower my grade because of this, since it is not relevant for all prospective guests.

unfortunately I have to point out the great disappointment in the Balnea hotel restaurant. After a short Sunday visit to Dolenjske toplice (we were not accommodated in a hotel, we were external visitors, so we can only write a review of the restaurant), the atmosphere and friendliness of the restaurant staff invited us to a Sunday lunch at the restaurant of the Balnea Hotel. Everything was fine until the food came to the table. Oh what a disappointment, generic food to cry on. We ordered a Sunday lunch with Viennese steak and baked potatoes with some toppings on the menu. I can briefly describe our disappointment that the food was all wet to taste and inconspicuously prepared to look at. The meat was tough and the frying brown. Because we were hungry we ate the food. The next disappointment was the price. Food that was worse than the cheap menu in the student canteen was at least twice overpriced. I will not write specifically about the price and I will conclude that this is a restaurant with food for survival and nothing more than that. My advice - do stay away.

Calm and relaxing atmosphere, facilities are very clean. We loved the small pools and water temperature in the old part of the spa. Food was nice too, the tables are very close to each other though. Parking situation could be improved too, there are not enough parking spaces in the close proximity of the hotel, but there is plenty of space 5 min walk away. This was a bit annoying because I was told I cannot park in front of the hotel and I need to repark, but some other cars stayed parked there for the whole weekend. All in all it was a very pleasant weekend.