Seafood, Truffles & Champagne: Valamar's New Pical Resort in Istria

Some resorts make you choose—the romantic dinner or the kids' club, the quiet pool or the waterslides. Pical does it all. Valamar's new hometown flagship is really three hotels in one: the Pical Hotel for classic rooms, the Family Hotel built for kids, and the V Level Suites. They share the good stuff—three beaches, eleven pools indoors and out, the ESPA spa, and a dine-around plan that turns dinner into a nightly gastronomic adventure instead of a fixed table.

There's a ghost line running under this resort, and it's worth knowing before you go. The Parenzana was a narrow-gauge railway that once ran 123 kilometers from Poreč up to Trieste, stitching together the coast, the hill towns, and three countries—Croatia, Slovenia, Italy—before it was pulled up in the 1930s and, decades later, reborn as one of Europe's loveliest cycling greenways. Pical is built on and around its old route, inside the Parenzana beachfront park, and that idea—connection, movement, three cultures meeting—is the thread you'll feel everywhere, right down to the artworks of motion and place scattered through the lobbies, restaurants, and halls.

Dining

Dining is where the Parenzana theme comes to life. The old line was a trade route—wine, oil, and goods moving between three countries' worth of culture—and the resort's kitchens run on exactly that logic, celebrating the flavors of Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy along the route, down to the extensive wine list drawn from the region. The half board doesn't mean you're tied to a buffet... instead, it's a true dine-around—they'll even chauffeur you downtown or whisk you away to their island resort by boat. Harry's Piccolo is the Michelin-starred showpiece. Jaz by Ana Roš—at the Jadran Heritage Hotel, Valamar Collection—became our home base: polished, unfussy, the kind of room you sink into. Spinnaker rounded out the rotation, and there was a fourth, Miramare, over at the Isabella Island Resort, that we never even reached. The V Level dining room is named Parenzana, all Istrian specialties and live stations.

For couples

For grown-ups, Pical runs quietly romantic—and here the railway theme turns inward, toward movement and recovery. The whole ESPA spa is built as a wellness sanctuary inspired by the Parenzana trail, which makes a poetic kind of sense: a greenway people now walk and cycle for their health, translated into rituals for the body. The private suite comes with its own hot tub, sauna, and steam room, and the full menu of scrub rituals, and the wider wellness floor is refreshingly walk-in—you can drift into the calm indoor pool without an appointment. By Croatian law, beaches are public—so there's no roped-off private sand here—but the Purobeach club infinity pool is set just above the shore. Then there is the adults-only Pical rooftop bar by Laurent-Perrier, which feels exclusive but is actually open to every guest. An infinity pool looks straight out over the terracotta rooftops of old town to the open sea. We snagged a next-day reservation with no trouble, claimed a poolside couch, and simply stayed. This bar starts buzzing at golden hour, and we came back for the sunsets again and again.

For families

And yet this is also a great place to bring kids. Being built as an open but connected resort is exactly what makes it work for families. The family resort is all-inclusive, so no reaching for your wallet every time someone wants an ice cream or a third lemonade. The family rooms are smartly designed with a pull-across divider that carves out a dedicated kids' zone, so the little ones and the adults each get their own space. There are endless activities for kids... a vast playground, splash pads, waterslides, and so many indoor play spaces. To make your stay truly easy, there's a kitchenette with washers and dryers on every floor of the family wing and a changing area stocked with diapers. The outdoor adventure park stays open until 11 p.m., so if your kids still have energy after dinner, let them climb and zipline until bedtime.

Location

Poreč's old town is a ten-minute walk, wrapped around the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica and its gold Byzantine mosaics—a UNESCO site where you can lose track of time. Best of all, the Parenzana doesn't just shape your resort experience—it delivers you out of it, straight into Istria. The trail runs from the resort's front door, and the concierge team knows how to best help you explore the rest: sea kayaking, truffle hunting, tastings of Istrian Malvazija and Teran, and the region's world-class olive oil. A short drive away is Rovinj—the Adriatic's most beautiful town, its bell tower rising over pastel houses.

Like the railway it's named for, Pical's whole gift is connection. I can't wait to return with the whole family—we've already made plans for this fall to catch the best of the harvest season.

• The Laurent-Perrier rooftop looks exclusive but it isn't. Order a glass of Champagne and enjoy the infinity pool looking over the old town and open sea.

• You don't need an appointment to indulge in the ESPA wellness floor.

• V Level: The suites are spacious, and access to the calmer pool that always has empty cabanas is totally worth it.

• It's three hotels in one: Pical Hotel for couples and groups, the Family Hotel for kids, the V Level Suites for the splurge.

• Lean on the concierge and reserve the truffle and wine days ahead in peak season.

• Arrival is easy: park in the big lot on the edge of old town, wait in the cool of the lobby, and the shuttle van is there within minutes.

• Take the boat over to Isabella Island for the day. Valamar's island resort is a short crossing, and Miramare, the restaurant there, is reason enough to go.

It opened this season and the resort was at full capacity. You'd never know. Poreč is Valamar's hometown, and it shows: they know exactly what they're doing.

For more inspiration and insider recommendations, visit our Istria page.