My birthday was approaching and although we don’t make a fuss about anything these days we still wanted to go away in the van as it has been a sad sight just waiting in the parking lot through my operation and rehab the last 6 weeks. It needed a damn good clean and to evict the ants that had made it their new home. But after a week of deep cleaning it was once again gleaming in the sunshine and raring to go.
We wanted to go to the ocean and preferably to Valata but after checking the prices for various camps that we like, we just could not believe the cost of a piece of dirt for one night at the end of June. So we decided on pretty much the cheapest option for the facilities on offer and also for somewhere we had never visited before which is always exciting.
Naturist Camping Solaris is a very famous naturist resort in Istria and lies around 12 km north of the tourist town of Poreč. It is an extremely large Camp which has a Capacity of over 4ooo guests and something that has always put us off from going there. But we decided to try it and make a decision for ourselves as we have been quite surprised before, especially with Valata which is also huge.
The first good thing about the site was that they allowed us to park overnight outside their camp free of charge which was really great as we were arriving quite late on the Thursday evening. The next nice thing was that they let us into the campsite at 7am and just park on the road until our booked pitch became available at 12. This was also great as we could go in, take a walk and get our bearings, take a dip in the ocean and have breakfast. And also I could work out how the hell I was going to get the van manoeuvred into the pitch as it was a little tight to say the least.
After breakfast we went to the pool and took a couple of loungers and an umbrella to lay in the sun for an hour. At this time the pool was still relatively quiet except for the water aerobics class. And with a lovely view over the ocean it was a very nice place to relax before breaking away to put the van in the pitch and set-up for the weekend. The afternoon was spent at the pool and diving in and out of the ocean before watching a wonderful sunset with a glass or two of wine.
The following day was my birthday and we had a morning coffee at the shoreline at dawn then did pretty much nothing for the day except lie in the sun and take dips in the pool to cool down. As well as a treat of a burger and fries at the pool restaurant where we could eat naked which was a nice touch from the campsite as with other sites you normally have to dress to eat even during the day.
Sunday the wind had picked up due to a storm somewhere out at sea and a quite disgusting Algae slime had formed on the shoreline. This had forced most of the campers away from the ocean and to the pool area so that was an uncomfortable place to be and very overcrowded. So we hung out at the van, took some walks, and had a couple of cold beers through the day whilst painting and listening to music before being treated to an amazing sunset for our last night.
The following morning we packed up and parked the van outside the camp before returning inside to have a couple of hours at the pool. The camp by now was nearly at its capacity of over 4000 people and was becoming very loud so we showered and left Croatia for the summer returning to a cold and very wet Austria by evening!
It was a very nice break and although the campsite was not that great in general, the location of the pitch we had was amazing. Direct at the ocean with incredible un-obstructed views. But you get what you pay for and although it was cheaper than our preferred campsites in Croatia, it still set us back a whopping €60 per night! And with the incredibly inflated supermarket and restaurant and bar prices, this type of camping is getting extremely expensive just for a few days.
But maybe in off season and with the luck of some good weather, it would be a nice place to be. Just buy all your food and drink before you arrive and dont eat out as a burger will set you back €16 and a single portion of fries €5. We didnt even bother looking at the drinks prices…
A year older but certainly none the wiser!
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