Mermaid Podstrana Villa

The villa's beautiful, with lovely views of the mountains, sea, and sunsets. We swam in the pool in May, and it was warm enough; the kids had a great time. There was a cot for our friends' baby and a potty for their potty-training child. The kids' play area is great, and there's table tennis, pool, table football, and a good gym. We had plenty of parking for two or three cars. The only downside is the very loud church bell next door, which starts ringing at 6 am every day. With children, though, we're used to 6 am wake-ups.

We had a wonderful stay at this villa, and the hosts are lovely. We're a family of seven, ages 8-50, and had more than enough room. The villa is beautiful, spotless, and has outstanding views. There are four spacious bedrooms, each with an en-suite, two with baths and showers and two with showers only, plus two more toilets in the shared spaces. The biggest bedroom, which sleeps three, has a terrace; none of the other bedrooms has a balcony. Upstairs there are two balconies off the shared area. The smaller upstairs bedroom and the larger downstairs one have full-length mirrors, but the other two could use one, especially for a group of girls. Hair dryers are provided, along with glasses, cups, plates, cutlery, and cooking equipment in both kitchens. The ice maker was a huge help in the heat. The heated pool gradually gets deeper and has a jet for resistance swimming. Watch out for the rough step at the entrance, we got a couple of grazes during the week. There are plenty of sunbeds and seating spots, plus shade if you don't want to sit in the sun. One of the first-floor balconies has seating and an amazing sunset view. The basement gym has everything you need, though the treadmill sometimes skips and the cross trainer is a bit wobbly. Both were usable, and it was a nice extra. We got plenty of use from the table football, darts, ping pong, and pool table. The huge upstairs TV with Netflix was great at night, and all seven of us fit on the big sofa. Since we came out of season, some places weren't open, but we could walk to a couple of shops and restaurants. On the main road, Tommy supermarket is to the left and was cheaper than the other shop we tried. There's a Ribola to the right, and farther down on that side is a bakery with amazing cakes and bread. Side roads lead straight to the beach from the main road. It's rocky and has no sunbeds, but it's very pretty. Walking left along the shore brings you to a wider stretch with parasols and a beach bar. To the right, cibus is a lovely restaurant with great steak. Split is about a 15-20 minute drive, and I'd recommend hiring a car because I heard taxis aren't easy to get. Split airport is about half an hour away, and Zadar airport about 1.5 hours via the toll road. The driveway to the villa is very narrow and partly hidden, so take care not to miss it. Google Maps shows it as "Villa mermaid podstrana". We got our Renault traffic 7 seater up there, so smaller vehicles should be fine. It's a bit of a hill to walk up, so not ideal for anyone with difficulty walking. The church is very close and rings every hour, every half hour, for about a minute at sunrise and sunset, and during congregations. It woke us every morning at 6 am. We'd recommend Krka national park, about an hour from the villa, and a day trip to Hvar, with a 45 minute ferry from split harbour. Submarine burger in split also did an unreal burger. We'll definitely return to this villa and recommend it to family and friends. It's perfect for our stay in Croatia.

We loved the fruit growing there, picking grapes, figs, plums, and blackberries. The modern three-level home gave our group of seven plenty of room to relax. Sitting by the pool, you can look out over the village and sea, and the evenings were lovely. We picked grapes twice.

The house is great, and the pool's nice. Just be aware that the church bells next door might wake you at 0600.