Gava Waterman Island Cottages

This was our third hotel in Dalmatia, and without a doubt the food was the best. The menu is varied, with three themed dinner nights (Croatian, Oriental and Mexican Fiesta), plus one complimentary à la carte dinner per stay. Special thanks to Chef Big Bad John – his chili con carne is outstanding. And beware of the desserts... they are simply irresistible! The hotel is beautifully located among pine trees overlooking the turquoise Adriatic, creating a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. There are two large outdoor pools, a children's paddling pool, and an indoor spa pool. Plenty of activities are available for both adults and children. The rooms are spacious, cleaned daily, and bed linen is changed every three days. The staff are genuinely friendly and welcoming, with a special mention to the restaurant and kitchen team, who do an excellent job and make every meal a pleasure. The only minor downsides are that the location is not ideal for long walks outside the resort, and only filter coffee is available. Fortunately, it's surprisingly good. Overall, an excellent resort for families and anyone looking for great food, comfort, and a relaxing holiday. Highly recommended!

atmosphere peaceful with just the right amount of noise. The rooms were spotless, clean and tidy.A simple design with a simple interior making it more pleasing to the eye. When we arrive on Sunday 28th June, the reception area was chaos. No system, when it came to our turn we were given out all inclusive wrist band .We were not given a lot of information. This area needs to be improve when a number of new arrivals check in. I asked reception as there were three adults in the room and we were paying for three adults would it be possible to have a double bed and not a bed made up from a very uncomfortable platform. They honoured the request by coming to our room quickly but just put the two platforms together to make it double in size a thin mattress topper but it isn’t a bed and still very uncomfortable!!!!!! This needs to be addressed as we are here for another week!!!! Now to the restaurant….. breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner are all of exceptional quality and variety. The area is clean and tidy.The staff are exceptional and nothing is too much too ask for.We are very impressed.

Absolutely gorgeous location - lovely view of the coast and had an amazing time in the sea as it’s a clear and calm cove, perfect for snorkelling. Staff here are amazing, super friendly, helpful and hard working, especially the women on the bar. Welcome at reception was warm and friendly, we arrived at 2AM-ish after a long wait at Split harbour. We got the deluxe bungalow and enjoyed our stay. The room was clean, bed was very comfortable, and shower was big and spacious and didn’t need much time to heat up. Good quality TV too. Had a patio which was perfect for the evenings. Few nitpicks; a few of the skirting boards were hanging off, and the lighting was very dim for in the evenings, (and no kettle! Had to wander down to the canteen to grab a hot drink in the evenings and by that time the hot water was lukewarm at best.) Food was ok. Not much variety, and the different foods there were tasted very samey. Salad bar was impeccable though! There isn’t nearly enough seating in the dining area though, and some nights we were stood around waiting for a table to open up. Where the resort unfortunately lacks is in its lack of structure. We were told on arrival that one pool was family friendly, and one was adult only - not the case! Kids everywhere in the ‘adult only’ pool. I don’t have an issue with children at family resorts, but we were expecting a bit of respite in the other pool. Also, we were under the impression that you can book a 4-course waited meal once per stay. It did not, however, say online that said meal you are in what feels like a school canteen, on a large table with 5+ other guests. Food was served family style in the middle, and drinks were self served. Completely missed my expectations and by course two I was signalling to my parter to leave. Luckily, we were sat with a group of great people and were able to have a bit of a laugh about it. All-in-all, I would recommend this place to people wanting a slow holiday just sitting by the pool and dipping in the sea, but it’s very isolated (€8 round trip per person to Milna) so could see some people getting a bit restless. Cannot fault the location, nor the staff, but do think there could be a few improvements.

We stayed at this hotel in the last week of June 2026. We are a family of four with children aged 8 and 11. Two of us have celiac disease and require gluten free food. On the plus side this hotel is very lovely and great for families. We had lovely weather for 7 straight days and I would say that both the scenery, the views and the hotel room surpassed the expectations that were based on pictures and other reviews. There is no beach at the hotel, but instead several great activities with direct access to the stunning and crystal clear ocean. The hotel also has three different pools. We appreciated the friendliness of the staff as well as the clean and well maintained facilities. There are several optional “animation” activities for adults and children. Our youngest enjoyed the children disco every evening and the rest of us some big screen viewings of the Soccer World Cup. The hotel does charge 15 euros + 5 deposit for beach towels. I think an all-inclusive hotel should provide free towels. But they were nice enough to make us pay only for 2 of 4 towels. The food quality is medium and what one might expect on a typical all-inclusive hotel. Some highlights, but often lukewarm dishes and wine on tap (barely drinkable, but add some ice and it’s okay). However, the children were very happy with the selection - and you could always pay for better drinks if you like to. The gluten free options are “hidden” - meaning that you always have to inform the staff on every meal and ask for alternatives. This is good for avoiding cross contamination, but it ment that my daughter always had to wait 15 minutes for the food. The gluten free options are very good, but I wish that the communication between the kitchen staff was better.

The hotel is great but what makes it special is the genuinely friendly staff who are all so willing to go the extra mile to help you. Right from the start, Aleksandar on reception checked us in quickly, and he was helpful with any queries we had throughout our stay. The food was absolutely great. I mainly eat a vegetarian and fish-based diet, and there was always a varied selection for me at every meal. A massive shoutout to ALL the kitchen team. The chef making the fresh omelettes in the morning was fantastic, and Chef Angel is a pizza maker extraordinaire! Rob and Ella on the bar were always full of energy, while Yury and her entertainment team did a wonderful job. I recommend going on the guided walk into Milna with the entertainers; they show you a much quieter road to walk on. It is also very easy to take a stroll along the shoreline to the lovely little church you can see from the hotel, and out to the quiet hamlet at the end. Car hire is easy to arrange from the office right next to reception. We hired a car for two separate days and managed to see the whole island. We also caught the ferry directly from Milna harbor for an afternoon trip over to Split, which is well worth a visit. We had an amazing holiday and can't thank the wonderful team at Gava Waterman enough