Zaton Holiday Resort

Terrible value for money – Definitely NOT family-friendly for infants and toddlers. We booked this resort expecting a premium, family-friendly experience, but it was a massive disappointment, especially since we were traveling with young children under 3 years old. The resort claims to be family-friendly, but it is a joke. They strictly prohibit baby strollers inside the pool complex. To make matters worse, they completely ban laying personal blankets or towels on the grass. When we refused to pay their extortionate €20 per day fee for a single sunbed !!!!!. Security literally told us we could lay our infant on the bare, hot concrete walkways. They treat paying guests with zero empathy, hiding behind "operational standards." There are no proper shaded playgrounds. For a resort that heavily markets itself to families, there is a shocking lack of a decent, well-equipped playground in the shade. During the hot summer days, it is practically impossible to find a safe play area for children because the existing spots have zero protection from the scorching sun. The Roan Holidays and Eurocamp mobile homes are located at the far end of the camp—a frustrating 20 minute walk !!! to the pools and beach. The tourist train runs far too infrequently. The only path from these homes is a highly congested internal road packed with cars, bicycles, and hundreds of speeding e-scooters. Walking this route with a toddler is a stressful, dangerous nightmare. The beach is a letdown. The resort advertises a sandy beach, but it is actually only half-sandy, mixed with sharp stones. You absolutely still need water shoes to protect your feet and your children's feet. During our stay there was an unbearable, constant stench coming from Sanitary Unit 4, which completely ruined the experience of sitting on our mobile home terrace (No. 1394). On top of that, the resort suffered a total power outage for an entire night. We had no air conditioning in the stifling heat, and a our food defrosted in the fridge. When we, along with several other frustrated guests, tried to complain about these resort-side operational failures (the power outage, the smell, the pool rules), the management refused to take any responsibility. They consistently deflected all complaints and pushed them onto Roan Holidays, even though Roan had absolutely nothing to do with the resort's poor infrastructure and hostile management. Paying premium prices for a place that forces your baby onto concrete, leaves you in the dark without AC, and blames outside agencies for its own failures is unacceptable. Avoid this place. There are nicer campings in Croatia.

In most places you visit, whether accommodation or restaurant there is always some staff who aren't as hospitable as you would hope for. However for the most part you excuse this as everyone can have a bad day and the other staff make up for it. Not in Zaton where 50% of the staff are moody, surley and have a general air of not caring. We visited in early June and there are no organised activities for kids even though these are advertised e.g there is football advertised daily at 5pm but no one there to organise it. You are expected to pay for sunbeds at every pool and beach. So of you visit 2 pools and a beach during the day you are expected to pay at every location. Do not pay attention to the site map on line. All the play areas are now building sites so there is no where outside the pool areas to play. We were kept awake one night by a party in mobile homes close by. In fairness the cost of the night was refunded. Zadar and Nin are lovely so get off site when you can

We stayed here as a family of five, including two coeliac guests who require a strict gluten-free diet. Unfortunately, despite being assured before booking that the resort could cater for coeliac requirements, our experience was extremely disappointing. If you have coeliac disease, I would strongly advise considering alternative accommodation. In almost every restaurant, staff immediately advised that there were no gluten-free options available. While there were technically some items that should have been suitable, such as fruit or simple salads, it often felt easier for staff to say "no" rather than make any effort to accommodate dietary needs. The Beach Pool Bar was particularly poor in this regard. We booked on a half-board basis specifically because we had been told gluten-free meals could be provided. However, buffet food was not managed safely for coeliac guests. Serving tongs were shared between dishes, creating significant cross-contamination risks, and there were very few naturally gluten-free options available in any case. As a result, we had to look elsewhere for meals. Nearby Nin offered some limited options, mainly chicken salads, but we often had to travel to Zadar just to find a proper hot gluten-free meal. This was especially surprising because we have previously travelled in the Dubrovnik region of Croatia and found restaurants there to be very knowledgeable and accommodating regarding coeliac requirements. Outside of the food issues, the resort itself has some positives. The pools are excellent, the accommodation is comfortable, and we were fortunate to have fantastic weather throughout our stay. However, we also found the evening atmosphere lacking, with very little ambience in the bars and fairly underwhelming entertainment. Overall, the resort has good facilities, but the lack of support for coeliac guests and the disappointing evening experience significantly impacted our holiday.

As always, the stay was great, but it went by too quickly. This was our 14th time there, and we're always surprised by something new.

We (family of four - two kids aged 10 and 15) are just back from 7 days in Zaton and had the best family holiday we've ever been on! Having read mixed reviews in the lead up, I was anxious but needn't have been. The place is so clean, modern and has everything for a family to enjoy to relax or be as active as you would like. We stayed in a 3 bed Deluxe Camping Home booked through the resort itself. Came with towels and bedding - towels were changed by staff after 4 days. The camping home is small but compact and perfect for what we needed. We cooked some nights and ate out others. The pools are incredible, hours of entertainment and amenities are great - especially at the new pool with the slides. Our kids made lots of new friends, met up to go to the funpark in the evenings, played football and volleyball on the beach. The beach is gorgeous, beautiful water and every swimming area around the site has cafes to get snacks or food and drinks. Kids club seemed busy, but ours are too big for that now. Our kids went down to the sports cage for the animation scheduled football on one of the first nights - it was a bit disorganised from the leader, who didn't seem to have the confidence to encourage engagement (my husband had to rally kids in who looked like they were there to play) but they got on with it anyway and made friends for the week from going. Yes, sunloungers cost money to use. Yes, it is annoying, but we knew this when we booked so budgeted it in. It saves having sunbed wars - there are plenty. We also found that if you went later in the afternoon, it was cheaper or they don't come around to ask for payment as much. It might be good for the resort to do a scheme where you can pay for a sunbed pass for the week at a discounted rate so you aren't paying full price each day? The landscaping around the site is so impressive and peaceful - always somewhere for a bit of shade while walking and the sanitary blocks for campers were so clean and impressive as well. We had no issues with noise or neighbours in our camping home area, and from walking around in the evening it was very quiet across the site - no issues or drunken behaviour. Staff were lovely once you got to see the same faces again and again. The Ventula restaurant is the shining star - lovely food and drinks and a great atmosphere and setting right on the beach. We went there most nights for drinks and ice cream and to watch the sunset and the football on the big screen. Other places to eat are your typical fries, nuggets, pizza - totally fine but nothing exciting. Presto is a good little takeaway and very fast service. We did a walk into Nin, ate at the Mad Duck, had ice cream and drinks and a lovely wander around one day and then took an Uber to Zadar another day and booked an island hopping tour from the pier. It was a highlight and a really special day, snorkelling and jumping off the boat into crystal clear water. We used Uber to and from the airport with no issues at all. Around 35 euro each way. In all, we are so happy with this trip and would love to come back. Memories made for everyone and both kids and adults home having had an amazing week.