A Successful Foreign Investment on the Adriatic: Meet Falkensteiner Iadera

May 3, 2018 – Many foreign investments in Croatia run into difficulty and fail, but when they succeed, the results are often spectacular. Meet the biggest tourism investment on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, Falkensteiner Punta Skala and its Hotel Iadera.

Croatia is not the easiest place in which to do business, and this website has plenty of stories of foreign investment which did not succeed. But sometimes it does, and then the results can be quite pleasant.

We recently did a feature on the biggest tourism investments on the Adriatic coast after my first trip to the incredible 1.1 billion euro investment in Lustica Bay in Montenegro. I was curious to find out what was the biggest hotel investment in Croatia and – after a little research – found out that the Punta Skala Falkensteiner resort north of Zadar was the biggest in Croatia, with an investment price tag of 160 million euro. As sometimes happens in Croatia, quite by chance, an invitation to visit Falkensteiner appeared in my inbox a few days later. I was intrigued to see what the biggest tourism investment in Croatia had to offer, in a part of northern Dalmatia which was relatively unknown.

It turned out that there was quite a lot to learn and see…

The balcony view was not a bad introduction.

The Falkensteiner Iadera has a very funky modern design – I had certainly never had a bathroom like this before.

And while I don’t normally require someone to show me my hotel room, I was rather grateful that the very friendly Sandra was on hand to welcome us and show us around her quarters. There was seemingly a new discovery behind every door. A very cool design, and the kids loved it.

I had heard from several sources that the fish restaurant experience at Bracera is one of the Falkensteiner experience, and if the food of Bracera matched the setting, we were onto a winner. It actually exceeded the expectations of the view, a superb evening. Before the war, what is now Bracera had been a nudist area with a sexy adult bar in the evening. These days, one of the most divine fine dining experiences on the water along Croatia’s Adriatic.

A little seafood heaven to start.

Followed by the dish of the nice, a fabulous pasta and octopus combination.

Living in Varazdin, my Dalmatian wife does not get to savour too many quality fresh Dalmatian fish, and it was an evening highlight to marvel at our excellent Slavonian waiter (please give that man a pay rise) expertly fillet the sea bass. Simply prepared, as are so many dishes in Dalmatia. Utterly divine.