My spouse and I stayed at the Vestibul Palace for two nights
in late August 2016. We booked our stay online through the hotel’s website,
although you can also reserve online through their partnership with Small
Luxury Hotels (SLH). (If you book through SLH, you will accrue credit for your
stay.) Originally, we reserved a room at sister hotel Villa Dobric (also called
the “Annex”), but we were thrilled to be upgraded upon arrival to a room in the
Vestibul Palace. Since our visit, the hotel has acquired a third lodging option
called Residence by Vestibul. Both Vestibul Palace and Villa Dobric are located
within the palace walls, about 0.2 mile or a 5-minute walk apart, whereas the
Residence is located outside the walls, about 0.7 mile or a 15-minute walk from
Vestibul Palace.
The Vestibul Palace is located within the historic walled
city/old town of Split, between what was once the Emperor’s chambers and the main
square (called the Peristile). Be sure to ask for detailed directions to the
door of the hotel; because it is located within the walls, the “streets” are
pedestrian only, and you must walk from the port, parking lot, or nearby vehicular
street through a maze of passageways. The hotel includes detailed directions to
the property in your confirmation email.
The exterior building exhibits design elements from three
different architectural periods: Gothic, Renaissance, and Romantic; however,
the interior features contemporary décor and furnishings. You enter the hotel
from a small terrace that offers tables where you can dine or drink outdoors.
(If you are lucky, the nearby klapa acapella singers will perform for your
listening pleasure. “Klapa” is one of the intangible UNESCO “sites” [experiences].)
The small hotel reception desk is staffed around-the-clock. Nearby, a glass atrium
dining area offers one shared padded banquette fronted by tables and chairs in
front for dining or lounging. The small main (windowless) Diocles dining room
offers additional seating, a tiny bar, and service tables that hold the buffet
breakfast; Diocles also serves dinner in the evenings, as well as room service.
The breakfast buffet offers both hot and cold options including cereal, fruit,
breads and pastries, cold meats and cheeses, eggs, and juices. You can order a
plated hot entrée as well, and an employee prepares fancy coffees and smoothies
upon request.
The Vestibul Palace offers seven modern accommodations (two
suites and five rooms) within its historic walls. Because we reserved a duplex
suite at the Villa Dobric, we were assigned a similar suite in the Vestibul
Palace. Note that because of the remarkable location of the Vestibul Palace,
the hotel does not have an elevator, so you must climb stairs to reach your
room. The rooms seem to be spread among four half-floors, and our suite was
located nearly at the top. We did not mind the exercise, but we want to warn prospective
mobility challenged guests.
Our gorgeous modern duplex luxury suite offered space on two
levels. We entered on the main living area level, which features high vaulted
ceilings that highlight the exposed brick/stone wall that was part of the
original emperor’s palace. Furnishings include a long leather sofa and matching
armchair, glass-topped coffee table, desk with chair, wall-mounted television with
a piece of furniture below it, and a matching piece of furniture that held the
minibar. The wall in the main living area hides the large free-standing closet
(which held the safe) and a dresser next to the bathroom. The bathroom
contained a large bathtub/shower combo (which even for us tall people was a bit
high to step into and out of), vanity with sink, bidet, and toilet. The hotel
provides Molton Brown toiletries, including shampoo, conditioner, shower gel,
body lotion in two sizes (miniature single-use bottles as well as slightly
larger bottles). Both the living room and the bathroom contained windows (with
privacy shades) that we could open, although we did not because our
air-conditioning worked well. The second-floor mezzanine bedroom area did not
offer a second television, although because of the open loft-like nature of the
bedroom (enclosed with glass half-walls), we could hear (but not see) the
television below. Because the bedroom level did not offer a second bathroom, we
needed to descend the tricky staircase (which did not have a sufficient handrail)
during the night. The floating staircase, while beautiful and modern, also made
us bump our heads repeatedly on the sharp edges when we tried to access clothes
in the dresser positioned below it. Perhaps we are growing too old for duplex
rooms!
Despite our few comments about the user-friendliness of our
suite, the Vestibul Palace was easily our favorite hotel and our favorite room of
our trip, both aesthetically and location-wise. It is an excellent choice!
