Hotel Kvarner

The historic Hotel Kvarner is the oldest Croatian hotel on the Adriatic coast. It was built in 1884 as Hotel Quarnero, and in its time was a meeting place of European and Austro-Hungarian kings and emperors. Today it is one of the landmarks of Opatija.

Behind both the initiative and investment was the Southern Railway Society (Südbahngesellschaft) with its director Friedrich Julius Schüler. The oldest part of the hotel is its classically designed southern building. The northern part initially housed warm baths (Warmbäder), which were connected to the hotel by a covered corridor (Wandelbahn). In front of the hotel, right by the sea, there was the terrace of ‘the most elegant café in the world’, which was later moved away from the coastal promenade. In 1913, the famous Crystal Hall was built on the site of the warm baths, which had been destroyed in a fire. Today, the hall still hosts some of the major events and balls in the town. Many famous musicians have performed on the terrace of the Hotel Kvarner, including the legendary Croatian pop music singer Ivo Robić.

Villa Amalia was built in 1890 as an annexe of the Hotel Kvarner, directly behind the buildings of the cold baths (Kaltbäder), where the beautiful Secession-style ‘Jadran’ wooden swimming baths stood until a fire in 1989. Villa Amalia was built for the most discerning guests, who wanted to distance themselves from the rest of the hotel clientele. The list of titled guests includes the Romanian royal couple Carol and Elisabeth (alias Carmen Sylva), the German imperial family (during the 1894 meeting of Franz Joseph I and Wilhelm II), the dancer Isadora Duncan (who got inspiration for her dance movements while observing palm leaves in the breeze), and the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Alfred of Nassau, who celebrated his silver wedding here.