10 hotels in Croatia, Italy, and Switzerland, in May & June 2025
video length — 51 minutes
0:00 hotel Zephyrus in Split, Croatia
4:55 Hotel Plaza Duce, Croatia
7:20 Hotel Amfora on Hvar, Croatia
13:35 Aminess Vival Port 9 Resort, on Korcula, Croatia
17:20 Hilton Hotel in Dubrovnic, Croatia
18:25 Hotel IL Fiorino in Florence, Italy
24:55 Maggior Consiglio Hotel in Venice, Italy
29:30 Ibis Hotel in Bern, Switzerland
34:10 Armotti apartment, Bern Switzerland
44:35 Radisson Airport hotel in Zurich, Switzerland
48:50 portable bathmat ideas for slippery shower floors, when traveling
We spent nearly a month in Europe, traveling to 3 different countries.
And we stayed at 10 different locations during our trip.
This is a video of the places we stayed.
For Venice, my wife arranged for a hotel — close enough, that we could roll our suitcases to the hotel. On the way out of the train station, we were confronted with 12 steps to get out of the station. When we returned the next day for our departure, I found there was a handicapped entrance to the right of the station. A slow uphill roll, that entered the station with no steps (somewhere near the “Five Guys” restaurant location, inside the train station).
A point of confusion once we got to the Zurich airport — there is a “Radisson Blu” and a regular Radisson, which was our reservation. Initially we were following the “Radisson Blu” signs. But a person at an information desk, clarified there is a difference.
Radisson Blu at the Zurich airport — is reported to be a 250 meter walk from the airport terminal.
The regular Radisson airport hotel, is more like 5 km away, about a 10 minute drive, and you need a shuttle van to drive you there.
Other Europe Travel videos:
Trip to Italy, May & June 2025
Bern (Switzerland) – touring, June 2025
Neuschwanstein Castle (Bavaria, Germany), June 2024
Geneva, Switzerland, 1 to 15 June 2023
Barcelona, Spain, touring, 28 to 31 May 2023
Video length — 27 minutes
Outdoor restroom — the best I have ever seen, June 2024
Backroads Biking trip, Mallorca and Menorca, 23 – 28 May 2023
Backroads Biking trip, Bavaria to Austria, June 2024
Backroads (biking) trip in Croatia, May 2025
5 hotels in Germany, Austria & Switzerland, June 2024
5 hotels in Spain & Switzerland, May & June 2023
the start of our latest bike trip is a Croatia trip and it starts in Split Croatia which we flew into three days ago about two and a half days ago And um my wife selected this boutique hotel which has a total of about eight rooms Um ours has a little kitchen with uh just enough cereal to to make breakfast with a little refrigerator And we I got some soy milk There was regular milk um long life milk already here and enough dishes Uh there’s also some uh pots and pans one of these drawers So uh that was quite sufficient Now the funny way this town is set up there’s lots and lots of little narrow alleyways which are too small for a usual Americanstyle car to fit through And this is uh something that uh here comes a motorcycle in the the alleyway But uh it’s more for walking than for for riding and definitely not for driving Although uh I can imagine Tom Cruz having a high-speed chase through something like this And we end up having uh three sets of windows so we can get cross ventilation On the other side is a a patio area for for sitting The other side has um two rooms as you enter that door or two rooms as you enter this door And this one you get up by an outside uh balcony and the office is down below on the uh ground floor As we leave our front door it’s uh one floor down to where the office area is And there are three more floors above us here which I imagine have units similar to ours And Zephus is the name of this little boutique hotel and Split And on the other side of the patio is a a gate And on the other side of the gate is similarly a narrow walkway slash bike lane Too narrow for a car So um we had to actually uh walk uphill with our bags from the nearest road to get here This is the back route which is sort of secured us The uh the other side I showed you is actually a straight uphill from a drivable road which is barely drivable for the the small vehicles in this area So this is the bathroom that comes with the unit Now the uh the strange things Now this is a drying rack but we haven’t figured out how to turn it hot but we just use it as a drying rack and another one that holds the towels Now three switches here The left one is a fan icon turns on exhaust fan The other one here is a light icon and that turns on the room lights The other one you think what is this thing well that actually is the power for the water heater which hangs right above the toilet So if you want to have hot water you got to leave that switch on all the time This is a very huge shower head And this is adjustable enough so it never comes out severely fast unless you want it to And the good thing is here the shower door closes completely whereas we’ve had some in like France that always have an open space and you can’t really keep the water in the shower very easily This is our first night of back roads in Croatia Uh space for all our suitcases and bike bags bike supplies Um then there’s another space here for more of our luggage Then closet safe Closet And then the bathroom has both a tub two sinks shower toilet and a functional exhaust fan I can hear going on up here at the ceiling Drying rack for towels Fortunately it’s not heating which makes it obnoxious to touch I think they call this casual lodging which much more than casual to me Okay Then it also has this uh um balcony area Uh we’re supposed to have a reception on the roof there I think 700 p.m 6:00 p.m 7 p.m Anyway this uh first island in the distance which is all we see here is known as Brack This will be our island tomorrow and we’ll be staying on that island I believe unless we’re just crossing it I’m not sure I don’t remember the tales of it We’re on that tomorrow Only one night at this lovely hotel Okay this is on the island of Havar And the reason it took uh three hours to get here was we traveled to the far end of the island instead of the middle of the island And so we had to go around the tip of the island It landed uh um over in this position Then we had to walk They said it’s 10-minute walk to get here And then the the way we were brought in there was a lot of steps uh to get up to the reception area and then still more steps to get to the um living area So anyway it’s got this uh little balcony but the room size is substantially smaller than it was in the mainland uh island from last night Uh so we have to really search for places to put things Um there’s not all that wall space and wall length to put our gear uh bathroom later on but I found I could put things under the the bed So some of my smaller supplies I could put there This one closet is sort of a pain and push to open So I got one one small suitcase here and a place to hang up They have a haird dryer in this drawer And then you’ve got to close the doors to be able to to get around the uh the closet So it’s open and close for each time it’s it’s been used So substantially smaller uh refrigerator here And I don’t believe there’s a microwave pole cuz other stuff could be stored here get off the ground So uh we have two nights here We sort of wish we had uh two nights in the first location on the main island main uh land area of Croatia This is uh two two islands over So the bathroom for this Havar Hotel has this unusual door setup We pull out one and it opens both of them So it’s got the usual sink mirror little mirror couple towel racks Uh this one’s actually a little loose Then it has a tub with a sprayer there adjustable up and down Now this is the limit of the shower door shall we say and the rest is open And so we have to count on a towel bath mat to absorb any that spills out And the toilet which has the two different flushing small flush right larger flush left uh for electricity It has the standard European outlet which uses the same adapters that we got for France and Spain and and also for Switzerland And I’m assuming we’re going to use the same thing for Italy It also has a 120 volt plugin but since I already brought this heavy transformer I just use this with my Nurelco shaver And so that’s the basic uh bathroom setup here Oh so the other thing I wanted to say was jumping back to our first hotel with back roads a very large luxurious hotel that which had both a tub and a shower They had the same sort of limitation They had a divider like this uh for the walk-in shower and the water would spray out onto the floor The tub had the same sort of glass halfway across and you had to be careful when using the sprayer that it didn’t spray out onto the floor Neither of us used the tub but both of us used the tower the shower and it splattered out beyond the confines of the of the shower entrance It’s the the rug towel that we put in front of it was not enough to capture it cuz it went way beyond the size of of the uh towel uh for the shower cuz it had this nice shower head above it No matter how careful either of us were uh it sprayed out of the floor And so I’ve got this cold which makes my voice sound funny which it seems like the last three trips to Europe I’ve gotten a first time in 2023 got COVID Second time in 2024 I had a cough throughout the whole thing And this one um on the first day of uh back rows I started with a sore throat and a cold Now my wife’s got it as well both negative for COVID but still cold to come with us for who knows the next 10 days or so of a European trip This is our third hotel on the fourth night with back roads in Croatia So um we have here what looks like a kitchen However every single cabinet is empty So we have a kitchen table here which we’re going to use to hold a large suitcase four chairs couch um these items to hold the many suitcases that we have Um this yeah it’s a mini fridge And I don’t know that there’s a a microwave Um we requested uh two separate beds which are barely separated but uh that might solve the problem because every time I move getting in or getting out of bed or whatever it typically woke up my wife if if it’s one bed So maybe that might be sufficient So we do have an outside uh balcony area Um dressers closet Um the weird thing about this door is it’s stopped by the bed So uh there’s no way to close the the bedroom door and then you can get gouged on this handle walking in or out do the bathroom a separate time [Applause] and that would say a huge balcony It is partitioned off for just us This is the outside of the bedroom and the uh the view is lovely also [Applause] My wife asked me to get her a blanket out of the closet Well everything’s empty Every cabinet is is empty And I thought “Oh boy I’m gonna have a problem with uh reflux with only one pillow.” So I figure I might be using the the couch instead for that So we’re only here one night and then moving on to our final location So the bathroom is quite spacious [Applause] um the usual situation with the um shower door The the tub um only covers about half of the tub width so you have to try to keep from spreading out too much Uh lots of space underneath So this is the bathroom in our Hilton Deck Hotel So I guess it has it kind of this must be a 12 12T ft ceiling cuz I have a a chance of reaching up Here’s the 8ft mark and it’s still way beyond there Um the the typical shower tub [Applause] entryway The requested two beds slightly larger than expected So it seems luxurious instead of the casual uh what which we were told uh is is the trip but this part of it is is uh like luxury So this is a sort of boutique hotel in Florence We requested two beds and so it’s a sort of a double room Uh this window opens inwards uh which sort of swings open So uh I got to walk around it if you do So closet with safe and little mini fridge platform to put suitcases on Um step up for the bathroom which has a bedet and toilet And then in here is a large head shower No light in the shower area but this should be sufficient I’m not sure what one of our friends we have a friend with us in a different floor who’s complaining about no light in the shower I don’t know So um this again is a window that uh swings open Um so this is um an an alley too narrow for a van Our van dropped us off at the street at the end which I thought was too narrow to have a van as is So um just arrive will be here I guess for six overnights and then we will continue on to other places So this is the sixth hotel of sorts So we just have to get used to the step down from the bathroom There’s a breakfast included We have to select a time for that And that is the heater up there So this is still the sixth hotel Um the electrical outlet here is a little bit different and that they’ve got it First of all it’s not recessed so it’s easier to get to but um there’s still two holes for the prongs instead of uh one But what we found is the same adapter that we’ve been using in all the other Europe European countries will uh fit into here And so it looks like it’s the Looks like it’s the inner of the two sets that it fits into Um and then um this being a um 120 volt or 220 volt type of U recharger for USBs it fits uh into there without having to use a a step down transformer So this is been fine but it’s just a little bit of a weird connection here And when my wife got up she bought a a teapot because the hotel didn’t come with any hot water option other than down in the kitchen Um it was wasn’t fitting in there properly So I suggested okay put in this adapter and then um plug the teapot into that and it’ll work fine So we had ordered this room uh with two beds but the original picture for this same numbered room showed the uh the room with a chair and it didn’t have a didn’t have a chair probably because they stuck the an extra bed in there to fill the space I I haven’t been sufficient The the only weird thing really was the the shower The shower is the most narrow walled shower It’s longer long enough from front to back A very nice shower head but um the the width of the shower is is is quite narrow and confining and it’s easy to go hit elbows on both sides simultaneously because it’s so narrow Um having an alley right outside here we found there was so much talking so much noise that there’s no way to leave the the window tilted open Plus we saw some bugs coming in So there’s a and and they seem like mosquitoes And so uh in the evening if we had the windows open the bathroom shut the window To me it looks like they’ve got relatively new flooring inside this hotel Little inset window here This is a stairs that only go to the outside uh and not back in Here is an outside area that in some pictures was shown as being a patio but indeed we don’t really have use of it It’s like they store these carts here Move along In some pictures they had flowers sitting out here but nope Nothing that shows up The hotel access is in this fairly narrow alley We don’t usually expect uh cars to come down here but uh they sometimes do Usually it’s motorcycles and such So lots of doors always open But really weird looking graffiti covered walls garage doors and such So on this European vacation this is our seventh hotel This is in Venice not far from the train station So this is what the bathroom looks like Shower with um adjustable shower head connected to the wall Um bedet toilet drying rack Uh not sure what this is Guess it’s an open space to an adjacent room I haven’t I don’t know I’ve never seen that before Um and it has the uh the usual onoff switch plugs Tissues The last place didn’t have any tissues We had to go out and buy tissues So um it has um both bath towels hand towels and bath mat So this hotel has an elevator Kind of a tight one kind of a two people facing each other It’s pretty well filled It also has stairs Um but the surprising thing was when we got off at the third floor here there is um one two three four rooms directly next to the elevator and then of course ours wasn’t there There’s a step down to the hall to the stairwell And then there’s two three four steps up to to these set of stairs I don’t know what that’s about Double set of stairs And then two steps down So we had to hoist the bags over all those steps to get to the room on the same floor Kind of annoying So our room uh we packed our two biggest suitcases so we won’t have to touch them uh again until we roll them to the train station tomorrow Um that’s got a place to sit this suitcase our two sort of bags of toiletry items another suitcase there And uh as usual we asked for a second bed so they put in this little uh sort of twin bed here Maybe it was always a couch and they just turned it into bed I’m not really sure So um and they have a little end table here for me to pile stuff up on as they do um uh a similar end table here for nighttime equipment mini fridge As usual in um European hotels there’s no microwave That’s missing it No there’s no closet but there’s hang up rack area And I think this is possibly a blanket for one of us on top of there And this looks out into the little alleyway between the uh buildings here And a second window here as well They have the usual um outlets for um for recharging and then the various confusing array of uh light switches that uh are accessible on both sides of the the larger bed This is hotel room number seven with I think two more to go We’re going to be renting an apartment in Burn Switzerland next And then uh um a different hotel the night before we go to the the night before we get on a train a plane to um back to the US We’re flying out of Zurich And so we’re running a hotel for the overnight in Zurich So we have to rush through train connections from burn to Zurich in the morning of our last day This is our eighth hotel room We’re now in Burn Switzerland This uh very compact bathroom sink shower large overhead sprayer or handheld sprayer This is the only room they had with two beds And this is so incredibly tiny Well we have these two suitcases that we figured we don’t need to um get anything more out of so I stuck those in the corner This is a closet on wheels with a little shelf there which I have loaded up with stuff Twin bed twin bed nightstand Um outside I haven’t didn’t get a look but I don’t think we can step out there Oh there’s a little railing So I guess we can open up the the sliding the open up the door and actually step one foot out or look out Little chair suitcase thing little table Now here they have these um they said they didn’t really figure this something with recycling This fits into the garbage can these three things but they haven’t really figured out what goes where And and behind the sliding glass door here is a toilet room So nothing unusual there So this is what we got uh for one night We had set up we thought um an apartment that we’re going to rent for 10 days So we got to the place and found out that the lock box was missing and nobody was there to let us in And so we basically reported to the bed and breakfast office Very complicated situation Uh but I I think somebody stole the lock box which means they probably cracked it open and they might even be stealing might have already stolen what’s in the apartment there And we couldn’t reach the owner and there’s some language barrier on top of it Wasn’t German wasn’t English Sort of sounded Slavic or Russian or something uh from one of the owners Anyway co-owner Anyway so that’s this is unexpected So with the help of our son we’ve set up another bed and breakfast which we’re going to move to tomorrow We hope it’ll be much better It’ be like a an apartment whereas this one was barely big enough for two people to sort of coexist But a very interesting uh modular setup here Um this is a typical thing You’ve got to put in the room key or you don’t get any lights So um kind of typical of Europe that is That’s all [Applause] So this was our eighth hotel in Europe this year Okay this is our ninth lodging setup in Europe This is Burn Switzerland We’re renting an apartment through Airbnb I believe it is Uh we got in with a specific uh passcode here Front door and this door the same And I forget what’s in this closet There’s a step up and step down from the black down to each room Kitchen microwave refrigerator Cleaning supplies in this cabinet Looks like a some sort of shop back This is a fold out couch which will serve my purpose of having a much larger bed than and using chairs as Look at the shoulders What was my booking code 551 Hold on Okay Okay Then we have a dining area living room and this is some sort of a heater cooler unit whichever I’m not sure And then yet another bedroom Still in the unpacking stage And there is a nice little outdoor sitting area And there’s uh public transportation which we have accessible by way of renting this We have uh free access to the city transportation system And this is the name associated with this What is this ninth rental Anyway um and this book has all sorts of information inside about department and burn We have um free local bus and subway not subway bus and rail car uh transportation around um burn as part of this arrangement Um we’re given instructions on how to get the um the burn welcome packet which includes how to register for the mass transit while we’re here and it goes onto her cell phone So um if we get asked for a far carta tickets we just show the registration on our phone and it has the the times of u when it’s um available and it expires after we are scheduled to leave this facility In the lower level of our uh rental unit here they have just pretty much ground level They have a front loading washer which is sort of complicated controlled by a electronic card that we have that came with the place So we haven’t had to pay for it Um then they have these dryers which are very strange This is the the brand here and this one is something different but they operate in a similar way You know have the usual change the lint filters after use which I did last night It looks like hasn’t been reused since then Um but what really comes off strange is it takes a really long time for them to dry yet the water from the clothes ends up in a water tank which you you don’t see any water in here but when somebody’s put a full load of laundry through this can be a fairly full tank of water that you have to take back over down the hallway to where that sink is Uh this one uh inconvenience has a has a cracked one so you have to be careful to sort of lean it forward so it doesn’t leak all over the floor So anyway um it doesn’t have an outside exhaust vent the way they do in America What it does is it somehow extracts the water a little bit in the air but mainly it recondenses it back into here which is the water that was in the clothing during the wash cycle So the air kind of goes I don’t know in one side and goes out someplace else But the clothes doesn’t get real hot and dry like you expect a normal dryer of this size should be able to do It’s It only gets a little bit hot and the room doesn’t get hot and because the dryer doesn’t really get hot The clothes doesn’t really get that hot So anyway this is just um something invented in Europe Uh and it takes uh like the washer takes almost an hour and a half on a normal cycle and this takes almost an hour and a half but the clothes isn’t quite dry quite dry then So anyway that’s what we we have here which is you know free for our use but it’s a little bit disappointing as dryers go So this is the ninth place we’ve stayed in Europe this year Uh this is burn Switzerland apartment we’re running Uh some of the common features is typically the tub or shower tends to be a little bit on the slippery side most places and um there may or may not be any sort of grab bar Um I found this um bath mat down in the um dryer side of the laundry room and doesn’t quite have enough uh suction cups but it it does uh cover the bottom of the uh bathtub pretty well and makes a little slippery And so I’ve been using this uh since day two of our stay here Um also tubs tend to be a little difficult to climb in and out of The the height of the tub the height of the floor are often different And so I you know try to since there’s no grab bar I try to hold on to this uh shelf thing here then hold on to the tub or lean against the the wall and sort of ease myself in and to get climbing out you know you you end up going down further than you know the tub height So it’s um I once had some portable bath mat units They were like um circular almost circular almost flower shaped things that had a bunch of suction cups in the bottom There’d be like I think like six or eight of them in a in a group I’m not sure what I did with them but what I’d do is I would take them with me when traveling and put them on the the bottom of the of the tub or shower surface and and that would be a portable sort of mat and I’d carry them around in a Ziploc bag from place to place but I seem lost track of them If I if I do find something like that I will put information for that in the narrative section below the video frame so that uh maybe you can learn from my past mistakes That’s one of the problems of traveling is slippery tubs and no grab bars And oh the other thing here is this shower curtain actually goes about 3/4 of the way the entire tub whereas a lot of these places um have a in Europe have a wall that’s only like halfway across the tub or shower and so a lot of water splashes out here It’s the shower curt actually has been pretty good because it keeps the water from splashing out Okay if my count is correct this is our 10th hotel in Europe this year 2025 staying at the Rison airport because it was too much to get to the airport at 9:00 a.m from Burn to Zurich even though there’s mass transit So we we got here about noon today to the train station uh at the airport Zurich So um we ask again for two twin beds and we’re hoping that we won’t have to touch either of these suitcases so they’re just parked here Then we have the smaller suitcase and uh one tote bag with toiletries etc So this looks like a uh shower capsule [Applause] and then a toilet room And then a hallway sink So once again you have to uh put a card in the card reader to get lights but it looks like it has everything And a lot more spacious than that Ibis hotel was in burn Uh but this is just for one overnight We have a flight out about noon tomorrow and it’ll be easy to get there by 9 in the morning for 3 hours early for the flight heading back to the US on a non-stop flight tomorrow So this uh shower capsule has a ceiling vent has a shelf above soap dispensers and then a a seat but it’s also helpful You know if you want to wash your feet you don’t have to balance on one foot You can put one foot on there and wash it there The uh exterior here ends up being not opaque but it it really doesn’t show any images through So it it does afford a significant amount of privacy in the room The floor uh has all these bumps on it and it I think it’s like a a non-slip floor the way it feels So um both my wife and I were were very satisfied with this shower Um even though it’s just a handheld sprayer with a holder here it’s it actually you know worked excess h it worked exceptionally well uh for a shower with plenty of elbow room actually compared to some of the other showers we’ve been in in Europe And then it’s not a stretch to reach um towel if you put it here on this bar Even if you’re taking it from the bottom shelf there’s only one step to get to it So it’s a very good setup for the shower The toilet room is also um um quite complete Um as typical with Europeans there’s a a smaller volume flush and a full flush a spare toilet paper roll waste basket small sink towel rack and a mirror So it’s uh quite complete of uh and then a little shelf here if you have something you want to uh put it on while you’re going to the bathroom And there’s a functional ceiling vent as well I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with slippery bathtubs for the time I was in Europe And I think I have a solution here I got these from Amazon Suction cup bath treads set of six Now I bought two sets because I thought well maybe maybe one set’s not going to be enough So now this is the weight of these bath mats two sets plus packaging less than nine ounces So I figure I’ll take the six or eight or maybe even 10 and stick them in a gallon Ziploc bag and take them with me along a trip and put them on the bottom of slippery showers or slippery uh bathtubs when I’m traveling I’m going to test them out now Okay Yeah So two sets of these which is 12 treads weigh only approximately 7 oz Each one of these little bath mat things has 28 suction cups So I placed 10 of them on the bottom of this standard American tub So my size 13 feet cover two of them at a time So I think that’ll be enough protection Just take them off the tub when done dry them with a towel stick them in a Ziploc bag and you’re ready for the next hotel you’re going to You haven’t died in the meantime from slipping on a slippery tub So I think this is the the solution to uh traveling and dragging along your own bath mat bagged and ready to travel Now another approach could be to get um a bath mat something like this which is like u 15 in by 27 in or something or a rectangular one like this which is similar in size and then cut it in quarters so that it would lie flat in the bottom of the suitcase Then you just put four pieces on the bottom of a of a tub instead of uh six eight or 10 Um but it wouldn’t be as lightweight as 7 oz This is like closer to 2 lb Uh thicker plastic Uh on the positive side it’s got larger suction cups so um yeah it’s probably easier to get it to stick But uh anyway there’s there’s lots of ways to uh have more safety while traveling in slippery bathtubs which is to bring your own mat