Name: Sinistaj Rooms
Address: Augusta Cesarca 1, Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, 20 000, Croatia
Rating: 8

Air conditioning

Elevator/lift

Smoke-free property

Heating

Terrace

Patio

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Fridge

Wardrobe/Closet

Rooms

Laundry

Services and amenities

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Airport transportation

Transfer services

Transfer

English

Languages Spoken

Sun Deck

Recreation

No parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Gruz Open Market

Port of Gruz

Bellevue Beach

Boninovo Beach

Lapad Beach

Mt. Srd

Sulic Beach

Franjo Tudman Bridge

Mandrac Beach

Private Beach of Hotel Vis

Private Beach of Hotel More

Kolorina Beach

Lovrijenac Fortress

Ponat Beach

Minceta Fortress

Pile Gate

St. Saviour Church

Bokar Fortess

Stradun

House of Marin Drzic

Buza Gate

Dominican Monastery

Sponza Palace

Rector's Palace

Dubrovnik Cathedral

Dubrovnik Aquarium and Maritime Museum

Dubrovnik Airport

Tivat Airport

Sinistaj Rooms

Dubrovnik

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

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3-beds

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38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

It was like visiting your grandparents; they let you come and go freely but were there for you when you got back :) Very hospitable and personal service. I was for example offered juice when I got back from a day in the hot weather <3 

Loved the view from my room and everything else. The aircondition was awesome in the hot weather and the fridge was very good to have to store your snacks. Next to the "hotel" there's a little grocery store  which is open 07-21 at least on weekdays. There's also a pizzeria, a small bakery and another grocery store very near. I said "hotel" in brackets because to me this was more like a homestay, in a good way. The bathroom is shared yes, but only with two other rooms and the owners. There's also a tv in the room and great wifi. Its' also very clean.

When you book a shuttle service it's the owner(s) who picks you up personally! To me this was a great choise because I didn't have to stress about finding the place when I arrived late in the evening. It's located on the hillside (but so is almost everything else in Dubrovnik) and there are lots of steps but also a local bus (nr 8) that drives close by (and a day ticket is only 30kunas which is like 4 euros - in my hometown we only get a one-way ticket for 3,5euros!). 

Sinistaj rooms is conveniently located with great views and good connection to the Gruz port (by walking) and to the old town by bus (although I did walk there too). I made a few daytrips with Adriatic Experience and they offered pick up from the nearby pizzeria. The location is also far enough from all the possible husttle at night and thus I could sleep well. 

I liked this place a lot.

Hospitable and personal service

I needed a base at an affordable price for some solo travels (day trips to Montenegro, and to Mostar in Bosnia). 
Although I didn't spend much time in the apartment it met and exceeded my needs.
The owning couple live in the apartment on the 7th floor (come out of lift and go to the door on your right with a Sinistaj name plate on). My hosts were welcoming with fruit juice, fruit, coffee, and biscuits without being intrusive. 
The single room with enclosed balcony was clean, it included a fridge, kettle, satellite TV, and good air-con.
I had wondered how my day trip pick-ups would work but I was simply asked to be ready for pick-up at the very nearby Luna Pizza. And all went smoothly.
In advance of my arrival a couple of questions to the owners through booking.com didn't get answered too quickly. But closer to the time I just texted their mobile number and always got a quick and helpful reply.
The views from my apartment over the new harbour and towards Lapad were beautiful, and even more so from the private roof top terrace (just ask the owners where they keep the key).
The flats are served well by a bus (just ask owners for details).
I walked back each evening. Going back to the harbour and walking up the hill to the apartments was hard in the heat (those great views come at a cost). The alternative is to walk more or less on the level towards the old town.
Overall I had a good stay at a good price.
Would I go back? I'd be happy to but personally I might see if there was anything comparatively priced nearer the Lapad area (which there might not be).

Three rooms in welcoming family apartment

I arrived here as the first stop of my solo trip around Europe. Deciding to stay in a guest room rather than a hostel probably wasn't the best idea as I was extremely lonely. But that is no fault of the owner, who happened to be extremely welcoming and helpful with things to do in the city. The room is basic but had everything you'd need when backpacking (the air conditioner was a life saver in summer). Overall, I would stay here again for the reasonable price, and while the area is nice, it is a rather long walk into the Old Town, which would definitely turn some people off. Regardless, the view from the balcony was gorgeous and the hosts even brought me some traditional Croatian crepes for breakfast one morning, which were delicious!

Lovely hosts!

This a private residence on the 7th floor of a building with multiple rooms for rent. I don't think it was ever described anywhere. My room was very clean and nice. The shared bathroom was great. The owners are very friendly. Good thing cause they live across the hall. The building is 25 minutes from the old town or swimming. I like to walk, but there are closer places for sure.

Nice place with nice owners. But kinda far.

The rooms are located in an apartment on the 7th floor of a Soviet era apartment building, but fortunately there is an elevator available. The host family welcomed us with a drink, and everything was very well organized. Our room was comfortable, with a sturdy 100 year old bed, a fridge, airconditioning, and a private terrace with view over the bay. No food is provided, but there is a supermarket across the street.
The roof terrace of the building, accessible from the hallway, offers an amazing view over Dubrovnik and is equipped with comfortable benches and chairs.
The only minor issue we experienced is the shared bathroom across the hallway, where showers are discouraged after 23:00 because of noise concerns.
We warmly recommend a stay at Sinistaj!

Warmly welcomed in a guest family!

Be prepared for things to turn very ugly after the warm welcome if money comes up in conversation. In the reviews you will also see evidence of xenophobia and knee-jerk aggressive needless evictions
You will be living in a residential apartment building that is a old high-rise council looking building. The apartment is old but nice inside but the building itself needs a lot of work. The rooms are small and have limited space to move around. This once was and still is a family home.
You will be living with 2 elderly people that own the apartment. The apartment has been split into a private home and a Airbnb property. If you are a couple move on now or if you want to stay more than a few days book something else.
Rooms cannot be lock-handle released from the inside, for fire safety. You can only do this with a bolt-lock meaning if there is an electrical fire in your room you will lose valuable escape time and could probably die or be injured. In the middle of the night someone actually walked into our room as we didn’t want to bolt-lock the door for safety reasons. No apology was given and if we were naked or making love it would have been a horrific experience. Couples beware.
You need to pay €7 to use the washing machine and €3 to cook. For the price of this £52 per night room in a residential house these charges make a mockery of this policy. It’s placed this high as to dissuade you to not disturb the owners of the house as this is actually their home.
The hot water will be turned off at night even if you are in the middle of a shower. You can only have a warm shower in the morning where you will be waiting if the rooms are full.
They do not want you to take the air-con any lower than 26c this will only be 3-4c less than outside temperature. They wrote 26 on the air con controller after a few days of our stay and took away a blanket to force us to sweat through the night then get a chill when the temperature dropped and raised throughout the night which happens as Dubrovnik is on the coast. Be prepared to catch a small chill as you won’t be able to moderate you room temperature even if it raises or drops outside. We had to use towels as our blanket was taken away from us.
If you feel uncomfortable and want to leave early the attitude of the home owners will change dramatically. Money is a very touchy subject for the man of the house. First he will make an agreement with you to stay and extra night. Don’t agree to that and move on immediately this is a ploy to keep more money. They don’t care for your comfort they just care about how much money you are worth to them. The air-con and hot water ban will continue regardless of how long you stay or how uncomfortable they make your stay.
The apartment is on a massive hill at the city end of Dubrovnik. You will need to walk up around 12-14 stories of stairs to get to the apartment from the marina. Either that or get a bus or taxi each night. Dubrovnik is as equal to London in cost, walking is always the preferred method. Get ready to get sweaty and knackered at this address, everyday. This isn’t mentioned on the ad either. An estimated 12-14 stories of stairs, unless you pay, is a huge amount of stairs to hide on the advert. A bus will cost you £3 one way for 2 people so thats £6+ per day for two people, depending where you go, so that’s almost £100 for a long holiday. It’s a no brainer to walk. Taxis will be more than double that. Very, very expensive city and a very difficult residential block of flats to get to.
Their rules their home. If you want to have the freedom of basic hotel comforts do not book this you will be massively disappointed as we were and the rest of the disappointed people on here who we never listened to and now really regret. If you are a student or a single traveller and don’t mind cold showers, high air-con temps, blanket confiscation, long tiring stair hikes, high washing costs, inconvenient cooking costs, no washing or drying items in room, basin or shower then this is a good non-cheap but kinda affordable for Dubrovnik option. Two or three days is as long as I would book here any longer and the house owners will turn against you as you will want comforts they don’t want to provide and make you feel uncomfortable.
Thanks for reading and I hope I have saved you the aggravation and discomfort we endured. There are plenty of better places in town. Apartment Smiles is Magnificent with everything missing in Sinister-ja flat freely available with plenty more conveniences and no stress. Dump this room now, it’s horrific. Unless you don’t care about comfort or basic hotel needs then go ahead press that button. The view is good, that’s about it, but by no means a sticking point just a nice to have.

Nightmare before Christmas

Once we were downstairs, there was no indications of where to find the apartment, we called the lady but she couldn't speak English and didn't understand.
At one point we decided to go through all the building to find the place.
Once we had done that she asked us to give all the money in cash. We didn't have enough so we propose to give the half first and to withdraw the rest just after that. She called someone else (maybe her husband) and put it on the phone with us.
He was talking in English and immedialty yelled, telling us to pay right know. As he was getting more and more aggressive (he didn't let us talk to explain the "situation" to him), we were feeling more and more insecure with his behavior so we decided to leave (he even threatened us to call boking.com).
That was a really bad experience and it's definitively not a way to treat people!

Didn't feel welcome at all

I have booked this place more than 3 months in advance of my trip. I have contacted the owner closer to the date asking  if he can meet me at the bus station and show the way to the property. I also gathered from other traveller's reviews that there are a lot of stairs to reach the apartment, so again I asked the owner if by meeting me at the bus station he can direct me to the property and just stay with my bags and pushchair at the bottom of the stairs while I take them to the top of the stairs. The owner flatly refused to help me and advised to get a taxi. Unfortunately taxi does not go up the stairs and I would have struggled anyway.

The owner then proceeded to demand that I make the prepayment of 30% 3 days before I was due to stay. It was disappointing that the owner never contacted me, despite me booking 3 months ago, to alert me to the fact that prepayment need to be made. 

In the end I cancelled my booking with him, as I did not want to stay with such unhelpful people. The owner is too lazy to come out to help a mother with a pushchair, he would rather that you stay somewhere else! Also, be aware that you need to pre-pay for this property before you stay, it is not apparent on the well known website where bookings are made and you can find yourself in a situation that if you don;t pre-pay the owner will cancel your reservation. In addition,  payment need to be made to a personal bank account, which means further complications with bank transfers, currency exchange, etc. 

Never again!

Sinistaj Rooms

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