Latest Reviews for Albena

I would not recommend Albena Beach Club to anyone,

the Hotel was clean and our room was fine and kept clean. The food was terrible, most of the hotel staff unfriendly some even rude. Entertainment was rubbish and at another Hotel ( Gegano) where drinks had to be paid for even though you were on an all inclusive holiday. one day it rained all day and the animators were no where to be seen, so there was nothing to do. Albena Beach club has a lot to learn about all inclusive. I agree with previous comments about this hotel.

Albena is lovely and there are some great places to eat out and very reasonably priced, if we went again it would be on a Bed and Breakfast basis and to another Hotel.

hi there we returned from the ralista on 3/10/06, and all in all we had the most boring holiday ever there is nothing in this hotel for you kids to do, the entertainment at night is on for about 45 mins in which you cannot even take a drink from the bar with you when you are watching the show which is not even worth going to in the first place it is set in and assembly hall, totally rubbish, the reception staff are rude, the food was not good for all inclusive, the bar shuts at 11pm and so does everything else in albena we went for 2 weeks and it rained for 10 days of that, the rooms were ok but tv only british channell is bbc world!! not that we go on holiday to watch t.v but at this hotel you will be searching the channells, not reccommended for british pepole either full of germans who shout at you if you clap at the show in the evening,

stay clear and resist booking at the ralista!!!!

just arrived back 24,9,2006 from a 2 week stay at vita park,the accomadation was absolutly brilliant it was spotlessly clean we were given a apartments instead of hotel rooms which were better the cleaners worked very hard even folding our pjs on our pillows,

the restaurant was very clean with a good variety of foods but they do repeat them a great deal,the snack bar had the same thing day in day out and pizza was like gold,the staff were very igronant towards the english we found especialy a few of the snack bar staff who were more interested in watching tv or playing the table football they would tell the younger members of our party to use the pool bar which my husband soon put right,there was no entertainment for the english only for the germans,the kids club was german also our children were told they could use this club but it was all in german,

the germans dominate this hotel they were very igronante and my husband had a few rows with them pushing in at the bar and in the dinning room,the pool was great with 2 water slides and you can also use the outdoor facilitys of the sister hotel ralista but if go inside you have to pay for drinks etc,we found the animation team of the ralista far more friendly and spoke in english they had more energy about them ,than the 1s at vita park,

i would recommend if you want to go to albena book the ralista NOT VITA PARK,word of warning if you do go to vita park and use thier exchange facilitys count your money before leaving the counter has we did not the 1 day and the girl short changed us when we went back she argued the amont she owed us saying it was only 100levs instead of 113levs u might say whats 13levs but it was the way she did it when i told her she still owed us 13levs she put her jacket on and walked out completly ignoring us leaving us standing by the desk open mouthed later that day we were called back to the exchange to be given our 13levs and for her to say sorry but she was tired no excuse i dont think,

out and about its not far from the shops or stalls i would call them the stall holders were very friendly some were a bit over powering but just say no and they go away,i think this is a german orintated hotel and the british should not be sent there,we would never go back there ,so if your planning a trip there DO NOT book vita park,BOOK THE HOTEL RALISTA,there are lots of prstitutes but they do not bother you they seem to target men walking on there own,poco loco is a good place to eat for a change they speak very good english and the lively entertainment is all english,

albena is a lovely place just a shame about the people who run vita park and the germans who stay there

This was our first visit to Bulgaria and will be the last!!

We were very disappointed with our hotel accomodation which was classed as 3* but I would rate this hotel as a 1* or 2* at british standard.The food,restaurant and bars were terrible the food in the restaurant was covered in flies morning noon and night and the hotel has not heard of hygine or customer services,We felt we were not welcome to the country.I did complain to the tour opperator but have received no compensation but I did receive a letter of regret!!I would like to mention there is no diet juice in the hotel and very difficult to find it the shops also not so handy when I am diabetic!!

I would like to mention the animation team in the hotel as they were great and a big hello to all please think again if you have booked this hotel as I think you may be disappointed and may starve through out the holiday

we have just been to bulgaria for the first time. what a dissapointment, the hotel was very basic although clean, we had to walk across an open yard to the hotel for breakfast this hotel closed while we were there and we then had to go to another hotel and as it rained for most of our stay we did/nt bother as the food was nasty and cold. we found the hotel to be the most expensive place to eat and drink. poco locos was lively and food pretty good. we enjoyed dundys food and if you want a quiet drink and a warm welcome go to the cocktail bar.

the h**kers are very in your face and seemed to use our hotel a lot and are out in force both day and night not very nice.the beach seems to be clean and life guards are in attendance.the baverian bar at the back of the medical centre was very good , meals and drinks at cheap prices , and choice was vast.

im affraid we wont be back to bulgaria and balkan airways needs to train its staff again, they made us feel like they were doing us a favour by letting us on the flight, the pilot never once spoke to the passengers, no inflight entertainment and between belfast and leeds we thought we had no staff on board.

sorry to say we had a terrible holiday from start to finnish.

The beach in Albena is beautiful. It's very clean and the sand is so soft. Maybe it was just the time of year but there were a lot of jellyfish in the sea which meant we couldn't really go swimming.

The resort center is again clean, with lots of greenery. A good view is from the panoramic hotel in the center called DOBRUDJA, this also does very nice cakes!
There are some shops runing down one street, and there are 2 small trains to get you round the resort but it can be walked quite easily.

Going out at night in Albena in October is not that exciting, most places are shutting down for the winter. People who are open welcome you in but there is a lack of atmosphere when you are the only 2 people! Anyone going in October should consider this as we didn't expect it. In the height of the season I'm sure it would be much better and there are some nice bars around.

The hotel was poor. We had read some bad reviews on different sites about the hotel but I believe you should judge yourself. I wish we hadn't. The food is quite bad and very repetative. It just feels like being in the school dinner hall. We went out to eat quite often which obviously is not the point of all inclusive. Getting a drink meant waiting for one poor bar man to serve you a weak half pint in a plastic cup- only 2 drinks at a time which was fine for us but a pain for families i'm sure.

Our room had a very damp smell to it, even the bed covers smelt damp which was awful and it was quite cold as the room never got any sun. This room was 212. The hotel was full so we couldn't move sadly.
We also ended up giving a tip to the porter which annoyed me because all we had was large notes as we had just arrived. I have no problem giving tips but I felt this was a little unfair.

I wouldn't stay at this hotel again, really the only positive was that it was right on the beach but so were many other hotels. For couples of our age I would suggest staying in the resort of Golden Sands which has more to offer and the hotels look much nicer.

We have just arrived back from Bulgaria and overall have had an excellent time.

The hotel Gagana is an ideal choice for those looking to stay in Albena, the rooms while slightly dates are spotless and as has been written in other reviews the majority of staff are keen and friendly.

One negative was the quality of the breakfast which was not to a standard one would expect from a 4 star hotel. My only positive slant would be to think it is heavily tailored to the German guests with pancakes, hot dog sausages and bacon made up predominantly of rind on offer. The upside is that eating out is not expensive and a few mornings we skipped the hotels offering and ate at one on the many bars.

Every ten minutes a train runs around the resort at a cost of about 80p p/person. This is handy at night as the roads to and from the hotel is poorly lit with uneven pavements.

The beach is glorious with golden sands and is not overcrowded in the slightest. There are a number of water sport activities and for the best prices it is best to venture further down the beach away from the area around the hotels.

You very much get the impression that Albena is a developing resort; there is not a great deal to do after 11pm as most of the bars are shut or empty. The service can be patchy from the locals, a new phenomenon is having to pay to use the lavatories in restaurants or bars in which you are frequenting, when these turn out to be in terrible state you question why the hell you have to pay in the first place!

One day we visited Golden Sands - about £12 in a taxi one way. Whilst it was nice is seemed a little to commercial. Albena for its faults still feels very authentic, I got the impression Golden Beach was similar to Spain, which is no bad thing but much of a much.

A must see is the Poco Loco bar in Albena which is a dance Bar. All the staff are fantastic dancers and the show lasts a good few hours. Also the artists in ALbena are fab I recommend taking a picture if you are in the market for a reasonable hand drawn family portrait.

I fear ALbena may go the same way as Golden Sands as its popularity increases and the entry into the Euro will no doubt push the prices up. Overall I would recommend it for an ideal chill out - I think you may struggle to fill two weeks though. One week was enough for me.

We too were concerned regarding reports from last year but we need not have worried.

The hotel and it's facilites were great. Everywhere was clean (the maids were lovely)and there seemed to be entertainment throughout the day. We didn't really take part as were a little intimidated by so many Germans (as the hotel is a German run company but set up for families). We did encounter a few occassions where the bar staff would try to serve the German guest before us but each time the German guest told the bar staff we were first!Once they got used to you they were fine. The food seemed to be the same but that was because there was so much choice. I was impressed by the fact you were served with actual glasses (except in the pool areas and when they ran out of glasses) and that there were hardly any queues (except at 10.45pm when eveyone went to fill up before the free drinks stopped). The other good thing was that some of the bars stayed open if you wished to carry on drinking but you did have to pay (still cheap!).

Albena itself was lovely - the beach was nice and the people were friendly. The town has lots of stalls full of lovely wooden and leather items, there are also lots of stalls with fantastic artists. If you have always wanted a portrait done of someone special, you can take a photo with you and they will copy it onto canvas.

All in all, we all had a fantastic holiday. (and we never saw any ladies of the night!!). Our reps were also great and worked really hard when anyone had a problem (especially us when my husband fell and broke the sink!) - thanks Andy.

I would not recommend staying at Albena beach club.

On the plus side the rooms are nice and they are clean, the hotel situation is on a lovely beach and the reception staff are nice and friendly.

On the down side the food is terrible and is usually cold the food in the snack bar is worse. The bar staff are ignorant, drinks are served in paper cups day and night whether drinking inside or out. The entertainment is diabolical, daytime entertainment is gymnastics, step arobics and darts. Evening entertainment is 9 till 10 pm at the next hotel carried out by the animation team which is rubbish and you have to carry your drink in the paper cup over with you which the bar staff seem quite relucant to serve you. There was a ice cream spilt on the stairs leading to the room it was there for 3 days.

Luckly we had good weather otherwise we would of come home earlier.There was families with young kids who were stuck at the hotel every night as there was nothing for them to do. We ate and drank out every night. Caribi was ok owner Zak was very nice as well as bar staff. The next bar along was good with entertainment and really good food. Recommend fiesta bulgaria trip with first choice.

Our advice is to take plenty of money, although the hotel is allinclusive you will probably not want to spend your evenings there.

In my opinion my stay at The Ralitsa hotel, Bulgaria was awful!

The beds were uncomfortable, the pillows were about two inches thick! and the entertainment was rediculous! There was absoloutely nothing for children to do in the evening and afternoon. The food was disgusting, we were eating practically the same thing every day. The weather was either strong sun or strong rain! The staff (espesially at reception) were extremely rude and never smiled. We had to wear uncomfy plastic wrist bands the whole time!The t.v channels were all German and the showers were cold after a certain hour.

I would never go back and am totally relieved to be home.