Latest Reviews for Albena

one of the best holidays we've ever had, we had to buy extra suitcases to bring back all our goodies. we have never come back from a holiday with so much money left over, it was nearly impossible to spend it, which was a refreshing change. the accommodation was clean and suprisingly modern for such a backward country. dont ask for a pool view as it also overlooks the main road and the delivery area which is very busy at all times of the day. the food was second to none, always a wide choice, all cooked fresh while you wait, although we went all inclusive, we still ate out most nights at the tropical bar which was fantastic, and the prices are unbelieveably cheap.the market stalls are a little repetative, all selling the same things but there are plenty of bargins to be had if you like designer clothes.

we enjoyed the holiday so much that we are definately booking to go back, provided that going into th e,u, next year does not spoil the prices, it would be a great shame to spoil it as it reminds me of what spain used to be like 20 years ago.

I was reeeeeeeally anxious about going on this holiday as I had read some really bad reviews about it but I was very surprised at how godam good it was!

First of all the flights to and from Varna airport were brilliant. We had no delays and arrived at Varna 1 hour early and back into Manchester 25 minutes early. The flight itself was brilliant, the food was good and the staff were excellent and very helpful.
When we had got through customs and had our luggage we were greeted by a rep (Matt) and put on a coach we were on this for around 45mins to the Ralitsa hotel.
The rep in our hotel was called Andy and he was so helpful. He responded to queries there and then.

When we arrived at the Ralitsa I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we got checked in and how clean the hotel was. The room was spotless and quite spacious.
The food in the hotel was really nice and there is a good selection at meal times.
The staff in and around the hotel were very friendly and didn't ignore the English (like what other reviews said!) Fair enough the Bulgarians aren't very good at English but at the end of the day I cant speak a word of Bulgarian!

It's really cheap in Bulgaria so if you smoke I would recommend buying cigarettes over there rather than on the plane! It works out at about 85p for 20!!! Its about 50p for a pint of lager, much cheaper than here!
The free drinks at the hotel finish at 11.00pm so we just went into the small town and got 2 and a half litres of lager (roughly 80p) and drank it at the pool bar, the staff don't mind you doing this!

The hotel itself is in a lovely area and is only about 5 mins from the little town where you can buy lots of cheap but nice souvenirs! The food in the Town was really good and cheap aswell. The only problem would be the prostitutes, they are everywhere! So men beware as they are never alone, there is always some big bouncer type guy keeping an eye on them. If you want to knock them back then do it politely as swearing doesn't go down to well with the ";minders";.

All in all we had a brilliant time at this hotel and I really didn't want to go home! I would recommend Bulgaria to anyone and First Choice also gets 10/10.
Hope this has been helpful!

Clare.xxx

Spent 2 weeks in the Gergana Hotel Albena in August 2006,it was the best holiday we have been on, the resort is very clean, and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

The rooms were cleaned every day and fresh linen every two days, the only fault was it was too small for three beds. The pool bar is brill espically Svetlio the head waiter,he treated us like royalty, he always made a point of coming over to us and shaking our hand. Anyone visiting there should go to The Old Oak just a few meters from Gergana Hotel, it was a thrilling night brill food and traditional entertainment,watch out for the Bulgarian Tom Jones he is hilarious, You will also be serenaded at your table make sure you have a few Leva to stick in his violin.For the best Sunday lunch go to Zak's just down from the hotel,just watch out for the bald headed waiter, he has a problem adding up the bill (normally in his favour. The Dotto train stops outside the hotel and takes you to the centre for just 2 leva, and runs untill midnight.

The centre has a wide choice of gifts, with lots of stalls, it mostly consists of Bulgarian craft, but there are a lot of shops selling designer fakes for a few leva, the poca Loca bar and resturant is very cheap food is good but can get busy around 8 o clock. Visit Balchik and try ";Irish Rover"; Bar for good food and great conversation, we paid a visit to the Botanical gardens, but be prepared for climbing lots of steps. Albena is a fantastic place to holiday,and there was plenty for the 11yr old to do. The lifeguard on the beach will change your money, sell cigs or will sell you bottles of his home made brew and its not for the faint hearted, it's def rocket fuel.

A visit to Dobrich is well worth it, as it is much cheaper, there are lots of shops selling good quality clothes and shoes, just watch out for the gypsie's, we were followed into one shop by 5 women, and the lady who owned the shop made us aware of them and told us to be careful, but thankfully the Gypsies knew we had been tipped off and so made a hasty retreat.

The weather was in the low 30's every day except for a 2 hour thunder storm one morning, the sea temp was about 27, and very clean, every night a big tractor travels up and down the beach cleaning it.

The funniest thing we saw was when the pony trekking went up the beach in the evenings a little man would run bare footed after the horses with a bucket and shovel waiting for droppings (he has the best flowers in bulgaria). We will def be going back next year..

a bit apprehensive about bulgaria but what a pleasant surprise!

the hotel ralitsa was great.all the staff were very friendly and couldn't do enough for you.food was ok ,there was something that all of us could eat at every meal time.a visit to poco loco in the town is well worth a visit-bar where the staff entertain you.another must is the jeep safari AN EXCELLENT DAY OUT.give our love to kitty the tour guide and ivan the driver.BE PREPARED TO GET VERY VERY WET!!!!! also the excellent barbeque lunch halfway through the day was great.do go on the yacht trip a few characters on the yacht.so much to do and not enough time in a week --YOU MUST GO FOR TWO.PLENTY OF ENTERTAINMENT ON THE COMPLEX ,BUT DO EXPLORE THE TOWN.great people great beach great fun all in all a fantastic holiday.

WE WILL CERTAINLY BE GOING BACK TO BULGARIA

After reading some mixed reviews here about Bulgaria and Gergana Hotel itself, we were pleasantly surprised with both the country and our accommodation.

Gergana Hotel is lovely - clean, smart and with many facilities. The lobby bar is quite posh, and overlooks the natural forest/lagoon, and it's open 24hrs! There is another bar near the entrance to the restaurant, with very friendly staff and a pool table and TV. Finally there is the bar next to the pool, where you can order delicious and very cheap food, and sit in the shade or the sun by the pool. All bars have an extensive cocktail list and many other drinks too!

The decor of our room, like others have said, wasn't exactly modern, but in all other respects it was fine - clean and everything in good condition. We hadn't paid the extra £20 or so for a sea view room, so our balcony overlooked the carpark, so if you don't want this be sure to specify you want a sea-view room!

The staff in the hotel were a mixed bunch - many were lovely, but some, such as one barman in the lobby bar and a waitress in the pool bar were a bit surly and made you think you were waisting their time!! All staff, indeed all Bulgarians in the resort spoke good English so communication was rarely a problem.

With regards to the resort, I would say it's perfect for families - everywhere we went there were playgrounds on the beach, funfairs, and about every activity you could think of. There are lots of bars and restaurants in the main bit of the resort (which is a 10/15 min walk from the hotel, or a ride on the little train) but it isn't exactly lively - for a couple it's fine, but I wouldn't recommend it for groups of friends wanting a lively clubbing holiday!

The food is quite samey in all the restaurants - a lot of barbequed meats, pizzas, salads etc - there didn't seem to be the same variety of restaurants that you will find in resorts in Spain or Greece, probably because Albena is a relatively new resort.

There are many possible trips - do go to Varna and eat in a non-touristy restaurant - it is soooo cheap, and makes you realised that the prices you thought were cheap in the hotel are actually expensive for Bulgaria! A large beer in the hotel is roughly £1.30, whereas in Varna you can get one for about 70p. We had a cocktail each, lunch each and a Baileys coffee each and the whole bill came to about £8!!

Also we went to the Dolphinarium which was good fun, and definately a place to go if you have kids as there's a cafe, gift shop etc too. We also went on a yacht trip to a beach up the coast which was a great day.

A couple of things I would mention are firstly the weather - I had expected it (stupidly) to be as hot and dry as somewhere like Spain or Greece, and it definately is a different climate. Most of the time it was gorgeous weather - about 29/30 degrees and sunny, although on two mornings is rained torrentially from about 10.30-12.00 - although when the rain stopped it only took half an hour for the weather to be hot and sunny again. We also had one overcast day. However the weather was generally fantastic and isn't really a problem as there's so much to do - unless all you want to do is lie in the sun from morning to night!

The other thing is to watch out for people trying to rip you off. As nice as most of the people are, we found out that they (as most workers in Bulgaria) are on an incredibly low wage, and literally work from 9 in the morning til 12 at night, so they're probably trying to get a bit of extra money out of the tourists. Make sure you get the right change back - one waitress gave me change for a 20 leva note instead of the 50 I gave her. I pointed it out to her the minute she gave me 4 leva change instead of 34, but she point blank denied I gave her a 50. I knew I did and so did she but there was nothing I could do - so I would advise paying with lower denomination notes where possible. We were only out of pocket £12 or so, but I was really annoyed, especially as we had previously tipped her very generously!! Also the hotel charged up way too much on our mini bar bill, which we realised too late. So just be careful and question anything you don't think is right.

In summary I would definately reccommend Bulgaria and the Gergana Hotel. The food and drink is very cheap (although we still managed to spend £500 between us on one week! Probably the trips that bumped up the cost though) and the country is just beautiful - the beaches are golden and the forests and nature just gorgeous. For what we paid for it I was impressed.

We have just had our first holiday in Bulgaria and it was fantastic. This hotel is right on the beach and the hotel itself is really really nice. It's clean, bright, very reasonable in the restaurant and the bar. The evenings meals are well worth having for £4 an evening.

The resort is cheap, but most of the other resorts are cheaper, Balchick in particular is worth a visit, the market stalls are much cheaper than Albena. Good quality clothes and shoes really cheap. One warning, dont buy your cigarettes on the beach or anyone else selling them other than a shop, they are not the real thing. Once you are in the resorts, you cannot buy English ciggies anywhere, however a good substitute is Victory, they are just like ours. Your best bet is to buy your ciggies at your departure airport.

Try to use the Bulgarian eating places as they are so cheap, they may not look up to much, but they are great fun. The beach hut outside the Gergana is not as expensive as you may think, but if you have the Gergana to your back, turn right and walk up the beach, past the nudist beach and you will come to another beach hut, you must go in there, 4 of us had lunch, loads of beers and brandies, water and coffee etc and the bill come to 40 levs which is about £16 to us. Not each, but for all of us.

Avoid this hotel. We returned home last night and still have the runs and griping pains. Most people we spoke to had the same problem. The food was appalling. The cold food was not kept cold and the hot food...nothing was hot except the soup. Meat was uncooked but we discovered a microwave in the restaurant which we started using.

The staff on the whole were unfriendly and unhelpful. Some were down right arrogant, especially when they realised you were English. Only a few speak English.

No entertainment. Even the satellite TV was all German. I still have poxy German holiday tunes ringing through my head which the German entertainers were singing on the hour. Einz Vie Dry. Not enough seating in the bar area.

Despite it being written that it's a quiet resort...it was not. Noisy crowds all night every night. We had to buy ear plugs from the chemists. Don't forget to pack some.

The pool area was unsafe with crumbling concrete, missing tiles and loose rail fittings. My child got a few small cuts on her feet from the grit at the bottom of the pool. Packed with sun loungers and still not enough. Some days we went across the road to use the Ralitza pool which was much bigger, less crowded and the entertainers spoke English.

A couple of families we spoke to were robbed; from their room or around the pool. Bulgarian people work hard and get paid very small wages...approx £3 - £10 per day. Make sure you use the security box.

Be cautious about haggling. I tried to get the price down for goods which were slightly damaged and the seller almost shouted me out of the shop reminding me of Bulgarian rates of pay.

Albena resort was ok. Albena tends to be 3 times as expensive as anywhere else. Visit Nessebar if you can. Peter's House is good for food and the Banana Bar is very friendly. A good meal is about £3 - £10.

The sea is not shallow for any distance so gets very crowded. The beach is nice but couldn't find any showers. Beds and parasol about £2 each. The water park in the next resort was fun, but also crumbling and difficult to walk around because of slippery tiled floors. Extra charge for bed and parasol inside.

Take a horse and carriage ride but beware of the drivers trying to get you to pay more than you agreed. It's about £7 - £10. Taxis are well priced with return deals. Return to Varna was about £20.

I will not be going back and was not impressed or 'wowed' by any of it. You should have heard the cheers when the coach arrived to collect us. 2 weeks was painfully too long and we were bored to bits for the last 5 days or so...with sore bottoms too!

A very nice holiday! We were pleasantly surprised. The hotel was clean and had everything you'd want. Food was very nice, plenty of choices. The rooms were very small, but clean, and the showers were strong and hot. No baths, unfortunately. Staff are fantastic. I recommend giving a fat tip to your dinner waiter or bar waiter early on, because when we did we got treated like royalty ever after! These guys get paid peanuts, so please tip! Entertainment staff were incredibly funny and hard working, even though some of the shows were pretty silly. Very child friendly and all families seemed to be very happy at the hotel.

The resort itself is small and quiet, so the second week can get a bit boring. But there is a cheap and easy bus system on the resort, so we took some day trips to Varna, Dobrich, and Balchik, which I would highly recommend. It gives a better idea of the ";real"; Bulgaria, and the shopping is very cheap. Everything in Albena costs at least twice as much as anywhere else, because Albena is privately owned. It's still good value compared to prices at home, but once you've been outside and know what the real prices are, it is a bit annoying.

The people are fantastically friendly, polite, helpful, and laid-back. Most people have outstanding English, especially the younger generation.

Highly recommended to families and people looking for a relaxing getaway.

The weather was fantastic, too!

I too had heard bad things about this hotel, but I needent have bothered worrying. The hotel itself was fine not the most glitzy you can stay in but served its purpose it was literally the bedrooms only in this building. The restaurant was across the road, as was the pools and all other activities. The food varied and there was fresh meat cooked every day which varied each day. For the kids there was a kids corner which was pasta, chips, beans etc. Always had fresh salads and cheeses, fresh bread, massive selection of main courses and soups etc. Something for everyone.

The resort was packed with things to do, shooting range my 11 year old loved. Volley ball, tennis, football, pool, computers giving internet access. Shops. An excellent stall which did pencil portraites well recommended. I would recommend people change their money in the hotel we had a 2.73 exchange rate whereas at home it was 2.54. Staff were friendly but not too English speaking, it mostly catered for the germans they were fluent in German as were the shops on the main street. There is mini golf to do in Albena, lots of shops, a train stops outside the hotel about every 20 mins which is cheap to go into the main street. Shopping is cheap, and as for the ladies of the night, I didnt see one!!
you wont be disappointed with your holiday, something for everyone.

this is the 2nd time we have visited albena, the resort itself is superb, very clean, very friendly and safe for children. it is very cheap to eat out at night, the food at peter's place is superb value for money, they do great steaks and the staff very friendly.

This time when we went, we stayed at the albena beach club, big mistake! it was all inclusive, but the service for this was rubbish, although breakfast was very good, the staff that clean the tables were not very friendly, they had a job to smile let alone say good morning! the pool that we shared with the next hotel was lovely, watch out for the deep step into the water, especialy if you have young ones, as this step is not sign posted, it would give a little one quite a fright. as for the all inlcusive, we checked out the area for day time snacks, and felt we were back in the school dinner hall, and the food being worse than I can remember at school! we never went back there again! we never went into the dining room for our ening meals, it was just too hectic, people running all over the place andkids screaming, I spoke to one lady and she told me twice her chicken was pink in the middle, that was enough for us not to eat there!

our room although very big for 2 people had so much wrong with it, our shower broke 3 times and it got embarrassing to keep asking them to fix it, which they did each time by just hanging it back on the wall! our balcony door did not lock, not good when you are on the first floor! the maid servce was every day, but when they changed our sheets, they replaced them, with sheets with stains on them, also our air con leaked.

the all inclusive drinks part?, you could only have local beer in paper cups, if you wanted spirits you were limited to which ones, vodka was ok, no local brand whiskey or white rum, so you had to pay for those. you were limited to only having 2 drinks at a time, not good when you are in a party of 6! breakfast was served from 730am. for those early risers, there is no where to get a cuppa before this time, once the resturaunt closes at 1030am the pool side bar will serve you tea and coffee, but not a minute before! they stick to times, like being in the army!

if you smoke? buy your cigs before you go to bulgaria, in the some of the shops they will tell you they can get english cigs but they are fake, and complete waste of money! one day we walked along the beach to the right of the hotel,past the nudist beach and there are a few bars and cafes up there, we ate there twice and it was even cheaper than in the resort, I never thought it could get any cheaper! just along from our hotel, heading toward the market is a bar called caribi, it is owned by zack, we met him when he was a waiter in a hotel we stayed in before, and now he has his own bar! he is very nice and will ask you what you want from your holiday and will guide you on where to go, he also changes money at a good rate, the hotels change money too, but no as good as the rates in the bars.

A lot of the toilets are not too clean and you normaly are expected to leave some small change after, make sure you carry tissues with you!

to sum our holiday up, while not in the hotel, we had a fantastic time, albena is superb, the beach is the nicest I have seen in europe, the weather was great, people friendly, and the food scrummy.I would not advice anyone to stay at the albena beach club, but would say go to albena, the whole resort is wonderful.