Hotel Gergana Beach Reviews

Well where to start. What a joke!!!

We decided to get a safe straight away as we had all cash due to being told the exchange rate was poor. 1st mistake because our safe was broken into within a few hours of having it, mobile phones, psp, £700 cash and digital camera amongst other smaller items. The police, staff and rep made this experience even worse due to their lack of empathy and cluelessness. Rep refused to translate our police documents when we finally received them a week later, and once we arived home we discovered she had failed to inform the police of several smaller items that were also in the safe. Were told we had to get money sent over from home and although my nan transferred £800 immediately we only received £200 a day later and the other £600 a week later!!!!!! Had to get up every day at 8 to fill in forms and were put up to all inclusive. We booked b and b due to the fact we didn't want all inclusive! Apparently though this was satisfactory compensation.

We had to go to the next hotel the Albena Beach Club to eat and just read the other reviews to back me up the food was inedible and cold and the smell made us retch, also no choice of drinks. This is only half of our fantastic holiday, and we were offered £50 compensation, tut tut, a visit to the solicitors I think!
For food Poco Loco is excellent, that was the only good thing...
Don't go!!!

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 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!

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.

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.

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 returned from holiday at the Gregana.

It was a very clean hotel and the fooD was excellent. The only downside was that it was for us a bit to far out of the main part of the resort. We had to take the little train.It cost 2 lev each for one way ticket. So we could have bought the train by the end of the holiday. We also felt that the bars etc all closed quite early 123 at the latest . The Irish bar does good food and generous measures of Bulgarian brandy.Jerry and Bobby the waiters always made you feel welcome.

If you are changing money in the hotel go and see the evening cash girl Romannio (ITHINK THAT IS HOW YOU SAY IT)she is very helpfull unlike the younger girl during the day who is very surly and will only take english notes if they are in tip top condition! and will change from dealing with you if someone who is other than English comes to the desk.

If you are travelling with First choice my advice would be if you have avery early flight home try to prebook a late checkout at time of bookingyour holiday, as the hotel dont want to know once you have checked out. WE were not being picked up to fly home until 1 am but had to leave our room by 12 noon the previous day, YES 13 hours without accomodation. Yet our room was still empty when we left.After much complaining we got a them to provide a courtesy room so that people could freshen up.

First time to Bulgaria. Didn't know what to expect. Upon arriving at Varna airport we wondered what we had let ourselves in for. The arrival lounge is what you would expect for Eastern Europe - drab and small and cramped. Watch out for the sign showing the time and temperature. There is also a reading for the current radiation level [normal when we were there].

Albena was a good resort specially created for the tourists. Long stretch of sandy beach and sea was warm with not too much of a tide. Plenty of sunbeds and umbrellas [fee for hire] or lay on the sand - you can purchase lilos there.
Hotel Gergana is at one end of the beach and is fairly quiet and secluded. Good pool which leads onto the beach so excellent position.

Rooms were good, two single beds and a set of bunk beds, with a small settee and coffee table. Mini Bar and TV with only one english TV program - BBC World [News].

There was a mix of staff, some very helpful, others a bit miserable. Food was very good, plenty of choice, usual buffet style food. The soups were especially good. Hotel caters for mostly German and British tourists.
The resort of Albena - There is a noddy train that takes you into the centre for 2 levs each or 3 levs return [approx 80p to £1.00] but for the return journey you can only return on the bus you went on so be careful. Taxi ride was 5 levs before 10pm and 10 levs after 10pm. There were four in our party so it was cheaper to go by taxi!
Only saw a couple of 'butterflys' [ladies of the night] and were told to beware of pickpockets but no trouble from that quarter.

Recommended places to eat and go for entertainment in Albena - Tropical Cafe to see Elvis performing in the evening. Poco Loco was the best - a small group performing but in between the waiters and waitresses entertained with dance [breakdancing, ballroom, modern] excellent night out. We had a job to spend our levs. Drink for 4 people for the whole evening came to about £15 with a generous tip!
Went on an excursion [£31 each] to 'Picturesque Bulgaria' - had excellent guide, went to prtified forest, bee farm, donkey ride, wine tasting, pottery demonstration, folk music and dancing and a meal with a local family in their home. Don't miss it!

Also went to the city of Varna [Taxi for 4 people return was 65 levs] Varna is the third biggest city but is quite run down [buildings and roads] but people were friendly, the young people were good looking, not many fat people there. Go to the the restaraunt where the locals eat we had a good meal with plenty of choice for about £2 each.
First Choice holiday rep was not very good, bit of a misery and not very friendly [makes you wonder why they take a job working with people!]

So in conclusion we had a good holiday in Bulgaria but would I go again? No I don't think so. It was a good holiday but nothing special! Be sure to spend all of your levs before going to the airport on the return jouney as they will only take euros [not even in Europe yet] in the duty free shop.

After reading different reports on the Hotel/Resort we were not sure what to expect, thankfully we were very pleasantly surprised. Our hotel was very clean and it's location at the end of the resort,was fairly quiet although it was only a 10min walk to the centre of Albena or you could take the 'noddy train' for a couple of Levs, these ran from early to very late. The couple of requests we made were dealt with by the hotel staff eg extra pillows.

The food was excellent and catered for all tastes - Breakfast - continental meats/cheeses, cooked eggs, bacon, sausages, eggy bread, beans etc), croissants/pain au chocolate (all warm and cooked freshly) fresh fruit, yoghurt, cerals sand lots of breads/rolls butters and jams and fresh pancakes cooked to order. Dinner - Soups, Salads, cold meats/cheeses,pasta/noodles,fish - each night had a choice of about 3/4 meats chicken/ pork/ gammon/ veal/ beef/ turkey etc)and a carved meat, veg, potatoes (various) , sauces, breads, about 12 deserts (incl ice cream)and fresh fruit, cheese crackers. There was also a childrens section just incase they didn't like the adult choices eg meatballs, chicken nuggets, chips etc. sausages etc. Eating out was also excellent and very cheap most restaurants/hotels had entainment too - try The Old Oak and Pocoloco.

The hotel staff were friendly and the Animation team worked nonstop (entertainment staff). The beach was very clean and safe for children (cleaned each day) and the hotel pool which the children and parents loved, kept very clean (lifeguards on patrol for both),the pool bar served excellent Pizzas. The rooms were kept spotlessly clean although could do with a bit of up dating but comfortable non the less and had air conditioning and mini bar. Albena was very nice, a long promenade ran along the front with restaurants/bars, gift shops, water sports, childrens entertainments (trampolines, water boats,etc) fruit shops etc. Albena town had lots of the above too and many craft stalls and shops, discos etc.

The resort felt very safe and had security posts at the entrance to stop all unwanted guests. Lots of places to visit nearby/far on excursions and reasonably priced (pirate cruise /Varna / dolphinarium/jeep safari/ Romania/ Balcik/ Bulgarian villages/Sunny Beach/Golden Sands/Nessenbar etc)- try to get outside the resort at least once and see the real Bulgaria. Buses are very cheap although sometimes unreliable and taxis very reasonable (although do set a price before you go).

All in all an excellent choice for a family - we'd return again. If you want a much livelier holiday try Sunny Beach or Golden Sands.

Just back from 2 weeks in Gergana, first impressions were, oh its far from the center of the resort, wrong it is perfectly situated, not to close but about 10 minutes walk or you can take the noddy train,(about 30p), The hotel is clean, and if you go to the restaurant is works out at 45levs for a family of 3 with drinks. thats about £16.00 , great value.The only downside to the hotel is that it caters mostly for Germans, not ready for Brits yet! Entertainment at night was awful, all miming to songs every night, just different titles.BUT DONT FRET just walk to the Staria Dub or the Raj restaurants for a drink(Very Cheap) and the entertainment is fantastic... ALTHOUGH for the best night go to POCO LOCO , the waiter/ress dance,sing and serve, they are very talented, and food is WOW!
The Bulgarian People are very talented and I cannot recomment enough that you take a photo of your children with you , or they can take one,they do beautiful portraits, we got one done for £45.00 sterling with a frame!! Carictures are great too...
DO NOT PACK MANY CLOTHES AS THEY ARE SO CHEAP!! especially the shoes.

OH MAJOR TIP.... Go out of the back of the hotel and turn right , go past the nudist beach and you will find Greaveno town on the right after about 15 mins walk, very cheap, 3 chickenand chips, 2 beers, 2 cokes and 2 hot chocolates and the price only about £7.00 !(water sports cheaper here also)

AS FOR TOURS, SAVE LOTS OF MONEY AND BOOK THROUGH WILLIAM , HES ON THE NUDIST BEACH
WE DONE 4 TOURS FOR HALF THE PRICE OF THE REPS.. SAY HELLO TO HIM FROM US, (GUINNESS AND MURPHYS) LOTS OF PEOPLE AT THE HOTEL WENT THROUGH HIM.(JEEP SAFARI) (DOLPHINS)etc. bye, enjoy Albena.

just had two great weeks at the hotel gergana albena

the resort is very clean lots to do, great bars lots of places to eat shopping, well ladies lots of good quality copys. but the best place for shopping is a place call dobric hafl the price of albena its very run down but its alot safer than varna and they leave you alone to have a good look round unlike the shops in albena they made you feel hemmed in .

the beaches in albena are safe and clean they cleaned the beach every day . the airport is like a black and white cold war film, and the roads are interesting! hire a car and see the country side its beautiful.

the animation team at the hotel are fantasic the shows are great lots to do during the day or just relax by the pool, cold at first but ok once you get in .the rooms are small abit tatty but very clean and the showers are hot and very powerful. our rooms were at the front of the hotel we had a veiw of the river, theres lots to see frogs, snakes, birds, terpins.

the food is good on the hole hot and plenty of it and the soups are bril when we go again we will get an apartment we had a look at them they large with two balconys and a lounge we never go back to the same place but iam booking again the poeple are great one word of warning if you see a tolet in the woods stay away and always carry a tolet roll

Fantastic Holiday, i went on my own with my two children, they thoughly enjoyed themselves, so did i.
Hotel was great, food was average. entertainment was good for the kids, lots of activities during the day, entertainers were fantasic.

Hotel was situated on the beach, would recommend that you opt for sea views as i went in june and it was the mating season for frogs, didn't bother me too much as i got used to the noise.

Town was about 10 Minutes away by noddy train, quite alot to do there, all different shops, a few restarants, be careful guys, you will be approached by prostitutes.

We also took a trip to the aquapark in which is 40 levs in a taxi.

Overall fantastic, very friendly people, met loads of friends, hotel staff were great. Also weather was great.

Would go back there again.