Elenite Village Reviews

Having read the other reviews before holidaying, we were quite anxious as to what we would be experiencing - definitely no need to have worried!! The villas were spotless, the reviews are correct, there are mops everywhere and they are constantly cleaning!! We were situated 2 minutes away from the beach, great for dragging our £4 lilos to! The food was quite limited and was quite often lukewarm, there are microwaves to use if you prefer but we discovered the Royal Park Hotel which is much, much better, cleaner (if that's possible)much more choice in food and piping hot most of the time. Apparently an English Chef has been shipped in and has made a huge difference. The entertainment is pretty dismal, okay if you have kids but not much for adults. We spent most nights in ";The Pub"; in the Royal Park which is fabulous and full of atmosphere. You could however spend your night going on a ";pub crawl"; on the complex as various venues close at various times.

There does appear to be a slight problem with wasps on the beach and around the Nessebar restaurant.

Two musts are trips to Sunny Beach and Nessebar, two completely different places but both well worth visiting. Sunny Beach is a 40p bus ride from the village and is very much like Blackpool, Nessebar Old Town is very quaint with lots of shops and side streets, again it's a 20p bus ride from Sunny Beach. The local bus and taxi services are in abundance, it is very easy to get about, do not waste your money on organised trips.

We would definitely go to Bulgaria again and would go to Elenite but probably book in the Royal Park. The ";Holidays from Hell"; programme shown recently must have been an old version because it is definitely the better of the 3 venues in Elenite.

Bargains to be had are sandals at £3 per pair, jewellery and alcohol! Food is very, very cheap, we had a 12oz steak with all the trimmings, starters and drinks at a total of approximately £15! Tropicana is well recommended at Sunny Beach, head up the main straight from the bus and it's on the beach front.

Weather was lovely, in the 80s the first week, 75 ish the second week. It tends to cloud over approximately 4pm and goes quite chilly in the evenings. We had 2 storms in the night and 2 cloudy days. Ideal for hopping on a bus and getting about!

Not much else to be said apart from don't worry, you will enjoy your stay and love Bulgaria!

Well only one thing to say...
This Hotel is a holiday nightmare waiting to happen.. to be honest i carnt believe its still on the market!!!!!
As me and my partner stayed here in august there were building sites everywhere especially from our balcony fantastic view of bulgarian men working and shouting god nows what in gibble le goo!
This hotel i would not wish on my worst enemy!

Beds are hard and dirty!
Our room was filled with green moss up the skirting board and the reception did nothing at all not even move us Plain arrongant!!!

PLEASE DONT GO TO THIS HOTEL YOU WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IF YOU DO!! I WOULDNT RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE AT ALL!!! IT SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN FOR GOOD!!!!!!

How i never saw Jason King and Austin Powers on this holiday i dont know as we were locked in a 1970's pyschadelic timewarp for 7 days.

We were greeted on the coach at the airport by the area manager for Thomsons, who told us our rep would be joining us shortly, we set off for our destination only to turn around after halfway (at 3am) so the area manager could retrieve her bag from the coach. Arrived and checked in fine. (2nd checked in), made our way to our accomadation and found our chalet by accident (Yes we were in 70's Butlins) due to the poorly lit signs and numbers. Accomadation was clean but also very basic, (only bbc news on the tv, but fine if you are German), on the morning of checkout however, we noticed people handing remotes in with money, so possible movie channels could be available, check at reception, the rep didnt say out.

Positives:
The Sunshine Restaurant - hidden gem, if you want a cup, spoon fork and knife and no queing, thats the place to be. The whole time we were there no more than 9 people ate breakfast in the Sunshine. Why it wasn't explained at the Welcome meeting that we could use this eatery is beyond us? However i wouldnt encourage use of this for an evening meal as it is only a luke-walm meal. Use the Sozapol for this time, as the food and service is excellent (but you have to start phoning at 9o clock and perservear to get a place)

70's disco/cinema: Ok if you're not sitting under the Chinese water torture system (this is the musky smell and the damp that dripped from the roof), you can get a drink from 22:00 - 00:00, which was nice (Austin Powers!). Downside to this, is that i dont think they believe in glasswear, (unless your in the restaurant), at the hotel because they're cheapskates. Unless you have impressionable children, entertainment is non-exsistant, after your evening meal what can you do? the answer is not much, infact nothing!

Cleaning staff great, the rest of them are miserable. Why do cleaners find the need to sit in toilets four at a time? Why does every allinclusive food stand shut a lot earlier than said in broucher (half an hour wait for pizza due to ";lack of dough";)
Why can Elenite Village residents not be allowed to go into Royal Park (restaurant and pub) but Royal Park can use all Elenite Village amienties and cause congestion. i.e. main restaurant - waiting for tables, no crockery.
When it rains walk to Sunny beach (it took 1 and a 1/2 hours), you will not get a bus!
There is one every hour to hour and a half.

The taxis (£6 there) arent there when its raining. They will try and make the fair more expensive after the rain has come i.e. 20 levs instead of 15levs. Our advice - walk-away and they'll come running. 1st choice reps are everywhere, thomsons did a Lord Lucan and where only interested in making money by selling excursions. Sunny Beach was good, Eliente was poor and remote. IF YOUVE BOOKED CANCEL, if you can't take money for Taxis and overpriced Macdonald's meals.
If you want to go to Bulgaria, i suggest you dont!!!!

Only go here if you like dirty beaches, miserable reps and staff, queing for your food and being left to get your own way back to the airport because your transport has not been arranged by your tour operator!!
If you do go to this resort DON'T go with Balken holidays and make sure you stay in the NEW monstrosity of a hotel thats just been built so you have access to and can use the facilites in the whole of the site. If you stay in the village appartments you will be restricted and resentfull!
Also if you take a taxi anywhere be warned you may not want to have a return journey!

However the weather is very good and the sea is warm and we never had any problem getting sun loungers. The apartments cleaning standards are very good and as its all inclusive you never have to worry about your food and drink.

Beware of all the counterfeit goods on sale and dodgy tobacco.
ohh one other thing the don't expect any great welcome of which you will get your first taster when encountering the customs officals on you arrival in the country.
Happy holidays!!!

Having been on quite a few all inclusive deals, I would like to think I can give an honest opinion of the holiday for you to judge.

Flight and transfer, no problem, first choice have it well organised. The resort is on big village with two hotels at each end, with appartments in the middle. Going in July, there were thousands there and you have to get use to the crowds, 50/50 Brits and Germans.

Accomodation was basic but OK, but we were 156 steps from the beach, so after a few days, your legs were feeling tired (especially if you make the trip 4 or 5 times a day). The resort looks tatty with many hazards to avoid due to lack of maintenance and the grounds maintenance was poor (even the weeds had died!). Food was Ok at times and we tended to eat well when there was a good meal, thinking tomorrow would be poor. Higene was terrible, glasses, plates and cutlery not being washed properly and many marks were evident. Drinks are in abundence and a large Brandy was a LARGE BRANDY!, so it was easy to forget about the problems around you.

Entertainment was very good especially from the First Choice reps, unfortunatley if you watched their outdoor show, you had to get use to the smell of sewers from the local drains. Had loads of power cuts in bad weather and the phones went down for 4 days at one time (by the way, no payphones). One inportant point, if you do have a phone bill to pay (from the phone in your room) beware, the hotel only accepts CASH, no plastic, as we found out on the last day (no one tells you this).

Beach is lovely, but buisy and the sea is great. Pools are very buisy and tend to to get overcrowded (3 in all including a kiddies pool). There are a few shops to buy essentials and gifts (Vodka being about £3 a litre!) and stalls that sell other novalties. If you are unlucky to bump into one of the large snakes (as we were), we were told they are not poisonous (but they would say that, so beware), other creepy crawlies were tollerable, (few small lizards, snakes and the odd fly, no mozzies). In all, we tried to make the most of a resort that we feel needs a good refurbishment and hygene and health and saftey is not very good.

Would we go back, definatley not until the resort is brought upto standard and I am suprised that first choice and thompson had included it in their brochures. We did hear of many complaints from other guests regarding other issues, but we can only comment on our own experience. The choice is yours, its cheap, but we felt we were getting a poor deal for our holiday and we have all come back with 'dicky tummies'!

Firstly the good points, The Holiday village is in a beautiful setting at the foot of the Balkan mountains right on the sea front. Very picturesque and green. The beach was nice and the sea was warm and very safe for our 7 year old son. Watch out for the dodgy pier which is rusty and has rusty nails sticking out. The resort is on a hillside so its not recommended for people with mobility dificulties unless you can get on the ground floor. Elenite is situated on its own and is very peaceful. We liked being out of the main resort of Sunny Beach which is on its way to becoming a sunny blackpool! But there are some nice restaurants if you fancy a change.

When arriving at Elenite at 2am our check in was very quick and a porter took our bags to our apartment which on first impressions looked ok, very spacious, clean bathroom nice terrace, however the bed which was for our son was an old single sofa bed which was rock hard. The cleaners seem to be the happiest people working at elenite always smiled and said good morning but the rest of the staff were very miserable.

There are 4 pools on the complex but i wouldn't even go in 3 of them as they had seen better days they were very merky and not kept very well. The one at The Royal Park was the cleanest but very very cold.

The food was horrendous, we have a fussy child and there was nothing for him apart from toast, ice creams, fizzy pop and chips which he actually enjoyed. As for us we will eat or try anything but it was like a school cantine, soggy dodgy food so much so at the beginnig of our second week i had food poisoning for which i needed medical treatment in the form of an injection and 4 different types of tablets which cost us £100. The doctor advised me not to eat anything apart from bread and lemon tea.
We had numerous items pinched from our terrace.
The tiled floors were very slippy i actually slipped and fell down the stairs going to the restaurant.

The first choice reps were ok but they didn't seem to know alot they seemed stressed as the complaints poured in.

I can recommend Khan's Tent excursion very good, and also the reps night was good, Nessebar is a good place to visit and also if you don't mind walking and like secluded little beaches with crystal clear waters if you go past the Royal bay hotel along the beach it gets rocky follow the peninsula round for about an hour and a half past a derelict house you eventually come to a lovely little beach, but take a picnic and some water.

All in all our holiday at Elenite was the worst we have been on and we are usually pretty easy going we travel about 4 or 5 times a year. I would definitely like to go back to bulgaria but not elenite or sunny beach.

Oh the weather was fantastic above 30 most days.

Where do I start. The setting for this holiday village is very beautiful. It makes for a relaxing and peaceful holiday. It is a pity that the management are not interested in whether or not you enjoy your holiday. The non existent respect for customers means that if you do have a problem within the village then you are treated with contempt.

The food was not very good in Elenite and whilst the restaurant looks good it is a school dinner hall in disguise. It would be unfair to say that food was not edible as their was always fresh fruit and salads available. If I had any food problems I would always ask one of the managers to help, they didn't like it much but at least it gave them some work to do. I found it hard to get chips which made it hard for one of the kids we travelled with.

Health and Safety is far from UK expectations. High Chairs have no straps and are large so no good for kids under 2. Staff like to mop a lot and often at busy times so beware of slippery tiles. Staff do put hot food on top of cold. Beware that on the beach the Banana boat man can drive a bit wrecklessly. Sit away from this area as I witnessed two people injured in the space of a week, one was sent to hospital.

Elenite has lots of steps and is nowhere near being accessible. Thomson Holidays failed to offer advise to us about this. If you are using a wheelchair or travelling with a buggy I would seriously consider changing destinations unless you are willling to deal with the stairs (30 or so minimum) several times per day as they are the only way to access the main amenities.

The Animation hall is a fire trap and looks very 1970's, although the sunday night show is a must if you have young children.

The all inclusive is rubbish, beer is served in small beakers only, spirits and other drinks are only served in some of the bars. YOU CAN NOT BY FOOD OR DRINK ANYWHERE IN THE VILLAGE AND CAN ONLY HAVE WHAT THEY ARE SERVING.

Our room was good and cleaner excellent, we did not experience any crime and felt very safe at all times.

And when you visit Sunny Beach....eat Sach at the Old House Restaurant - Fantastic.

As I have explained our holiday was far from perfect, we did manage to rise above the problems and make the best it. it would be unlikely for us to return to Elenite. Wonder also whether all inclusive is for us. Bulgaria is cheap and cheerful but even in Sunny Beach in the more expensive restaurants I thought food was not as good as other european countries. As they say ";You get what you pay for"; so be prepared.

We have just arrived back from our holiday at the Elinite Holiday Village and after reading comments were rather worried but can truthfully say our holiday was great.

We had a room on the ground floor right opposite the quiet end of the beach. This was basic but the bunk beds for the children were safe and the room was kept clean everyday ( with all our clothes being neatly folded for us!). We found the majority of the staff friendly, chatty and smiley especially the Animation Crew.

The reception staff were overworked and this reflected in their less helpful attitude.

The beach is lovely, again cleaned every night, with plenty of sunbeds and parasols. The water was clear and safe for the children.

The main restaurant is busy but we found a table easily everytime we went and found the food was good. We have two children who ate very well. Breakfast was good (may not be English bacon but you are in Bulgaria), eggs (fried,hard boiled),sausages, tomatoes, plenty of hams/cheeses/salad, fruit, rolls, toast. Lunch again salads,soup, rolls,chips/smiley faces,fish fingers, chicken pieces to name a few. Dinner usually had two choices of meat, chicken and either pork or beef. Potato either mashed, chips, rice and veg carrots, sweetcorn and even brussel sprouts one night.

You can book the Talyiana restaurant( no charge) and this is nice as it is less crowded the food is BBQ and the setting has nice views over the sea.

Aqua Park is a must the day is great fun for all the family with big slides for adults and plenty for the kids too.Approx £9 adult and £4 for kids.

The Animation Team organise events during the day beach volleyball is well organised and the air rifle too. T Shirt painting is every thursday which you do have to pay for the t shirt.They also organise activities on the beach and all of them DO speak excellent English.

They also organise a show for the kids to take part in on a sunday you drop them off at 7pm they get face painted,dressed up, tattoos and play games at 8pm they perform the games in 2 teams Pirates one week and Ninja Fighters the next.The kids had a ball and have talked about it non stop. You do have to pay £8 per child and they get prizes for taking part and a good way for them to make friends but it is really worth it and you get a meal on your own too!!

The Animation Team also perform a show everynight ( except mon and Sat is bingo night). These are very professional, great choreography, and they all looked like they were enjoying themselves. Grease night and Out of this Space were excellent..

The pools tend to be chilly but we rarely used them as we prefer the beach.

On occasion cutlery/plates had run out but if you asked a member of staff they quickly got them and they were always clean.

We appreciate we had a ground floor but heard several people making comments on all the steps but it clearly states this in the brochure. Also several people made comments about the satallite TV but frankly we did not turn it on.

Lazy Days Cruise is a good half day out from Nessebar on a yacht stopping to fish( champagne for the first catch),a water fight with two other yachts and a swim diving from the boat.A nice lunch is served on the boat and the staff were friendly and spoke English and took a nice interest in the kids and made sure they had a good time.We even saw some dolphins jumping out of the sea in front of one of the boats something we all enjoyed.

Khans Tent is a good night out food, plenty to drink, acts ( fire eaters, acrobats,dancers, plate spinners etc) and dancing to live band and disco.

We would recommend it to friends/family for the future.

I have just come back from a holiday from hell,we arrived at the village at 3.00am on collecting our keys we were told to wait outside for the bell boy an hour and half later we were finally shown to our rooms bearing in mind we had 7 children under the age of 11.

The patio outside our room was a patch of crumbling concrete and on entering was a stench of damp and sewage.The room didn't have enough cupboard space for two people let alone four and we had only been left two stained towels for three people.
The staff at the village were mainly very rude and unhelpfull,when ever we asked for someything we got an aggressive and angry response and were made to feel very unwelcome.

Overall the village was filthy,we often saw rats running across the patio's and roof tops,on one occasion staff were putting rat poison down in the beach bar and then later the same day closed up leaving bread for hotdogs stacked in baskets on the floor.The bread rolls were served the next day.The resteraunts were dirty with bird droppings on table cloths,dirty cutlery,uncovered food.

The free pedalows advertised were all broken and all other watersports had to be paid for.The swimming pools were dangerous as you could'nt see the bottom of them,and the areas around the pools were dirty and stank of sewage from the drains,the only table tennis table on the resort had no net.

we all had bad stomaches during our stay ,probably due to the lack of hygene in the resort.
with the endless problems with this resort and not enough money to get a flight home I decided to drown my sorrows on the local beer!but yes ,you've guessed it! the beer tasted like the contents of a dogs bladder and had little or no alcohol in it.
I feel that it is my duity to let people know how cr*p this place really is,I feel that my family and I have been robbed of the $2000 we paid for two weeks of hell.

Please do not waste your time or money on this resort once they got you money they couldn't careless, I will never revist even in 10 years time I should of gone to Spain.

We where put in the Elenite Holiday Village after First Choice pulled out of the Russalka Elite (still dont know why). We explained that my Mother had difficulty in walking but we still ended up in the highest ";villa"; away from the sea. Villa's or should I say rooms are supposed to sleep two adults and two children or a combination of this, we struggled with our two babies (5 and 2) and our 14 year old lucky got her own room. The rest of the family had to suffer with 2 adults and 3 children as we where told there was no ";family rooms"; even though we had booked these with Russalka.
We suffered with a number of thunder storms whilst there and if this happens to you my advise is make sure you clear the floor as the room ended up being flooded within 5 minutes.

Would we go back again.... never!!
All the children have been ill some on the flight home and my 2 year old is still suffering 2 days later.

Rooms basic and not very clean. Poor maintenance to exterior of rooms.

Restaurant is poorly managed and you have to queue for cups, crockery etc and then queue for food.

Very limited choice of meals and snacks with most meals being of poor standard.

Snacks are OK if you don't mind eating cold hot dogs, pizzas or bacon sandwiches.

Beach clean and safe for children.

To get to nearest resort (Sunny Beach) need to use taxis at a cost of 15lev each way, or take the bus.

Do not think that the hotel warrants a 3* rating due to food.

Would not go back.

Returned from this resort 10/06/04,firstly the good points, The Bulgarian 'Animation' nightly entertainment is excellent, Donkey Safari not bad for Kids,a night at Khans Tent brilliant,and well worth the money, nearby Sunny Beach is a real eye opener, bus service to there is quite good at only 1.5 levs each way per person,whereas the taxi will cost you 30 levs return, merchandise is real cheap,and fags are only 1.6 levs (about 52p)for 20. But be warned Sunny Beach is like on big Building site now as according to the guide they are building around 30 - 40 hotels per year.

Now the down side, this resort has a loads of steps which are unavoidable and is not suitable if you have young children in pushchairs.Watch out for the birds has they get every where even in the restaurant,and are excellent shots when it comes to relieving themselves while passing over your table !!! If you want a half decent meal go to the 'Sozopol' restaurant (you have to book a table at night) , but at least the food is edible and the service pleasant.

Also do not expect to get a room if you have a late checkout,as no matter what they say the day before ,trust me come the day of leaving there won't be one available.Rooms are very basic and the TV is all in either German or Bulgarian.

While we were there we seldom saw a first choice entertainer during the day and there is b*gger all else to do, as for the first choice nightly entertainment it was a JOKE,how embarrasing compared to the Bulgarians ,it was more like a very bad Butlins than Bulgaria,I have had more fun at the dentists, and when they try to sing ,boy could they clear a room, it was appalling so much so that we were going to bed at 10.30 if we knew they were on.

The food was improving while we were there but there is very little in the way of variety, not unless you like 'Smash' and 'Smiley faces'. One last word of warning , they do keep the place clean by incesantly mopping the tile floors, which then make them exceedingly dangerous and while we were there we saw loads slipping and falling over , it is only by luck that no-one has broken anything yet.

The burning question is would I return , not a chance, once experienced never forgotten and We do not make the same mistake twice

Well this has been my 3rd all inclusive hoilday and by far the best. The food was great, had all variety for everyone. the first choice entertainment team were entertaining, but the best part of my holiday was the childrens club, both my children went to every session and were thrilled by the kids reps, silli-billi, jumping jules. trendy tracy, jellyfish jennie, crazy kelly and exciting emma. nothing was too much troublem for them and the mini disoc was spot on.

i will be coming back next year

No facilities whatsoever for young children (under 3's) No changing facilities at all. No signs for fire escape in animation building (kids club). Shortage (or non existance) of crockery, cups, cutlery, etc. in dining hall. Regularly no coffee, tea, hot water in dining hall. Queueing for up to 20 minutes for meals and at bars. Food tasteless/bland and repetative (hope you like chicken and pork). Staff appear to be under pressure and a smile would not go amiss. Beach very dangerous in parts - metal spikes sticking out of sand and electric wires on sand from building of new hotel. Nowhere to sit and chat to friends etc. in an evening, especially after 10 p.m. Paths and walkways unlit and uneven making it very dangerous to walk after dark. Fridges stacked two high outside our room for over a week awaiting removal. Only two of the four restaurants open during our first week. No entertainment other than in animation building which is, in our opinion a fire trap. The site is built on different levels all connected by steps which make it extremely difficult for anyone with a pram or pushchair. Not allowed to play on grassed areas. Adjoining hotel supposed to be finished in early May - builders working 24/7 all the time we were there (up to 12th June 2004) Travel agent informed us it was illegal to do building works after 1st June!! Room small (cramped with 2 adults and child) but clean. Satellite T.V. advertised but only BBC World News in English. Cots for babies only 18 ins. high. Swimming pools (3) all clean and very well supervised by lifeguards during the advertised opening times. Will not return to this resort but loved Bulgaria and Bulgarians.

arrived at 1 am we were shown to our apartment which should have been second storey with sea view and was ground floor and view of a tree, we opened the door and the smell hit us damp musky mouldy smell we turned on the lights the room walls were black with damp, the beds were damp there was only 1 window to open and that was the bathroom window. The next morning we toddled off to complain no rooms available we were told, ok i will bring my case and sleep here in reception i told the rude and unhelpful staff,later on that day after numerous complaints they moved us.

the food was b****y awful for all inclusive the impression i got was they wanted you to eat out and drink out so you were'nt having what you had already paid for.as for location, if you dont mind being 5 miles from civilization you'll love it.

entertainment was absolutely diabbolical the good thing was it was only on between 21.00 and 21.30.i beleive this resort is 10 years behind turkey who in turn are 10 years behind spain and greece but what the heck done it now never to return.