Hotel Riu Helios Bay Reviews

We spent two weeks at this hotel and after the second day we asked our rep to transfer us to Sunny Beach not because of the hotel, that was fine (apart from the amount of Germans) But the entertainment was absolutely rubbish and there was nothing in the village of Obzor. So instead of paying extra money to be transferred we went to Sunny Beach quite a few times by taxi just to relieve the boredom!!!!! The hotel was excellent and thank god we didn't get any stomach bugs but we were so bored. One week would have been ample, there is nothing to do in Obzor. Go there if all you want to do is lie on the beach or by the pool but dont expect much more.

Impressive looking hotel( when we eventually got there after waiting over one hour for luggage to start appearing) as you would expect from Riu.

Room good, appeared clean, although I suspect bleach and other strong cleaning solutions aren`t used. Hotel staff very helpful and friendly. Food in the restaurant appeared to be good with excellent choice.(I wasn`t able to eat much of it) Entertainment was extremely poor I expected more from a 4 * Riu the girl going around the pool saying ping pong got on our nerves and that was about the best they could come up with. Entertainment in the evening was diabolical.

The hotel position on the beach was good the resort had little to offer shops were non existant trading was done from huts/shacks/caravans!!! Most people were totally bored and many said they couldn`t wait to get home especially those of us who had been ill and believe me there were a lot of us -I would estimate 70% guests had a Gastro Enteritis type illness I was in bed ill on my 3rd day and a week after returning home still don`t feel well. Many guests were on drips and treated with antibiotics by the two resident doctors at the hotel, the hotel also had it`s own nurses.

We were told by the Thomson rep at the welcome meeting that there was illness in the hotel !! I asked why when Thomson are aware that people have been ill since this hotel opened last year are they still taking people out there. It is totally disgusting. People were vomitting around and in the pool(I know someone whose nephew vomitted in the pool, it wasn`t closed to be cleaned the vomit was simply scooped off the water) ,it was on landings just everywhere. I have never seen so mamy ill people on holiday. Thomson are putting the health of people at risk especially babies, the preganant and those with pre existing health problems.

This was a Holiday from Hell and I wish I had been aware of the problem so I could have changed it. The airport was unbelievable, on the return home we had to queue on pavements it was mayhem. We had looked forward to our holiday but it proved to be a nightmare and we will never set foot in Bulgaria again, the tickets should come with a health warning !!!

The hotel was very clean and staff are very helpful.The rooms are very comfortable although tea making facilities would have been useful.The entertainment staff work really hard especially for the children,our granddaughter thoroughly enjoyed the day time activities and the kids disco.The evening entertainment for the adults was not of a great standard but when all the alcohol is free you dont really care.

The food was fine, there was always a decent choice and no danger of starvation even if you are a vegetarian.
We didn't have a real problem with sun beds,we always managed to find at least 2 when we wanted them.
We didn't find the pools that cold and by the amount of people using them neither did anyone else.
The beach is very good, even though it was quite busy when we went there was plenty of room.There are areas of course sand but a short walk along the beach and the sand is quite fine.

My only concern is that I was quite ill with a bad stomach and we talked to quite a few other people who also had the same problem,not something you want when you are all-inclusive.
We would recomend this hotel but take some diarrhoea remedies

There haven't been many reviews on this hotel so I was a little nervous. Booked it online with Portland Travel several months before and got really good rate, including free child place.

HOTEL itself is lovely. There were plenty about 100 Brits there and hotel staff spoke really good English so this must have changed a bit since it first opened. The accommodation (we had Superior family room which included a separate bedroom) is really spacious and its a really good standard hotel overall - clean and modern with good facilities.

WEATHER was decent, not burning hot but we got tanned.

The resort (OBZOR) itself is small but there are penty of small shopping stalls and bars but if you go all inclusive then there's no real need to go anywhere else, we walked into the village once otherwise stayed onsite.

The evening ENTERTAINMENT is typical holiday fun; mini club disco followed by either a singer or a fun show by the entertainment team. Nothing great, but passes the time.

The BEACH was nice, not like the Caribbean but decent enough! We tended to stay by the pool and found it easy enough to reserve sunbeds as long as we did it on the way to breakfast.

The SICKNESS virus I had read about on the web beforehand still seems to be there (or is it just typical holiday tummy?!) as we know lots of other families who had at least one member of their family ill whilst they were there - thankfully we were ok. We were obsessed with cleanliness and not swallowing too much water when in pool - maybe that did the trick, who knows!

If you want good quality, reasonable weather and good value - then Riu Helios Bay is an excellent choice!

Just returned from a week at this hotel on an all inclusive basis, this hotel is superb.

Bedrooms are spacious, loads of storage space, carpeted, air conditioned and very comfortable. Rooms are spotless, as is everywhere in the hotel, no problems with cleanliness here. We found the food excellent with a good varied choices daily and all well presented and cooked. On arrival you are allocated first or second sitting for the evening meal, but you can change to the other sitting if you wish.

Pool area clean and plenty of sunbeds and umbrellas, but be warned you do have to be up early to play the Germans at their own game and get your towels on the sunbeds. Water in all the pools ( even the indoor one) we found cold ( sea is warmer ), but it is the start of the season so has got time to warm up.
There is daytime and evening entertainment run by the hotel animation team. Kids disco starts at 8pm for 30 mins, followed by a show run by the animation team which starts at 9.30, we found these shows a bit naff to be honest though the team work very hard and do their best. For a 4 star hotel we thought there should be more professional acts brought in, but thats just our opinion.

Obzor itself is still developing and is fairly quiet, there is a lot of building work going on in and around the village. The village square is pretty, go to the Bedrock bar it's very very cheap, and great for the younger ones.

We would recommend a visit to Nessebar which is about an hour away, loads of shops and places to buy your souvenirs, and it's very pretty there. We also went to Sunny Beach, if you like Blackpool on a Bank Hol, you'll like Sunny Beach.... enough said!.

Overall we had a great time, and would definetly go this hotel again in the future.