Hi happymackem,

Having done 'the Bourgas thing' last year, your experience is familiar!

The only positive thing that one can say is that Copenhagen Airports, who have a concession (subject to some BG Governmental/legal enquiries and approval) to improve facilities at both Bourgas and Varna airports, will be required to invest many millions of Euros into both airports over a fairly short period of time - so things should improve before too long.

Having flown into and out of both airports, Varna is a much better experience than Bourgas - but still rather 'lacking' by Western standards.

last year our case was ripped to shreads,this year we bought new hard cases.but these had been messed with after check in, going out and coming home

what the heck does everyone mean 'ripped to shreds' cases!!! What is this a prison of war camp!!!!!! It should be expected for civility to have decent airport security not thugs - yet we talk like it is the normal - great holiday, I'm getting a bit fed up reading this. Stuart

Hi stuart,

bourgas airport is nowhere near as good as say *palma de mallorca* or * London heathrow*

But I must say, i have gone through the airport 5 times, and have never had by case ripped etc... nor anything stolen from case.

Not a nice airport to be in, but due to have millions put into it years to come.

varna is a nicer airport.

have a great holiday!

Brad

After reading the comments about Bourgas airport i think i will just stick to going to G/S as at least Varna airport is quite a good one .Only twice had a bit of trouble with hold ups and thats not bad for 11years .June

Hi,

Borgas isnt great, but who cares when your going on holiday!!!!

Should be better, for maybe even next summer.

I had my luggage stolen at VARNA, bourgas was no trouble in that dept

Brad

Hi all we have been travelling through Bourgas for 16 years now and must have been very lucky because we have never had any bother with luggage, this year we noticed they seem to have a new way of dealing with the problems other people seem to experience they will cling wrap your case so there can be no excuse for them to say it burst . the only problem with Bourgas airport is it is not the same standard as some of the airports in other countries but so what think what british airports were like in the past ,it takes time to upgrade and hopefully it won't take much longer if the takeover by Copenhagen airports goes ahead

saying my case was ripped .it hasn't put me off going to bourgas.a couple of years ago i had a case ruined at lanzarote.there was a tyre print right over it.it must have fell off the truck and under the wheels its all part of the holiday.just enjoy the experience.
i must say that bourgas had improved a lot since last year,still a lot of waiting around though.

well it sounds like hell to me and I dont know any british airport where similar would ever happen. Maybe people have rock bottom standards of what is acceptable and what isnt, as long as their booze is cheap. I'm fast going off Bulgaria, everyone either has their cases slashed, food poisoning, is pick pocketed or is accosted by prostitutes. Stuart

I guess if you come from somewhere like Liverpool the difference is the sunshine in Bulgaria, only joking!

I guess if you come from somewhere like Liverpool the difference is the sunshine in Bulgaria, only joking!

Bad Taste!

we seem to have gone :offtop.
Lets get back to the subject of Bourgas airport again folks!
Thanks
Fiona Ht mod

there are good points about bourgas.at least the duty free is quite cheap.400 benson only 24euro and they let you spend leva.i only paid 10 lev and £17.the chap in front of me paid £21 for the same
a big plus is that you can sit outside and have a drink while you wait.theres a good size area upstairs.the fresh airs very welcome.for the amount of people there ,the toilets were clean.

there are good points about bourgas.at least the duty free is quite cheap.400 benson only 24euro and they let you spend leva.i only paid 10 lev and £17.the chap in front of me paid £21 for the same
a big plus is that you can sit outside and have a drink while you wait.theres a good size area upstairs.the fresh airs very welcome.for the amount of people there ,the toilets were clean.

Exactly the same applies at Varna - except when flying with Bulgaria Air's scheduled flights, when you can't access the rooftop viewing/bar area (I must confess to being old enough to remember when you could sit on the roof of the terminal at Heathrow - 'The Queen's Building', if I recall correctly).

I flew back from Bourgas airport monday night/ tuesday morning.

When we flew into the airport due to delays three flights came in at roughly the same time and there were only two passport control desks open. After a long wait we went through with no problem, but a young lady behind us handed over her passport and the passport control lady was picking at the corners of the passport shaking her head and waving her hands the girl was crying and very upset but at no point did the woman in passport control try and explain what the problem was.

The toilets were very dirty and had no seats and no toilet paper.

On the way back the queue to check in was well out of the door and we waited three quarters of an hour to check in, there were long delays to some flights so there was a large number of people waiting in a very small and hot departure lounge, there were no announcments to say when there were delays or how long for and non of the information boards were switched on.

Again the toilets were very dirty even though there was a cleaner walking out as I went in!

The Airport staff were a little intimidating and we saw a number of people being taken away from the check in desk and ushered into offices, looking very worried.

At no point during our stay in Bulgaria did we see a lady of the night, we were not pick pocketed and did not feel intimidated, there were beggers but not as many as we expected and there were gypsies selling necklaces etc on side of road but if you walked away there was no hassle.

The Liverpool comment was way off the mark and you dont deserve to see the beauty of a country like Bulgaria

we also flew back from bourgas airport monday night tuesday morning,

when we landed at bourgas we waited over an hour to get through passport controll as 3 flights landed at the same time, the toilets were a disgrace,

on the way back we checked in within 10 minutes, we checked in at 11pm and were due to fly out at 1.30 am, there was places to buy tea/coffee/cold drinks/beer/ but no where to buy food, the only food you could get was crisps or chocolate,
as when we landed the toilets were a digrace,
when we landed at glasgow our case was damaged, i dont know if it was damaged at bourgas or glasgow airport

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Are they ripping every case open or slashing it? I will take a bin liner on 19th at this rate if they are going to wreck my case!!!! it's not on.

Have been to Bulgaria 3 times.
Have flown into Varna twice and Bourgas once.
Have never had a problem with slashed or damaged suitcases.
Have always queued for approx 30-45 minutes to get through passport control (hasn't anyone ever queued at an english airport, I know I have).
The airports are basic, but to be honest have never had to spend long in them.

We make sure we have a drink and a snack for the airport.