Just to provide some feedback for you re Sunny Beach. i had never heard of it before this year and never in a million years would have considered Bulgaria to be a place to visit, but i must say my eyes have been opened by the resort.

We stayed in an apartment block called Rio apartments which is a british owners apartment block run by a british couple called Tony and Sylvia which was set up in the hills over Sunny Beach a 15 minute walk down to the front Next to Victoria Palace Hotel (which looks fab). rioapartmentsbg.com. (sorry not allowed to put links in yet) I only knew about this from a friend at work who owns an apartment there.

Might be a little to far out for many, but Tony runs a pick up which is 10 laev from anywhere / to anywhere in Sunny Beach and 15 lev Nessebar. anytime all day upto 11.30pm. so thats takes care of transports either way unless you like to walk.

After reading some horror stories on here and genuine worries i have to say i went on this holiday with no expectations at all. I am happy to say this resort was absolutely wonderful and much better than i expected. We remarked many times how clean it was and for us it reminded us of what spain would have been 10-15 years ago before it became totally commercialised and busy.

The beach itself is about 2-3 km long and the resort changes along the way, at the top end (St Vlas end) it is quieter with some extremely impressive hotels and restaurants, the middle part is busier with shops and restaurants and plenty of Crazy golf opportunities and the bottom end (the boulevard) is very busy, attracts all the stag/hen parties on a night and could be anywhere on the spanish mainland resorts. So for us it was 3 resorts in one, and we chose which part depending on what we wanted. The Boulevard end was our least favourite part and we chose to ignore this as much as we possibly could. To walk from one end the the other could take you about 30 minutes + depending on your speed and what you partake while walking along. there are numerous Golf Buggy rentals along the from, 20 lev for 30 minutes and 30 lev for an hour. We took an hour and got back with 5 minutes to spare, it was that big a resort.

The beach along the front is very much the same all along. The beach is split with a pay point line (15 meters from the sea) where you have to pay to be there (even on a towel) The rental prices for the front are 7 lev per sunbed and same for brolly and you can have a maximum 4 beds to a brolly. We initially did not like this but the beach is clean and clear and the sea is crystal clear and warm !!, and because the whole thing is in a bay, it stays about a meter deep to about 20 meters out.

The eating places at the resort are excellent and offer a variety of foods to please everyone, although snacks at certain places can be poor. I have filled you in on a seperate thread re eating places but i really enjoyed the food on all evenings bar one and found the cost to be excellent. We were joined by my parents in law on our second week and for the six of us to have a huge meal and drinks we paid around 120 lev approx for it and saw that as a good return what we got.

We did a day trip to Old Nessebar, which is a must for anyone who wants to see Bulgaria, it is a fabulous place and you must take your camera, small winding streets of markets and shops and old churches which look superb. This place for me made the holiday, it was what being abroad is all about, wonderful buildings with character and local people who are not pushy in the least, but willing to offer a helping hand if necessary. We got the bus back to sunny beach from there which was 1 lev per adult to wherever you want to go, there is a map on all the buses and you can count down the stops to where you want to get off, the kids are free upto 10 i think.

We went over to Nessebar on the Thriller boat which is an experience in itself, but it is 20 lev per person one way for that experience, so only choose it if you wish.

We also went to the water park Aqua Paradise, there are two water parks at Sunny Beach, one is slap bang in the middle of Sunny Beach and the other on the road out to Nessabar, but both offer free transport along the whole length of Sunny Beach main road. This is to and from the places, if given the choice go to the Nessebar one, it is superb, the cleanest water park i have ever been and not packed out like many other parks i could mention. It was also full superb rides which were all clean again and very well maintained. You load up cash onto a plastic watch when you go in and then lock everything away as you use the watch to pay for everything while you are in the park. My wife especially loved the pool cocktail bar which was situated in front of the pirate ship stage which shows two very professional shows during the day. I have been to florida twice and been to all the water parks there and i must say that this blew them out of the water - why ?, well for one it was not packed out, the park was well spaced out and you felt it was always half full, maybe its the time of year or maybe its always like that but there was no queueing for any ride of food place, which in itself made us enjoy the day even more. This park is the one with the Castle's and is a recommendation i would give to everyone. You will notice around the park that there are numerous photographers, not fixed ride camera's, this makes the photos a little more personal. At the exit/entrance there are numerous computers which you can click on (with no pressure) at all photos took to find what you want, 7 lev for small ones and 10 lev for larger ones, which they then print off for you.

We enjoyed this holiday much more than we expected after reading stories from the forums and it is a place we would definitely go back to. I would heartily recommend anyone go along and give it a look before a) the euro spoils it b) too many people find out about it.

The beach is beautiful and clean and the resort itself is superb with something for everyone from clubbing to chilling out depending on which end your at, its the first holiday for a long time where we really did not want to come home and 2 weeks did not seem long enough.

I saw none of the problems highlighted in the popular myth category and its these myths people seem to hang onto, try it, you will not be disappointed, our family certainly loved it.

Miss a chance to go here at your peril.....