Here we go again, First time to Bulgaria! Last time to Bulgaria!!!!

The hotel was clean and tidy a bit of maintenance required as its very poorly lit and my partner has a sight problem.
As with most reports cleaning staff excellent always polite and friendly. The rest however ignorant unless your German!!

The food? ( it was food??) I'm not convinced that that stodge and effluence that was served in the restaraunts could be described as food!! As with previous reports food poisoning was the order of the week.

Entertainment again I'm not sure there was any. However not being German we wouldnt understand or be told anyway.

The hotel is situated in an ok area. The beach takes a little finding but is pleasant enough when you finally run the gaunlet of tatt merchandise and " Cheap Taxi 20 Lev I do good price!" A kind of war chant proclaimed by just about every Bulgarian we met.

If I can offer any advice, for gods sake dont get the bus to Varna from the bus Station as we were violently mugged on arrival in downtown Varna. 5 people physically rushed and stole my partners purse then having found no money inside( not that stupid boys!!!) Tried to sell us back an empty purse for 50 Lev.

Please if your wanting a cheap holiday dont go to Bulgaria read the reports here and follow the advice.

The hotel room was small but clean and the maids cleaned every day. Albena town centre is only a 10 minute walk away or you could get the free train or bus from outside the reception. Pools were great and our children enjoyed the pools and made plenty of friends. We found the food to be good. Plenty of choice. The food was not great for small children but they always managed to find something to eat. The downside to this hotel is the entertainment. The show lasts for 1 hour and that it is. The pool bars stay open until 11 but with no music the night times became very boring. Ventured into Albena a couple of nights but found the night times turned really cold even though we were there in August. It was good value for money but they need to address the entertainment issue if they want people to go back again.

This hotel was brill!!!
We would definitely go back there again.

The cleaners were always busy yet they were rude too us when we came in from the clubs.

There werent many clubs although the main club we found was only a 2 minute walk and was fantastic.

The food was good until the second week were we became tired of having the same over and over.

The bar staff were friendly untill the last night were one of our friends threw a banana at one of the bar man ( he wasnt too happy) haha other than that they were great.

There were a few things going on at night but not much and not every night.

There was also a legendary dance at 12 every afternoon except Saturday called BOMBA!!! Fun Fun Fun.

All in all I would strongly recomend this hotel and would definitely revisit ourselves!!!

We were recommended Bulgaria by a number of people, most saying how good the all inclusive deals were.
The Hotel was very clean and tidy, and the location was very pleasant. The staff were mostly very nice and friendly to...

The pool areas are fantastic, and the facilities are generally very good, but they don't believe in the same safety aspects as we do in the UK, e.g the lifeguard(?) was more interested in the girls than any potential hazard.

However, now for the 'Take Care' part...!

We have two small children - The rooms are very poorly adapted for them. Ask for a crib/cot if you need one but DON'T expect there to be much room for it.

The food was ok for me, but my Wife and kids all had the 'Tourist Fox-Trot'. It's very rich, unless you can live on Pizza, chips and mini kievs (Plenty of fruit and cereal though...).

The hotel is nearly all geared up for our German/Dutch friends, so don't bank on the entertainment being much cop unless you either speak fluent German/Dutch or are taking a translator with you ;)

Finally, my biggest gripe, I really like to relax with a beer/spirit on my jolly's. Don't think that 'All Inclusive' means 'All Inclusive'. It doesn't. You can have beer and straight Spirits - BUT it doesn't include MIXERS. You have to pay for them. AND, the Bar closed at 11pm ON THE DOT every night, and unless you wanted to knock it on the head, you had to either a) queue like a muppet for 20 mins at 10.40pm or b) you had to ensure that you got yourself enough drinks to make an Irish wedding reception proud on your final visit.

Good luck if you go, and the guy who draws pencil portraits at the front by the newspaper stand is utterly talented.

Bon Voyage.

The hotel was possibly the cleanest one we have ever stayed in. The room was spacious with more than enough storage facilities.

We found the food to be edible with plenty of choice. Ok it's geared for the Germans, but we always made a meal up of 2 meat and veg or salad.

The location was ideal, not too far from the beach but in a quiet corner for relaxation to be enjoyed.

The staff, bar one, were extremely polite and friendly in our experience.

Did not use entertainment as there were lots of bars and places to chill out but could hear the enjoyment going on.

We have travelled the world and found this hotel to be one of the nicest.

We did not encounter the Bulgarian belly at all!

We booked this holiday with First Choice in January. We received a call from them 4 days before we were due to go to say the hotel had been over booked and we would have to stay at the Vita Park. There was 10 of us all together and as First Choice would do nothing to help and it was such short notice we just had to go along with it.

When we got there we were booked in at the Ralitsa reception but taken to the Vita Park Villas. The bloke who took our suitcases was begging like mad for a tip, even asking for English money. It was around 4.30 in the morning and we just wanted to go to bed. The beds were so damp and wet that we had to also put blankets on to try and get warm.

The weather was as cold as being at home and the rooms were very damp.

We went for breakfast after a few hours sleep, we should of stayed in bed. There was German slop, uncooked eggs, strips of fat which should of been bacon. This hotel does not cater for the English tourists whatsoever. You get shoved around, people jumping in front of you all the time whether you are waiting for a drink or food. The food which was left over was reused over and over again.T here was even cold cucumber soup 1 day. You are allowed 1 visit to the a la carte. We thought well at least that will be a good meal. We had to wait ages for our food as all the Germans were served theres first. When the main course finally arrived (chicken kebab)It was raw chicken in a dish with water and topped with cheese. I had eaten some before I knew the chicken was raw and ended up with food poisoning. I was not the only 1 they were dropping like flies with it and 1 man actually collapsed in the dinner hall the next day with it. On the last day our son Daniel (who loves his food and will eat just about anything) sat at the table and said he could not wait to get home, it was the worst holiday he had ever been on. His Frankfurt for breakfast was cold and the fat strips were raw. The big guy that cooks the fat bacon wipes all his sweat off with his hands before putting the raw bacon on the grill.

All the entertainment was in German. The Abba show was o.k but they were only singing over Abba songs, that why it sounded o.k.

The cleaner did seem to work hard, ours was on every day including Sunday.

To top this hotel and complex off as we were waiting at reception to come home there was a mouse running round which finally went into the restaurant. If you are English reading this I would like to say this is not for us. The food, the pushing and shoving and being treat second best or ignored just for being English.

All in all the most exciting thing of all was packing to come home. I would not go back there if somebody paid me. It was a nightmare from start to finish. A waste of money and the worst holiday experience of all. We are not fussy but just wanted a pleasant holiday. First choice was terrible and we would never book with them again. All the people that arrived with us have signed a petition because the English tourists should not be sent to this hotel.

We have not finished with First Choice either. It was certainly the holiday from HELL.

We found the cleanliness of the hotel first class,to our disappointment we found the majority of the staff unhelpful and found wanting, this may be due to the language barrier,but you could see they clearly understood our german counterparts.

The food and the distance to the food hall we had to negotiate was totally unacceptable, thou mainly catering for the Germans,the variety of food was sausages and more sausages.

If the british or other nationalities are to visit this hotel regular and frequent the establishment must consider other options in food stuff,entertainment,general awareness to peoples needs,if not, then ok keep it predominently German territory but stop encouraging U.K.folk to visit.

Im sure Bulgaria has wonderful sights and culture that need to be explored,but if this hotel continues to off-put visitors as it does then the Bulgarian tourists board needs to consider it's worth.

The room was cleaned every day.

The food was excellent always something different and always chips available.

It was about 10 mins walk from the beach but there is a free bus.

The resort is a bit quiet suited mainly to older people and families.

The staff were really friendly.

The entertainment was good but only lasted for an hour in the night and there was not much else to do.

Definitely would go back.

We stayed at the Ralista 4 star I had a double room to myself and my sister and law and the kids had a family room which had 2 bathrooms and two balcony's was cleaned everyday.

We enjoyed the food found there was something different everyday and you could ask for it to be cooked longer. There was plenty of fruit.

The hotel staff in the bar were a bit rude but they worked long hours. The cleaners were great though gave her a big tip when I left.

The entertainment team were really good as it rained most of the time we spent a lot of time doing activities during the day with them. The kids loved them the shows were ok but finished too early.

The kids club was rubbish aimed at the Germans and really young children.

The telly was all German as well only news English.

The kids want to go back next year

Felt obliged to leave a review for this hotel.

Most of the reviews we read were negative before we booked but intrigued by the pictures and the price we gave it a shot!

I'll start with the food as its is the area that most people put down. There was a huge range of food available and if its repetitive its only because you pick the same each time. Probably not great for people that want to have what they'd eat in England but then you aren't in England.....

The food is not piping hot but I hear thats normal in Bulgaria.

I will say that me and my partner both had holiday belly although we felt quite well. I would reccommed taking Immodium with you as I had to get our (Wonderful) rep to translate the drug information leaflet for me!

Oh yeah and the all inclusive alchohol was a great idea :-)Huge measures were the norm

The Hotel was spotlessly clean as the houskeeping was fantastic and cleaned even when we got up horribly late.

The reception and bar staff were lovely although they laughed at our horrible attempts at speaking Bulgarian.

We were a bit worried when we heard that there was an 'animation team' who would entertain around the pool and in the evening.Having said that there was a quiet pool for us boring types and the animation team were lovely (but appeared to be on some really great drugs - permanantly high!)

The location was quiet but that was what we wanted. When you want more activity in can be found in the main part of the albena resort.

All in all we had a great holiday at this hotel. We are going back to Bulgaria this year although further south this year for some variety - although we were seriously considering going back to the Ralitsa.