About 15 mins drive by taxi to Sunny Beach, which is purpose built resort, it could have been anywhere, Spain, Greece etc.

Many, many hotels and still more being built. Royal Park hotel very large and impressive.

Cleaners in public areas always around mopping or sweeping up, but room staff didn't do so well, sweets on floor never got swept up,(left as a test to see if they would be) beds changed once and that was do it yourself - sheets just left on the bed. Mirror fell off the wall, (not surprising, as only held onto wall by 3inch pin nails) lucky no one in the room at the time. Air conditioning failed to work last few days of our holiday, reported this but never got repaired.

Food terrible, sometimes looked as if it had left overs from the meal before mixed together. Salads looked and tasted nice, but was ill after eating them, tried several times and each time was ill again. I've been on many far away holidays and never had upset stomach before. Drinks watered down most of the time.

Hotel has its own private beach which was lovely. Some staff friendly but generally not so. Health and safety non existent - sun shade by the garden pool was broken, attentants took shade leaving a 18inch wooden stake in the ground, holiday maker covered the stake with plastic chair. I reported this to First Choice rep and hotel staff three times but when we left four days later it was still there!

Entertainment fine if you are under ten years of age. No entertainment weekends as Saturday have reps show in Sunny Beach which you have to pay for and day off on Sunday. Had two trips - Jeep safari very good and boat trip to Sozopol which we enjoyed.

It was the worst holiday that we have ever been on and would never go back.

Hotel cleanliness was 2nd to none.

Staff could not fault make an effort with them and they will do the same we had some good laughs with them.

Food was not what we are used to but edible but you can book into the a la carte restaurant which is very good.

Location very good if you don't want to be in the hustle and bustle of things but if you do it's about a 15 minute taxi drive away (cheap taxis)

Entertainment was ok could of made room for little improvement mainly for the kids a little more for adults would of been better

We travelled to this hotel not really knowing what to expect as we had read so many conflicting reports. When we arrived at the hotel we were very impressed the reception area was great very clean and very grand.

The staff dealt with everybody efficiently we even received sandwiches fruit and a bottle of water which was to keep us going to breakfast.

We were then taken to our rooms which were very clean and spacious everything tha we needed including a good size balcony.

Next day we explored the resort well what can I say great pool great beach everything was very clean.

Food at the resort was different than at home but we were in Bulgaria the food was of a good quality and plenty of choice everything in the dining room was kept very clean and plenty of staff to tidy up should there be any spillages which were dealt sraight away.

The choice for kids should they be a bit fussy is not great but our three never went hungry. The pizza hut on the beach was a big hit. We tried the other restraunts you had to book in the morning at ten and the were good one was ala carte the other a beach BBQ both were a big hit with us the beach BBQ was great at lunch time as well serving the best home made chicken soup ever.

Staff were always friendly if you were friendly to them.

Entertainment was OK but we just did our own thing water sports were very cheap at around five pounds a go and they got a good long time a big hit with the kids who were 15, 14 and 13. They can't wait to go back.

One last thing I don't know of any resort where you can walk along the beach to the next hotel and have a drink or a coffee or even an icecream and that is also included on your all inclusive price, to round up our time in the Royal Park was great, hotel very clean, great beach and pool fantastic holiday had by all seven of us and would have no hesitation of booking again well worth four stars.

Our family stayed at the Royal Park in July / August 2006. We arrived at 4am in the morning and were pleased with our 1st impressions, unfortunately it all went downhill from there! Below is an extract from the letter of complaint that I sent to First Choice. This is the worst hotel I have ever had the misfortune to stay in although I have to say we made some friends over there and they thought it was fantastic. I would say read the comments below and make your own mind up.

ROOMS
Beds not being made.
Towels not being replaced - used towels removed but not replaced.
Bathroom not being cleaned properly.
Light switches not secured to the walls.
Air conditioning not working properly.

ANADALUSIA ( Main Hotel ) RESTAURANT
Excessive chipped and cracked crockery.
Excessive dirty crockery and cutlery.
Luke warm / cold food, that was meant to be served hot.
Regular undercooked chicken / pork ( my whole family suffered from prolonged upset stomachs for the duration of our stay ).
Dirty table cloths / chairs and tables.
Not enough tables / chairs for the amount of guests ( 430 rooms and only 480 seats in the restaurant - as per Victoria Group web site ), often left standing waiting for a table to become available.

MAIN HOTEL ( Inside ).
Lifts often out of order.
Excessive chipped coffee cups - main bar in reception area.
Horrible smell from main bar in reception area.
Toilets smell disgusting.
Stairwells filthy dirty.

MAIN HOTEL ( Outside ).
Grass area used for ORGANISED FOOTBALL very dangerous - uncovered drain / sprinkler system holes, raised manhole covers in play area.
Pool often murky and with excessive birds droppings in it because of major problems with birds nesting under hotel facias ( Swallows / House Martins ).

ELENITE VILLAGE AREA.
Broken window outside children's games room ( next to internet room ) for the hole 2 weeks we were there.
Dangerous un-guarded drops on roof of Animation Hall.

FIRST CHOICE REPS ( Main hotel )
Welcome meeting - all they seemed interested in was selling excursions / pre booking return flight seats quote "to ensure you can sit next to your loved ones!". Not explaining any of the basics / pitfalls of what the surrounding area i.e. what Nessebar & Sunny Beach had to offer etc, other than recommending the Crown exchange to change money ( we got more useful information from a taxi driver on route to Sunny Beach than the 45 minute welcome meeting ).

FIRST CHOICE REPS ( Entertainment and children's ).
We found The Entertainment reps were excellent and seemed to work exceptionally hard to ensure the guests had a good time as did the Kids reps judging by the comments from people we spent time with during our visit.

I hope some of the people reading this review find it useful.

Stunning and the grounds are kept clean and immaculate by the hardworking staff.

Our room was to one side of the hotel and so we had a partial sea view but a fantastic view over the hill at the back of elenite and could watch the sun (and one night) the moon set behind it. It also meant we had the late afternoon sun.

The room was nicely decorated and a reasonable size with a fridge and hairdryer. I would recommend you bring some cups, a plug adaptor and a travel kettle with some coffee or tea for your early moring cuppa.

The food was very very good and there was a wide choice (3 of the 4 of us are vegetarian and we didn't starve). Some parents moaned that there wasn't things like chicken nuggets and fish fingers at the buffet but that to me says more about the parents than the hotel! The desserts are cakes and they are fantastic. None of us went down with any tummy troubles (apart from excess alcohol). There are also lots of snacks for the carnivores amongst you and ice cream, turkish delight and biscuits for us during the day. We didn't risk the a la cartes as we are veggies and they offer set meals so I cant comment on them.

Which brings me nicely onto the drinks. The kids had a choice of squashs, 7 up, Pepsi, lemon and orange Tango. On top of this water is avaliable at all bars and the restuarants (keep the bottles they supply at the beginning of the holiday for topping up). The wine was just about drinkable though if Virgin wines had sent me a crate of this it would have gone straight back to them but it was a cheap holiday. I don't normally drink lager but it tasted like normal lager to me and was of an acceptable strength. The spirits were deadly and not watered down. If you asked for a vodka and lemonade it was a 50/50 mix so please take care. One of the pool bars in the neighbouring complex did a a rather nice vodka cocktail but it was strong and caution is advised.

The Hotel itself is at the far end of the complex which consists of the Royal Park, Elenite holiday village and the Royal Bay Hotel. The beach is private with no hawkers and lots of quiet areas up the far end away from our hotel. Some of the pools are noisy but at least you can escape the noise if you want to ( unlike the Premier Aventura Spa Palace in Mexico me and the wife went to in 2004 - that was torture). The pools (you can use all of the complexs pools) are unheated and cold and the Black Sea isn't much warmer but I did swim in the sea.

The lobby area in this hotel is stunning and its where we spent most evenings (and sometimes the pool bar outside the hotel as it was quieter). We looked in the Animation Hall once and it was smoky and packed so we didn't check out any of the evening entertainment though I understand it was pretty good. Also didn't go to the Irish Bar.
My youngest went to the kids club and enjoyed himself (first choice have english reps dealing with the kids).

If you want to go to Nessebar you can do this cheaper direct from the resort than through the reps and you travel by boat. A boat leaves the pier just outside the hotel at 10 and picks you up at 230.

During our stay there was a power outtage of around 7 hours. The staff and reps were fantastic coping with the moaners (poor dears had to eat from the salad bar one night - though a lot of them would have benefited from this). There was a safety concern as at one point the back up lights went out in the stairwells but this I understand has now been sorted.

A couple of minor points. There is only one small play area for small children in the whole complex and there should be clubs for the 12 plus age group. Oh and if you are veggie I suggest you take your own flight food as they never get the amount of veggie meals on the first choice flights right.

I have sent a letter of praise to First Choice as everyone who dealt with us (from booking onwards) was fantastic.
This holiday cost us 1625 inc ins at half term for 2 adults and 2 children and was fantastic value for money.

We were so impressed that we are going back next year with our step daughter and son in law to be and putting our Cuba trip on hold.

Hotel royal park was a fantastic place to visit.

Food: great. We never went hungry.

Cleanliness: Rooms were kept clean and tidy every day throughout our visit.

Location: The hotel was in a beautiful location of Elenite.

Staff: Kind and friendly. Always doing there best.

entertainment: fantastic first choice reps

Great place, you must go there.

Hi we stayed in the Royal Park hotel Elenite , two adults and two children 12 & 7 years old. What can I say it was spectular.

I personally think it should be a 5 star resort the rooms are fantistic. The entertainers and animators are great. The hotel can only be described as luxurious we had a ball.

The staff are very friendly. The location is perfect, right on beach. Something for everyone to do and I certainly would go back again.

After reading many bad reports on this hotel I was rather apprehensive on going there as I was travelling alone with 4 children.

As we arrived the hotel looked very impressive lit up.......our immediate reaction was "wow"

The walk up to the hotel from the coach was magical, so was my kids reaction when we entered the reception!

The reception staff were excellent even at the time we arrived (5.30am)

The bell boys were on hand to take your luggage to your room and also once again very helpful.

Our room was a suite, very spacious, clean, and had 2 impressive balconies.

Our beds were made every day along with fresh towels. The hotel on the whole was immaculate to say how many people were staying there, not even a cigarette butt to be seen. They have an army of cleaners pottering around sweeping up everything in sight, they were still sweeping the grounds at 1am in the morning!!!!

Cant really comment on the entertainment as me and the kids made our own fun.

The beach was very very clean with loads of sun beds to go around, and safe bathing for the kids.

I found it very useful that the staff had name badges and a flag of which languages they spoke. The staff which could speak English was very out going and confident, the staff that couldn

On approaching the hotel we thought wow - reception was easy and friendly - bell boys were very good ( even found us a drop of milk at 3 am ).

Rooms were excellent - seaview from railing balcony which enabled us to wake up to a sea view - then on the Monday boy did our views change. We went down to brekfast after waiting 10 mins for lift(we were on 8th floor) and it was just unbelievable. The kids running about. No cups to get that first cuppa of the day. Queues halfway round the dining room for what looked like a load of slop = rashers of streaky fat- rubber eggs - cold beans - spicey sausage.

I know we are in Bulgaria but hey - come on. We thought we had walked into the childrens playrooms. Yes I've got children and may add 4 grandchildren so I've nothing against them but as I was dodging them with coffee in hand its a wonder I got to my table without an accident.

Lunch and evening meals were no better - the food was awful, our bit of spending money was spent on getting a cab to sunny beach and eating there every day.

A few days into our holiday on walking along the beach we were gobsmacked by the amount of nude women posing for the cameras - and were ushered round them - we later found it was a playboy shoot - it certainly drew the crowds.

The next day on walking to buy our newspapers we witnessed a real bad accident - one of the electric scooters you can hire for a few levs could not stop and went into a poor lady who was walking along the walkway causing her a terrible gash in her leg - there was blood everywhere -she was in a terrible state - I can still hear her screams.

It's an accident waiting to happen for one of the scooters to go into the pool, as it seems they are allowed to ride around the pool area, which i may add there was broken glass in the pool.

On sitting in reception area of an evening, as this is the only form of entertainment for us middle-agers we learnt that a table full of visitors, were in fact porn stars, who had been filming pornography at the hotel, this left us feeling uncomfortable.

On complaining to First Choice they had run out of complaint forms, and we had to wait 3 days to make offical complaints, as did most of the other guests.

In our honest opinion we found the staff abrupt, and unable to speak much english, local taxi drivers could speak better english, and we would never consider visiting Bulgaria ever again.

Arrived early hours of Tuesday 6th June with our grandson and the hotel does look lovely. We had stayed in the royal bay the year before had really enjoyed it thats why we booked a suite for ourselves in the Park in July 2005.

To cut a very long tale short, reception did not have our room for us, no explanation was given, we eventually were given a sub standard room which we had to stay in for 4 days until a suite came free.

Anyway that out of the way about the hotel, food just about edible and I can eat anything.

Location on beach really good our grandson really enjoyed the pools and the water sports and the hotdog chicken kebabs.

We found the hotel staff friendly and polite especially our cleaner in the suite a lovely lady.

Not impressed that playboy did a shoot at this family hotel nor the building work going on outside the main gate it would have been nice to have been informed of this before our holiday.