Helios spa and resort first class in cleanliness.

Food very good plenty of choice even if veggie.

Situated within walking distance from centre of golden sands especially when you find the short cut(ask the rep).

Staff were always very friendly and polite.

Entertainment is limited in the evenings till after 11pm which is a bit of a bind but golden sands is always near by if required.

Definately would return to this hotel in the future.

It is a really nice hotel with nice marble decor.The rooms are quite spacious and the mini bar is very cheap.The lobby bar is open 24 hours a day and works out as about 80p for half litre of beer or a vodka and coke!

The barmen take a lot of pride in their work as they like to make a cocktail to perfection. There are 2 outdoor pools and 1 indoor pools with a really good pool bar playing music throughout the day.

Meals are alright as there is a lot of variety so you will probably find something you like. The staff are very helpful and will carry your drinks over to your table for you. The hotel is in just the right spot as it is a nice walk into the centre.

We were very impressed with this hotel - it really is a 4 star.

The buffet style breakfast (7.30am-10.30am) is extremely varied - it was self service with fruit, cereal, croissant, pain au chocolat, bread, cheeses, ommeletes cooked to order, cakes, mini biscuits, cooked breakfast, juices, water, coffee, tea etc etc available - so plenty of choice. Only criticism here is trying to find a table when the hotel is busy may take a little while.

It has 3 pools - 2 outdoor (larger one with slides), and a decent sized indoor pool as well - handy when it rained! There are lifeguards round the pools at all times as well.

The newly opened 'a la carte' restaurant at this hotel offers the best food we found in Golden Sands resort - really good quality and nicely presented. We paid less than 60 leva (about 20 english pounds) for a 3 course meal for 2 adults and a child with a bottle of wine.

Rooms were very clean and comfortable, with air conditioning, colour tv with around 20 channels (mostly german - with MTV, Euro news and BBC World), mini bar (prices good) and room service is also available.

They do lay on some entertainment: guided walk through forest to monastry, pool volleyball, pool aerobics, water ballet, showing latest films in 'Day and Night bar' (played Shrek 2 when it rained one afternoon).

Cannot fault this hotel.

We were sent to this hotel as an equivalent to the Luna Bay hotel as it was not ready for opening yet, we was told that all we had booked for at the Luna Bay would be available at Helios spa but unfortunatly this was not the case.
The hotel is a very average 3*, the rooms are good, but the service is not as good as some but a lot is due to the language barrier, we found it very hard to get them to understand sometimes. Dont expect any organised activities and the main pool could have been a bit cleaner. We felt that as we had booked all inclusive we were considered 2nd class for example - drinks were served in glasses for paying guests at the pool bar but all inclusive people got drinks in plastic cups. The bars within the complex are owned individually and most will expect you to pay. There is only one restaurant (the brochure states at least 3) which is buffet. The food is bland and we all had bad stomachs a couple of days after we got there, the only one who did not have any tummy upsets was my daughter who only ate toast and chips. We also found that the food was only just warm and often reheated for the evening meal, food catering especially for children was non existent. Upon speaking to the tour rep we were told that we english are too fussy and that there was nothing wrong with the food and it must have been something we had eaten elseware but we had only eaten in the hotel until then. We also found many other Balken holidaymakers complaining to the rep about the food and bad stomachs, we spoke to at least 9 couples who were very dissatisfied. there was very little entertainment for the kids in the hotel and the adult entertainment was lacking as well.

Sorry if you have booked this but my advice is dont expect 4* and definatly do not go all inclusive. Also make sure you take plenty of imodium because you may need it.

We were offered Helios Spa, as our original choice of Luna Bay Hotel was not ready. We also were promised all that would have been available at Luna Bay to be offered to us at Helios, it was not.

The beach was a good ten minutes walk away, and was very cramped - not very safe for young children. There were no watersports available to us as an all inclusive party, which we would have got at Luna Bay.

The hotel suites were very new and nice, however there were still a few work men completing jobs. Towles and sheets were not changed often enough.

Our main problems were with getting drinks, none of the bars were happy to serve us and made it as difficult as possible, one would only serve us with black Tea and Coffee, so we had to walk a long way round to another bar that would serve us milk. Some would only give a glasss of water others a bottle. None of the waitresses would serve us round the pool like they would other non-inclusive guests.

The pool was unkempt and a glass had been broken which resulted in fragments going into the pool, so fair play, they emptied the pool, cleaned it and refilled in two days.
The problem we had then was using the pool at the Crown Plaza, where no bar would serve us.

The floor around the main pool was extremely dangerous, children and adults slipping on the tiles. Thsi was reported to rep and main desk. Entertainment was very poor, pherhaps a dance show in the eveinig which would last for approx 1 hour.

The food was very poor on some days. Chips with everything, the meat looked re-heated continually and was not always very hot. Very difficult for all 8 of us to sit together at breakfast unless we were there at 7.30, dinner would be at least 8.30 before we could get a table. Not very good with 4 hungry kids. All of our party had diarrhoea for the whole two weeks, and two of the children had sickness, had to see the doctor who gave a prescription for the children.

Bear in mind that if you are all inclusive, you are treated like second class people.

We were transferred to the Helios Spa Resort at Golden Sands because the Lunar Bay Resort was not completed by the time our holiday became due.

The hotel was generally clean apart from one pool, which was dirty.

The food was so bad that we all suffered a very bad bout of the runs after the very first meal and had to eat outside of the hotel for all main meals. We only ate toast for breakfast.

The hotel staff had a very poor understanding of English and we found it very hard to make them understand what we wanted.

The entertainment that we saw lasted for an hour one evening and that was it!

This hotel and resort was supposed to be equal or better than the hotel and resort we had chosen; it was not. It was very obvious to us that if you were 'all inclusive' you were treated as second class holiday makers that just did not matter.

If you have booked or are thinking of booking an all inclusive holiday at Helios Spar be prepared for a big dissapointment.

Hotel was looking really nice - modern architecture 2 swimming pools.

The only disadvantage was that hotel was too far from beach, but special hotel train was offered for free.

Just returned from 7 nights at The Helios Spa and Resort in Golden Sands, Bulgaria. Our first visit to Bulgaria and can honestly say all the staff we had contact with were excellent. Everyone (and I do mean everyone) at the hotel were very good at their respective jobs and the place is kept spotless. We arrived at 3:00am and were made to feel welcome straight away (bar and change bureaux open 24 hrs! Brilliant). The taxi driver we used a lot (Nikolai - Yellow Mercedes) was a wealth of information and very helpful. The two waitresses in the bar knew our order (large beer and vodka and coke, no ice) after ordering it once, they also were both excellent. Sorry to go on but this Hotel is 6 star, but the brochure says only 3!

The hotel food is good value but there is not enough variety for young children. The hotel is kept very, very clean and the maids are very thorough with their cleaning. The location of the hotel is very good because it is set back from the busy resort centre.
The hotel staff were very helpful and welcomeing and if they dont remember you're name they never forget you're face. Entertainment could be better but the variety is good and you have to appreciate that the locals are still learning the tourist trade boom.I would definetaly go back to this hotel.