My husband and I stayed at this hotel from the 9th-11th March 07 last. This was a short business trip for us. A colleague booked the hotel for us, and we were very pleased to find such a nice hotel. The Barcelo Festa Hotel is a newly built hotel, about 10 minute taxi ride from the centre of Sofia. There is not much to do around the hotel itself ie.. like many other buildings all along this road, it is mainly business and apartment blocks.
But taxis are so cheap into the city centre , it doesn't really matter. The hotel is beautiful , with lovely rooms, and marble bathrooms. It was extremely quiet over the weekend stay we had, we only saw a few guests there. It is a strictly business week day hotel we were told. This was great for us, very quiet and no delay in service etc... Food is cheap here, and quite good, although I recommend eating in some of the lovely restaurants in the city, in particular,Restaurant Uno near the Opera house, an italian eatery which served gorgeous italian food, just don't be in any hurry, it is a place to sit down and relax for the night while dining.

If you have to visit Sofia, I definitely recommend the Barcelo Festa Hotel, all staff were very well trained and spoke excellent english and could not be more helpful. The hotel is very reasonable , prices around 120-130 euros a night per room inclusive of breakfast for two, which comprised of the bulgarian version of an english fry up, lovely hot croissants of various types, toast ,rolls etc....juice & coffee, plenty to eat and cooked fresh. This is a very good four star standard at least in my opinion and there is a leisure spa etc... which I did not get to try out this time.A very good hotel to stay in if you are visiting Sofia.