Smoking

Whilst the hotel does have non-smoking rooms, the public areas, including the bar and restaurant are usually populated by heavy smokers – one morning one was sitting next to the buffer breakfast and breathing smoke over the food.

This is the only major problem with the hotel.


Location

If you want an hotel in the city centre this is not it. It is neither 10 minutes nor 30 minutes from the centre but nearer an hour at a fairly gentle pace through the Sea Gardens – a pleasant enough walk in good weather – shady, with plenty of benches and drink/ice cream stalls.

There is a very frequent, cheap (1 Leva) bus service and shared taxis will do it for the same price. The bus stops are some distance from the hotel. There are, however, some small shops there.

I attended two evening concerts in the city centre and had no problems in getting into and out of town for them.

Taking a bus the other way you can go to the superb Aladza Monastery or onto the truly awful Golden Beach. When you compare the forest around the monastery with the mile after mile of sprawling hotel you get an idea of the major disservice the communist government did the world by creating the resort.

Also, it is a bit odd that whilst the hotel fronts a main road, the only way to get into it by car is to drive a convoluted route through a housing estate!


Room

My room (202) was large and clean. The free cable internet worked well. The TV was limited in international channels and there was no kettle. My colleague, in room 102, was worried by the excessive noise from her air-conditioning unit. This continued even when it was off – so, must eventuate elsewhere in the building. I also noticed this in my bathroom on occasions.


Bathroom

The bathroom contained a bath with shower over it but was sometimes a bit smelly with a smell of “drains”.



Food

The breakfast buffet was OK - nothing special but more than adequate. There was a limited evening menu but those I tried produced plentiful, well cooked food.

One problem is that the restaurant does not belong to the hotel – so, as happened on my last evening, if the restaurant owner hires it out for a function you cannot eat there.

I was told that I should have asked if the restaurant would be open. I explained that any proper hotel would have advised guests that it was not going to be open – not the other way round. After being told to go out and eat (having to get up at 3am and having a bad cold I did not want so to do) I eventually got my food in the (smoky) bar.

I left very early in the morning and they put together an excellent packet breakfast together for me.


Bar

There was a comfortable bar area but often smoky.


Staff

The staff were mostly friendly – apart from one waitress who stated that any problem raised was “not her fault”.


Varna City

The long walk through the Sea Gardens to the city centre can be broken up by a visit to the small Natural History museum.

The Aquarium, also in the Gardens, is very poor – although you can sample the local fish dish of goby in the restaurant immediately outside it.

The Cathedral and Art Gallery are well worth seeing – as is the Archeological Museum (although at 10 leva it is expensive for what you see).

The Ethnography museum was also very good but was not open when advertised.


Further Afield

Dobrich has one of the best art galleries in the Balkans and can be reached by frequent buses from the city’s bus station.

If it is the off season, Albena is also worth a visit – the Tex-Mex restaurant there is good – if very pricey – they even charge you for the tooth-picks!!!!!

Do not use Malev to fly to Varna – they cancelled my early morning flight leaving me with a 9 ½ wait at the airport before delivering me to Budapest some 12 hours late. I was told that this happened quite often.

Parking

The small car park was always full and seens inadequate.

Value-for-Money

At €40 a night, including the breakfast, this represents excellent value for money.

Sauberkeit perfekt, Einrichtung gut und zweckmaessig, nettes Personal, Lage nah dem Zentrum und direkt gegenueber dem schoenen Meeresgarten

Just about everything was perfect. Two people at the front desk said that it was a 10 minute walk to the town center. It took me over 30 minutes. The bus stop is near the hotel, the buses run frequently and the fare is low..

1) We were allocated to the room # 406 (lux room). The air conditioning system did not work in this room (it was extremely hot - about 40 C in the room because it is situated at the sunny side of the hotel). We have contacted reception staff about this matter tree times and it took them more than 3 hours to realize that they cannot fix the problem and I asked them to change the room. They told me that they are fully booked and they have not any others available lux rooms. I had to told tham that I am Platinum Best Western member and reception clerk phoned to the management about the problem and eventually they founded available room with working air-conditioning system. We had to pack our belongs for relocation from 406 to 105 room. It was horrible start at this hotel.

2) At check-in I tried to present my Best Western rewards member card but I was told that because the reservation was made on the hotel's website and not onto Best Western site I am not untitled to get any points for stay at this Best Western hotel, so I should not to provide them with the card number. It is a violation of the BestWestern policy.

3) During four days at the breakfast there were not any black tea (there were variety of different teas with chemicals flavours). Some days there were not fruits and milk. The ham and sausages were low quality.