We stayed here in January 2011 and we were expecting good things. We had paid a fair amount for the prilege but unfortunately ended up dissapointed.

Hotel - The Hotel itself looks very nice, set in a lovely area overlooking the mountains. The place is very clean and there are many facilities to benefit from.

Room - Our room had a balcony overlooking the mountains which was very nice, it was spacious and had enough room to store all our belongings, although could do with a few extra draws. Cons. We assumed our room was cleaned daily yet our beds were not touched for the first three days. The bathroom could have done with a better scrub and our towels were not always changed.

Lobby Bar - We found the bar to be the best part of the hotel, the bar staff, especially one young guy was very friendly and helpful, unlike most of the staff at Katarino! The food was nice, espcially the deserts on offer, and affordable.

Restaurant - We felt the food on offer in the restaurant was very drab and boring. It would be the same every day, very limited choice of meat on offer and a lot of cucumber! Get used to eating cold bacon and scrambled egg also! On our arrival we were given free drinks vouchers to use in the restaurant, this was great. But, the waiters appeared oblivious to these vouchers and it would often end in a long debate with the manager trying to get my two free drinks!

Spa - The spa facillities were a nice way to end the day yet avoid times between 4-7 as these were peak hours.

Shuttle Bus - The buses run every 30 minutes, not 15, like advertised! The bus drivers were extremely rude and seemed to favour the non english speaking guest! Expect to be packed in like sardines in the minibus! Avoid getting the last bus back to the hotel as there is only one minibus to cater 25+ people!

Staff - We found the majority of the staff to be rude, ignorant and unhelpful. You would ask for something and in return get a snarling look of disgust and a snappy response, something i do not expect when I pay a lot of money to stay in their hotel.

Overall, i would not return to Katarino, yes the place is nice, set in an idelic location but the rudeness of the staff truely is a let it down. I would choose a hotel a lot closer to the gondala's avoiding the need for a 15 minute bus journey everyday. And, giving me the oppourtunity to explore Bankso a lot more!

Hotel Katarino is located in an amazing spot sporting a breathtaking view toward the alpine Pirin Mountain (whenever the weather is clear). It is just 4-5 km from the Bansko town/ski resort with its amazing taverns serving the best food in Bulgaria, as well as 2-3 km from the best golf course in the country to date - Pirin Golf, which is still open to non-members.

The hotel is very steep on its pricing (by local standards), which is not justified by the room quality you get. The rooms are very basic (not even a hint of luxury), and already looking tired (e.g. carpet in my room had been flooded from the window and not replaced). Also the walls are rather thin so if you have loud neighbours you are bound to be awakened in the middle of the night (as I was on both nights I stayed there).

That being said, the inflated price is redeemed by the amazing SPA center that they have managed to create and still maintain to a high standard. Two steam rooms, two saunas (high and low temperature), ice room, heated stone beds and seating, as well as a lounge area where you can relax in you bath robe in the light of an open fire place, make up the 'hot' part of the SPA. In addition there are two fantastic swimming pools, a decent sized one inside with 33 C water temperature, which is excellent for adults and older children and also, the gem in the crown, an outside 35 C heated swimming pool in which you can soak while admiring the dramatic alpine scenery. The SPA works until 9 pm.

There is also a very decent restaurant, with an excellent chef, as well as a variety of bars, a bowling alley, snooker tables and a kid's corner, tennis courts, four wheel motors to rent, mini-zoo etc.

The staff are very polite and attentive to every need of customers. There is no turn down service, but given the standard of accommodation I would not have expected there to be.

All in all this hotel is worth the money only if you are a SPA person, enjoying the spoils of water and heat. If you are there only for skiing, then overall it is not worth the buck as the accommodation itself does not live to the price and you can find cheaper and better accommodation nearer to the ski facilities. Also the hotel is a bit secluded (i.e. in a forested area that is not a walking distance to the nearest towns) so if you don't have a car, you may be reliant ot taxi service or the shuttle operated by the hotel itself.

All in all this hotel is a curious mix of a 5 star SPA, restaurants, location, service and facilities and 3 star accommodation. Would I go there again - definitely, but mostly because I really like the scenery and the outdoor heated swimming pool. :)

I have stayed at Katarino at least 8 times over the past 3 - 4 years. In fact after visiting for the first time we enjoyed the experience so much a few of us got together and bought an apartment here. Overall I believe that this is an excellent hotel with good staff and decent food. Sometimes I do meet people that are unhappy with the service, however on most occasions they seem to moan about everything - not just the hotel - either the snow is not cold enough or it's too warm in the summer etc, I have met the odd member of staff that isn't the happiest person in the World, but 99% of the time I get better service here than I do in the U.K where I am usually paying 3x the price.

The hotel is set in a tranquil spot about 15 mins drive from Bansko. (2.5hrs from Sofia) If you are a guest at the hotel /apartments you have access to the recently completed golf course (10 mins by car) which I think you will have to go a long way to see a better development. 36 holes with fantastic clubhouse.

For people with young families (mine are currently 7+9) there are 2 swimming pools. (1 indoor, 1 outdoor) In summer the indoor pool area has huge folding doors that open up onto the patio, (one negative is that the hotel does not have any air conditioning) in winter both pools are heated to around 38 deg :-) The spa is relaxing and the heated seats in the relaxation room are the perfect way to end the day after ski-ing.

There are two tennis courts (pay for hire of the rackets) 4 x 3/4 length bowling alleys, pool tables, you can hire mountain bikes and there are organised day excursions on quads, obviously at a cost

The restaurants offers a buffet style breakfast and dinner and there has always been plenty of choice for us and the kids, in summer there is often an outdoor restaurant situated round the back of the hotel in the woods (you have to pay for this, likewise in the downstairs restaurant)

If you prefer to dine out Bansko has changed for the better over the past 4 years. When we started visiting there was a very limited choice in the food that you could find. Many of the Mehanas cook very good meat based dishes on an open fire in front of you and whilst there in February a decent meal for 4 people including wines, beers etc never cost more than £15.00 a head. The Italian Restaurant (Victoria) opposite the Kempinski is a superb restaurant and there are numerous decent tradition Mehanas (banski han on the way into Bansko is superb) that serve excellent food. If you eat on the main square in Bansko be careful of the prices though, they are working on tourist prices, if you use the restaurants/bars off the main square things are more within the realms of what is expected. Also check the price of the wine - it is not expensive compared to U.K restaurant prices, however once you have been lulled into the world of inexpensive food and beer (drink the local brews) when the wine costs similar prices to that in the U.K it can come as a shock.

As far as ski-ing is concerned, (good boot room at Katarino) the mountain is not massive (approx 65KM, hopefully to be expanded slightly this year) and in the main kids holidays is too busy. However, if you are able to time your break away from these hot spots there is plenty of skiing, the hotel provides a free shuttle to and from the hotel and I have never been let down. For the last few years the snow seems to have been better towards the end of the season and we have had some great days, skiing in the morning/early afternoon and then come back to the hotel to sit by the pool with a beer - fantastic!

I have taken many people to Katarino, both in the winter and summer season and all to the person have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, The town is friendly, I have yet to witness any drunken hoards roaming the streets, the festivals that they hold in Bansko's main square such as the Jazz festival in August all seem well natured and we have been more than happy to take the kids knowing that they are safe.

I think that if you are looking for a location where you can relax, somewhere that is still behind the pace of life in most countries, away from the crowds with or without kids the Katarino hotel is a good choice.

I stayed in this hotel with my Fiancé for a week in February. After reading the reviews on the poor level of service from the hotel staff I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a very cheerful bell boy and a smiley receptionist. The bell boy took our bags and snowboards to our room and seemed genuinely surprised to receive a tip.

ROOM: The room was large and there was everything you could really want with a view that did take your breath away. CONS: the room was very hot, we had to sleep with the door open so don't pack any thick jammies. The shower head really needed de-scaling and the water spurted in odd directions and there was no milk to be had with the coffee. In general though, nothing to really cause a problem at all.

BAR: We went to the bar for a drink as soon as we arrived and the bar tender was very helpful, no issues with prices though if you're worried about that, they do give you a bill with the drinks so don't drink it if you don't want to pay for it! There are loads of places to sit if you don't want to sit in the draught of the main door and a gorgeous log fire crackling away. CONS: The service was a bit hit and miss with one rather grumpy and slow server.

SPA: The spa area was great, a heated outdoor pool, sauna, steam room and treatment rooms should you wish to indulge which I did. I had the relaxing massage mid week which was great and got 10% off. If you check at the beginning of the week and plan ahead there are treatments with 15% off on specific days. CONS: There were quite a few flies in the pool but just swim past them and there was no decent heated Jacuzzi which would have been great on the muscles after a long day on the mountain.

RESTAURANT: This was a serous issue for me. By the end of the holiday I was getting very annoyed at our drinks arriving when we were starting dessert and the food at both breakfast and dinner being cold. The standard of food was relatively good but I hope you like feta cheese as they put it on all the salads but it was such a disappointment to wake up ready for a nice English breakfast and then to have to eat it cold. I ate pancakes for breakfast every day as the chef stood and cooked them while you waited but I didn't really eat in the evening and we ended up eating out 3 times.

OVERVIEW: This hotel is very high standard and I would say it was a 4 star hotel, the location isn't ideal as you cannot walk into the town, the buses do run every 30 minutes but not in the evening. The taxis into town cost about £7 each way. The 3 hour plus transfer was rather tedious so if I returned to Bulgaria I would maybe try Borovets. The food was a real let down but luckily everywhere is so cheap to eat that you could afford to eat out. If I went again I think I would stay in this hotel but on a room only basis. Have fun!