This year for the first time we decided to have a rest in Bulgaria. We had never been to this country before, and after reading reviews in the “scoop-scoop” style, we didn’t expect anything special from the trip. I just wanted to drink mineral water and young red wine on the seashore relatively inexpensively and nearby, so that without much hassle with visas.
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This year for the first time we decided to have a rest in Bulgaria. We had never been to this country before, and after reading reviews in the “scoop-scoop” style, we didn’t expect anything special from the trip. I just wanted to drink mineral water and young red wine on the seashore relatively inexpensively and nearby, so that without much hassle with visas. St. Constantine and Helena were attracted by the combination of a large number of mineral springs and sea beaches. Well, the scoop does not scare us.
Varna greeted us with a gloomy sky and rain, the mood deteriorated a bit. Traveling to the hotel in the outskirts of Varna (as the attendant explained - at this time of the day travel to tourist buses through the center is closed) on roads that are by no means of European quality (well, that is, “good” by Ukrainian standards) also did not add optimism.
The hotel itself didn't make much of an impression either. First, in the hall, I had to step over the Russian "pioneers" who had been selected there (apparently having decided that fish were fish for lack of fish and cancer, the Bulgarians accepted the Moscow summer training camp). Entering the room, as usual, the first thing we did was go out onto the balcony to enjoy the view, but it didn’t please us from the third floor of the hotel on the third line: the view of neighboring hotels, the sea can only be imagined, and the weather also didn’t work out at first.
But then miracles began.
When it got dark, according to tradition, we sat comfortably on the balcony with a bottle of red dry (surprisingly cheap, but very cool) wine. And then suddenly a lot of white gulls played a whole air show in front of us in the rays of light escaping from the windows of a neighboring hotel.
And the southern sun that rose in the morning painted the greenery freshly washed by rain in bright colors, and the mood became completely festive, and it remained so until the end of our term, each day of which brought new discoveries and impressions. So we returned already in love with this wonderful country.
Well, now in more detail.
Hotel St. Elena 4 * is located on the third line, almost at the very highway Varna - Golden Sands. It is separated from the highway by a high green fence and a tennis court. No traffic noise is heard at all (although we had a room on the opposite side). Modern interior, spacious rooms. The balcony is shared by 2 rooms, separated by a low metal partition. Inconvenient, but not fatal. The TV is small and there are few channels (Bulgarian, a couple of Russians, one German), but you don’t go there to watch TV, do you? There are air conditioners in the rooms, but it was not necessary to turn them on (we were lucky with the weather: not hot and not cold, the most comfortable). Bathroom standard, plumbing in good condition. Cleaning and change of towels every day. Meals (we had a breakfast-dinner) buffet, quite varied, the main thing is always from fresh products. There were very few vacationers, so the quality of the table, apparently, was managed by the owners thanks to the crowd of pioneers, who swept everything away, and thus allowed the kitchen to work at full capacity (our neighbors, who were here for the second year in a row, said that last year the camps were not was, and the food was worse).
The hotel was conceived as a spa and entertainment center. However, not everything worked out for them: the casino, the beach bar, and the grill bar by the pool are empty. SPA is based on mineral springs. The water is slightly mineralized (this is not Berehove and not Egerszalok). On the territory of the hotel in the open air there are:
- adult swimming pool (depth around 2.50) with mineral water
- nearby - children's paddling pool
- by the pools - sun loungers (stationary wooden and portable plastic), umbrellas, a massage room (it is also a lifeguard's "house")
- a river flows through the territory, in the upper part of which a dam is made, and a duck family swims. Below the dam goes underground into a pipe tunnel.
- Tennis court
In the basement there is a thermal spa center:
- swimming pool with warm (30-40 degrees) mineral water, depth 1.40
- sauna
- jacuzzi
- water exercise bike
There are massage rooms near both pools.
All swimming pools, sun loungers, umbrellas for hotel guests are free of charge. The rest is extra. fee. Oddly enough, a large number of bathers are not observed. My wife and I often swam only together in the open pool, and almost always in the closed one (pioneers were not allowed there).
In general, IMHO, the hotel is quite consistent with its stars, the only serious problem is the lack of WiFi of normal quality. More precisely, it is, but only on a small patch near the casino. Moreover, on this patch there is not a single "sitting" place - only the bare floor. If you want to climb / chat on the Internet - stand or sit / lie down with your gadget on the floor. Attempts to drag a chair or ottoman, standing in the same hall at a distance of 20 meters from the reception area, are suppressed by the administration in the "best" traditions of soviet hotels. Of course, you can understand them: things at the hotel are clearly not in the best way, and the Internet is apparently expensive, but somehow such a solution to the problem looks like a redneck.
Going up from the hotel through the road through the underpass, you can get to the botanical garden (entry 1 euro). Very clean landscaped park with varied vegetation. Rosary, cactus plantation, trees collected from all over the world. There are equipped places for picnics and barbecues, you need to order in advance. We walked there for half a day, did not regret it.
It takes 10-15 minutes to walk from the hotel to the sea, which is not annoying at all: the resort is actually located in a park with a lot of trees and other green spaces, so walking even on the sunniest day is only a pleasure. Well, the Black Sea is the Black Sea, it is not the Adriatic, of course. To be honest, I personally like relaxing by the pool more than on the beach. Although it cannot be compared with our Black Sea beaches. First, cleanliness. At every step there are free and clean (! ) dry closets. Clean and public bathrooms in every coastal grill bar and cafe. Accordingly, the sea smells like the sea, and not like in Odessa and Crimea. Secondly, the Bulgarians declared the entire sea coast to be national property. No one captures or encloses sections of the coast. A hotel is not a hotel, no one will say a word to you if you settle down with your towel in the place you like. Unless you climb into the sea in a frankly dangerous place. At the same time, every beach (even the so-called "wild"!!! ) has a lifeguard and a shower.
On the embankment:
- a lot of stalls with a variety of cream, prices are very democratic
- currency exchange points. The rate is slightly higher than in Varna, but not so much that it makes sense to go there to change a hundred euros or take risks with illegal money changers
- a cafe where you can drink a cup of delicious aromatic coffee for about 0.6-1 euros
- grill bars. At our hotel, only breakfast-dinner was paid for, which we were very happy about, because there was an opportunity to dilute this healthy meal with freshly char-grilled yummy. Dinner for two (with beer) cost from 10 to 16 euros. I highly recommend sach - a national dish in several versions, something like cast iron stew, one standard serving for two was more than enough. There was also “sach for two” on the menu - but this is probably for two elephants. For lunch gatherings, we chose the cafe "Oasis", it is a little away from the "main route" of the resort, downstream from the monastery along the stream. I saw a cafe on the embankment where you can dine even cheaper, but we did not go there.
- Supermarkets. Well, “super” is a strong word, but they are called that there. Prices for almost everything are either lower or the same as ours. Dry wine is both super-cheap and quite expensive. Mostly of good quality (we remembered for some reason long forgotten “Bear's Blood” and “Mekhandzhysko”), but there are, how to say... tasteless. Depends, as I understand it, on the manufacturer. But since it is produced in Bulgaria by all and sundry, it is difficult to navigate. Sweets are very expensive and tasteless (Roshen still rules). Cosmetics would be advised to buy there, and not in the shops on the embankment: 1-2 leva savings on each item, but it is really good and inexpensive there, it’s worth taking home for gifts.
- Tourist train will take you around the resort. Then the same route can be easily covered on foot.
In general, a resort for a relaxing family holiday, although there are places where "gop-tsa-tsa" all night, but this is not for everybody.
Varna greeted us with a gloomy sky and rain, the mood deteriorated a bit. Traveling to the hotel in the outskirts of Varna (as the attendant explained - at this time of the day travel to tourist buses through the center is closed) on roads that are by no means of European quality (well, that is, “good” by Ukrainian standards) also did not add optimism.
The hotel itself didn't make much of an impression either. First, in the hall, I had to step over the Russian "pioneers" who had been selected there (apparently having decided that fish were fish for lack of fish and cancer, the Bulgarians accepted the Moscow summer training camp). Entering the room, as usual, the first thing we did was go out onto the balcony to enjoy the view, but it didn’t please us from the third floor of the hotel on the third line: the view of neighboring hotels, the sea can only be imagined, and the weather also didn’t work out at first.
But then miracles began.
When it got dark, according to tradition, we sat comfortably on the balcony with a bottle of red dry (surprisingly cheap, but very cool) wine. And then suddenly a lot of white gulls played a whole air show in front of us in the rays of light escaping from the windows of a neighboring hotel.
And the southern sun that rose in the morning painted the greenery freshly washed by rain in bright colors, and the mood became completely festive, and it remained so until the end of our term, each day of which brought new discoveries and impressions. So we returned already in love with this wonderful country.
Well, now in more detail.
Hotel St. Elena 4 * is located on the third line, almost at the very highway Varna - Golden Sands. It is separated from the highway by a high green fence and a tennis court. No traffic noise is heard at all (although we had a room on the opposite side). Modern interior, spacious rooms. The balcony is shared by 2 rooms, separated by a low metal partition. Inconvenient, but not fatal. The TV is small and there are few channels (Bulgarian, a couple of Russians, one German), but you don’t go there to watch TV, do you? There are air conditioners in the rooms, but it was not necessary to turn them on (we were lucky with the weather: not hot and not cold, the most comfortable). Bathroom standard, plumbing in good condition. Cleaning and change of towels every day. Meals (we had a breakfast-dinner) buffet, quite varied, the main thing is always from fresh products. There were very few vacationers, so the quality of the table, apparently, was managed by the owners thanks to the crowd of pioneers, who swept everything away, and thus allowed the kitchen to work at full capacity (our neighbors, who were here for the second year in a row, said that last year the camps were not was, and the food was worse).
The hotel was conceived as a spa and entertainment center. However, not everything worked out for them: the casino, the beach bar, and the grill bar by the pool are empty. SPA is based on mineral springs. The water is slightly mineralized (this is not Berehove and not Egerszalok). On the territory of the hotel in the open air there are:
- adult swimming pool (depth around 2.50) with mineral water
- nearby - children's paddling pool
- by the pools - sun loungers (stationary wooden and portable plastic), umbrellas, a massage room (it is also a lifeguard's "house")
- a river flows through the territory, in the upper part of which a dam is made, and a duck family swims. Below the dam goes underground into a pipe tunnel.
- Tennis court
In the basement there is a thermal spa center:
- swimming pool with warm (30-40 degrees) mineral water, depth 1.40
- sauna
- jacuzzi
- water exercise bike
There are massage rooms near both pools.
All swimming pools, sun loungers, umbrellas for hotel guests are free of charge. The rest is extra. fee. Oddly enough, a large number of bathers are not observed. My wife and I often swam only together in the open pool, and almost always in the closed one (pioneers were not allowed there).
In general, IMHO, the hotel is quite consistent with its stars, the only serious problem is the lack of WiFi of normal quality. More precisely, it is, but only on a small patch near the casino. Moreover, on this patch there is not a single "sitting" place - only the bare floor. If you want to climb / chat on the Internet - stand or sit / lie down with your gadget on the floor. Attempts to drag a chair or ottoman, standing in the same hall at a distance of 20 meters from the reception area, are suppressed by the administration in the "best" traditions of soviet hotels. Of course, you can understand them: things at the hotel are clearly not in the best way, and the Internet is apparently expensive, but somehow such a solution to the problem looks like a redneck.
Going up from the hotel through the road through the underpass, you can get to the botanical garden (entry 1 euro). Very clean landscaped park with varied vegetation. Rosary, cactus plantation, trees collected from all over the world. There are equipped places for picnics and barbecues, you need to order in advance. We walked there for half a day, did not regret it.
It takes 10-15 minutes to walk from the hotel to the sea, which is not annoying at all: the resort is actually located in a park with a lot of trees and other green spaces, so walking even on the sunniest day is only a pleasure. Well, the Black Sea is the Black Sea, it is not the Adriatic, of course. To be honest, I personally like relaxing by the pool more than on the beach. Although it cannot be compared with our Black Sea beaches. First, cleanliness. At every step there are free and clean (! ) dry closets. Clean and public bathrooms in every coastal grill bar and cafe. Accordingly, the sea smells like the sea, and not like in Odessa and Crimea. Secondly, the Bulgarians declared the entire sea coast to be national property. No one captures or encloses sections of the coast. A hotel is not a hotel, no one will say a word to you if you settle down with your towel in the place you like. Unless you climb into the sea in a frankly dangerous place. At the same time, every beach (even the so-called "wild"!!! ) has a lifeguard and a shower.
On the embankment:
- a lot of stalls with a variety of cream, prices are very democratic
- currency exchange points. The rate is slightly higher than in Varna, but not so much that it makes sense to go there to change a hundred euros or take risks with illegal money changers
- a cafe where you can drink a cup of delicious aromatic coffee for about 0.6-1 euros
- grill bars. At our hotel, only breakfast-dinner was paid for, which we were very happy about, because there was an opportunity to dilute this healthy meal with freshly char-grilled yummy. Dinner for two (with beer) cost from 10 to 16 euros. I highly recommend sach - a national dish in several versions, something like cast iron stew, one standard serving for two was more than enough. There was also “sach for two” on the menu - but this is probably for two elephants. For lunch gatherings, we chose the cafe "Oasis", it is a little away from the "main route" of the resort, downstream from the monastery along the stream. I saw a cafe on the embankment where you can dine even cheaper, but we did not go there.
- Supermarkets. Well, “super” is a strong word, but they are called that there. Prices for almost everything are either lower or the same as ours. Dry wine is both super-cheap and quite expensive. Mostly of good quality (we remembered for some reason long forgotten “Bear's Blood” and “Mekhandzhysko”), but there are, how to say... tasteless. Depends, as I understand it, on the manufacturer. But since it is produced in Bulgaria by all and sundry, it is difficult to navigate. Sweets are very expensive and tasteless (Roshen still rules). Cosmetics would be advised to buy there, and not in the shops on the embankment: 1-2 leva savings on each item, but it is really good and inexpensive there, it’s worth taking home for gifts.
- Tourist train will take you around the resort. Then the same route can be easily covered on foot.
In general, a resort for a relaxing family holiday, although there are places where "gop-tsa-tsa" all night, but this is not for everybody.
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Expectations of 4 stars in the European sense did not come true in any way. We lived at a construction site, at 8 o'clock in the morning the workers began to cut the stone....Breakfasts defy any description - every day the same thing in a meager amount (cheese, feta cheese, cereal + cold milk, paper fried sausages, etc.
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Expectations of 4 stars in the European sense did not come true in any way. We lived at a construction site, at 8 o'clock in the morning the workers began to cut the stone....Breakfasts defy any description - every day the same thing in a meager amount (cheese, feta cheese, cereal + cold milk, paper fried sausages, etc. , during the harvest season only apples and bananas were served, and for dessert, not always fresh two kinds of muffins, and fresh bread began to be served after repeated complaints... ). Our tour operator "Olyushka" after complaints offered us to move to a 3 * hotel with a surcharge (! ), But the representative of the tour operator did not come to the meeting... There is no Internet and others on the territory, there is light - but not everywhere, etc. etc.
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