They settled us quickly, the rooms are a bit of poor quality, they need to be renovated. Cleaning was done well. I chose this hotel because there was a water park, it was important for me, since I was traveling with a child. There was a free bus to the beach from the hotel, it was possible to walk in 15 minutes, it didn’t bother us.
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They settled us quickly, the rooms are a bit of poor quality, they need to be renovated. Cleaning was done well. I chose this hotel because there was a water park, it was important for me, since I was traveling with a child. There was a free bus to the beach from the hotel, it was possible to walk in 15 minutes, it didn’t bother us. We did not sit on the territory of the hotel, we went mainly to the sea, so I cannot describe it in detail, the territory as a territory. Near the embankment, there are shops and everything else, 10-15 minutes to the embankment had to be walked. We did not go on excursions, we wanted to spend more time at the sea and in the water park.
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Good day. I decided to become one of the tourists who leave their reviews, stories about the hotel and the rest in general. We went with a full complement: two adults and two children (9 and 2 years old). We traveled at night on a Bulgarian bus for 13 hours. The children slept all the way. The bus is quite comfortable, double-decker (we are on the second).
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Good day. I decided to become one of the tourists who leave their reviews, stories about the hotel and the rest in general.
We went with a full complement: two adults and two children (9 and 2 years old). We traveled at night on a Bulgarian bus for 13 hours. The children slept all the way. The bus is quite comfortable, double-decker (we are on the second). We arrived at about 8 in the morning, and it’s clear that they didn’t check in at that time, but they said that the manager would come at 10 - maybe somehow it would be possible to check in early. We left our things in the storage room (free of charge) and went to have breakfast. We have not yet put on the bracelets, so we had to look for something nearby. Then we went to the beach. The beach was 5 minutes from the place where we had breakfast. I must say that the beach is very wide. We settled down near the water and went for a swim. The water is just lovely - clean and warm, the entrance is quite suitable for children. The beach, at first glance, seemed very well-groomed and clean. Then it turned out that "pigs" were also allowed into Bulgaria. Around 10 I went to the hotel to arrange an early check-in. The journey took about 15 minutes (I walk fast). The manager said that you need to wait a bit for the room to be cleaned after leaving. Thanks to the reviews from this site, I asked that the windows do not overlook the pool and the room was not on the first floor. Around 11:30 I was given the key to room 201 in building "B". My wish was fulfilled - the room did not overlook the pool and was on the second floor. There was one small "but", but more on that later. The room had 2 beds and one folding chair. The room was not big, but cozy. Air conditioning, TV. Very disappointing lack of a small fridge, but oh well. With regard to the air conditioner, I can say that it seemed that it had not been cleaned since the reconstruction - there were some black spots inside, similar to mold. But there is no way without it - they turned it on when they left, turned it off when they arrived. The toilet and bath (shower with a curtain) are combined and it is usually very hot there (I understand why) compared to the room. After the sea, the appetite broke out and we went to a restaurant to eat (they had not given us bracelets yet). In the restaurant, lunch per person costs 12 leva, but one restaurant worker told us that there is a snack bar near the hotel pool where you can eat for free. Thank you - there are kind people in Bulgaria too : ). Around 2 we were given bracelets. We dined already in the restaurant as full-fledged vacationers.
In the evening it turned out that our room was not the quietest place in the hotel: below us was one of the exits from the lobby, where small tables, chairs and !! ! mini-football !! ! were installed, which was played by both children and adults, because h. until 1-2 nights one could dream of silence.
Regarding sunbeds on the beach. If the agency tells you that an umbrella and sun loungers are assigned to you, this is complete nonsense. "Whoever came first - that and slippers. " It was forbidden to book sunbeds on the beach, but a couple of times I still managed and we were on the first line. And once I came to the beach in the morning after "early booking", but there was no towel. He, like many others, was piled up by the beach service in more than one sunbed. They fight it.
"PARADISE" is a restaurant on the beach where you can dine from 11:30 to 16:30. But we dubbed it "Anthill". If you want to eat in area 12 - don't go there, it's an anthill. The fact is that guests of 3-4 hotels can dine in this restaurant. All the tables are occupied, it is very difficult to get to the food - the crowd almost carries you. Queues for beer and 2-3 streams. And no pizza. We went there a couple of times for a sample, and stopped there.
I recommend asking at the reception for a timetable with information about what is available to you as part of your holiday. Maybe you will learn something new for yourself. For example, you have the opportunity to book a table in one of the proposed restaurants and dine for free. But you need to sign up in advance, 5-7 days in advance, because. tickets may not be enough. We slipped a little and, unfortunately, did not use it - we were offered a visit date two days later than our departure.
In the evening you can go to the center or to the embankment, so there is a brisk trade in souvenirs and other junk (in my opinion). As we were told by "experienced", Albena is not at all the cheapest resort in Bulgaria, but rather one of the most expensive. Show concerts are held in the center once or twice a week.
Exchangers are not everywhere and do not work 24 hours, except for 1-2 exceptions. The hotel operates an exchange office from 9 to 19:00.
Romanians. I want to note that I have nothing against the Romanians, I just state what I encountered. VERY noisy. From small to large. As soon as a company of Romanians comes to the beach, you can forget about calmness: children yell on a par with adults; their stay on the beach is like a picnic (drinks and food are plentiful, conversations are not even loud) with all the ensuing consequences. I have seen the situation once. A company came (6 adults and 3 children), occupied two umbrellas with four sunbeds. A couple of Bulgarians were resting nearby, who, having gone for a swim, left only a towel on one sunbed, and one was empty. So these cunning comrades “stole” this empty sunbed, and then noisily argued that it was necessary to leave something on the sunbed, since it was busy. The beach workers arrived. In the end, it turned out that the "cunning comrades" were guests of the hotel, the price of which did not include free sunbeds on the beach, and they flatly refused to pay, as well as to free up the occupied places. In general, for an hour and a half it was a noisy, but free movie.
Aquapark! This is basically what we came here for. We arrived in mid-July and the water park was (originally) scheduled to open in early June. Then the opening date was moved to mid-July. And then, due to the flood, they moved it to August. But it seems to me that they won’t make it in August either – there’s a lot of work to be done there.
Balchik. This resort town is a 20-minute drive from Albena. As the “experienced” people told us, you can take an excursion that will cost 50-60 levs per person, or you can go on your own and it will cost you 5 levs (round trip) per person from the bus station when leaving the city. There is a marvelous botanical garden. Huge territory, about 300 species of plants. Cascading waterfalls, greenhouses, huge cacti, alleys and streams, etc. There is a wine shop with tasting - very tasty wines, but the prices bite - we tried !!! Very tasty!! ! cabernet worth 130 leva. They said that there is a summer palace of the Romanian queen there, but we did not get there (we had to go down to the beach, but we were drawn up). For those who are interested, at the entrance / exit from the garden there is a street with souvenir shops, with more affordable prices than in Albena.
I really liked Albena as a whole, a quiet family resort with a beautiful beach and gentle sea. The hotel, if not for the air conditioning, would satisfy 100%. I don’t know if we will come back to this hotel, but in Albena we will rest for sure.
We went with a full complement: two adults and two children (9 and 2 years old). We traveled at night on a Bulgarian bus for 13 hours. The children slept all the way. The bus is quite comfortable, double-decker (we are on the second). We arrived at about 8 in the morning, and it’s clear that they didn’t check in at that time, but they said that the manager would come at 10 - maybe somehow it would be possible to check in early. We left our things in the storage room (free of charge) and went to have breakfast. We have not yet put on the bracelets, so we had to look for something nearby. Then we went to the beach. The beach was 5 minutes from the place where we had breakfast. I must say that the beach is very wide. We settled down near the water and went for a swim. The water is just lovely - clean and warm, the entrance is quite suitable for children. The beach, at first glance, seemed very well-groomed and clean. Then it turned out that "pigs" were also allowed into Bulgaria. Around 10 I went to the hotel to arrange an early check-in. The journey took about 15 minutes (I walk fast). The manager said that you need to wait a bit for the room to be cleaned after leaving. Thanks to the reviews from this site, I asked that the windows do not overlook the pool and the room was not on the first floor. Around 11:30 I was given the key to room 201 in building "B". My wish was fulfilled - the room did not overlook the pool and was on the second floor. There was one small "but", but more on that later. The room had 2 beds and one folding chair. The room was not big, but cozy. Air conditioning, TV. Very disappointing lack of a small fridge, but oh well. With regard to the air conditioner, I can say that it seemed that it had not been cleaned since the reconstruction - there were some black spots inside, similar to mold. But there is no way without it - they turned it on when they left, turned it off when they arrived. The toilet and bath (shower with a curtain) are combined and it is usually very hot there (I understand why) compared to the room. After the sea, the appetite broke out and we went to a restaurant to eat (they had not given us bracelets yet). In the restaurant, lunch per person costs 12 leva, but one restaurant worker told us that there is a snack bar near the hotel pool where you can eat for free. Thank you - there are kind people in Bulgaria too : ). Around 2 we were given bracelets. We dined already in the restaurant as full-fledged vacationers.
In the evening it turned out that our room was not the quietest place in the hotel: below us was one of the exits from the lobby, where small tables, chairs and !! ! mini-football !! ! were installed, which was played by both children and adults, because h. until 1-2 nights one could dream of silence.
Regarding sunbeds on the beach. If the agency tells you that an umbrella and sun loungers are assigned to you, this is complete nonsense. "Whoever came first - that and slippers. " It was forbidden to book sunbeds on the beach, but a couple of times I still managed and we were on the first line. And once I came to the beach in the morning after "early booking", but there was no towel. He, like many others, was piled up by the beach service in more than one sunbed. They fight it.
"PARADISE" is a restaurant on the beach where you can dine from 11:30 to 16:30. But we dubbed it "Anthill". If you want to eat in area 12 - don't go there, it's an anthill. The fact is that guests of 3-4 hotels can dine in this restaurant. All the tables are occupied, it is very difficult to get to the food - the crowd almost carries you. Queues for beer and 2-3 streams. And no pizza. We went there a couple of times for a sample, and stopped there.
I recommend asking at the reception for a timetable with information about what is available to you as part of your holiday. Maybe you will learn something new for yourself. For example, you have the opportunity to book a table in one of the proposed restaurants and dine for free. But you need to sign up in advance, 5-7 days in advance, because. tickets may not be enough. We slipped a little and, unfortunately, did not use it - we were offered a visit date two days later than our departure.
In the evening you can go to the center or to the embankment, so there is a brisk trade in souvenirs and other junk (in my opinion). As we were told by "experienced", Albena is not at all the cheapest resort in Bulgaria, but rather one of the most expensive. Show concerts are held in the center once or twice a week.
Exchangers are not everywhere and do not work 24 hours, except for 1-2 exceptions. The hotel operates an exchange office from 9 to 19:00.
Romanians. I want to note that I have nothing against the Romanians, I just state what I encountered. VERY noisy. From small to large. As soon as a company of Romanians comes to the beach, you can forget about calmness: children yell on a par with adults; their stay on the beach is like a picnic (drinks and food are plentiful, conversations are not even loud) with all the ensuing consequences. I have seen the situation once. A company came (6 adults and 3 children), occupied two umbrellas with four sunbeds. A couple of Bulgarians were resting nearby, who, having gone for a swim, left only a towel on one sunbed, and one was empty. So these cunning comrades “stole” this empty sunbed, and then noisily argued that it was necessary to leave something on the sunbed, since it was busy. The beach workers arrived. In the end, it turned out that the "cunning comrades" were guests of the hotel, the price of which did not include free sunbeds on the beach, and they flatly refused to pay, as well as to free up the occupied places. In general, for an hour and a half it was a noisy, but free movie.
Aquapark! This is basically what we came here for. We arrived in mid-July and the water park was (originally) scheduled to open in early June. Then the opening date was moved to mid-July. And then, due to the flood, they moved it to August. But it seems to me that they won’t make it in August either – there’s a lot of work to be done there.
Balchik. This resort town is a 20-minute drive from Albena. As the “experienced” people told us, you can take an excursion that will cost 50-60 levs per person, or you can go on your own and it will cost you 5 levs (round trip) per person from the bus station when leaving the city. There is a marvelous botanical garden. Huge territory, about 300 species of plants. Cascading waterfalls, greenhouses, huge cacti, alleys and streams, etc. There is a wine shop with tasting - very tasty wines, but the prices bite - we tried !!! Very tasty!! ! cabernet worth 130 leva. They said that there is a summer palace of the Romanian queen there, but we did not get there (we had to go down to the beach, but we were drawn up). For those who are interested, at the entrance / exit from the garden there is a street with souvenir shops, with more affordable prices than in Albena.
I really liked Albena as a whole, a quiet family resort with a beautiful beach and gentle sea. The hotel, if not for the air conditioning, would satisfy 100%. I don’t know if we will come back to this hotel, but in Albena we will rest for sure.
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We went as part of 2 + 1. The hotel as a whole liked it. It’s inconvenient that we had to wait a long time for check-in, because. we went early in the morning. The room is the most common for a threesome, cleaning also suffers (at least the three with good cleaning did not come across). I liked the pool with slides, both my daughter and I myself moved out with pleasure.
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We went as part of 2 + 1. The hotel as a whole liked it. It’s inconvenient that we had to wait a long time for check-in, because. we went early in the morning. The room is the most common for a threesome, cleaning also suffers (at least the three with good cleaning did not come across).
I liked the pool with slides, both my daughter and I myself moved out with pleasure.
The food was top notch, no complaints. The sea is wonderful too. The bar on the beach made life easier - you didn't have to drag water with you. But hinted at in sea water have not gone away. The only significant minus of the hotel is the location - far from the sea. For this reason, this hotel was not considered this year.
I liked the pool with slides, both my daughter and I myself moved out with pleasure.
The food was top notch, no complaints. The sea is wonderful too. The bar on the beach made life easier - you didn't have to drag water with you. But hinted at in sea water have not gone away. The only significant minus of the hotel is the location - far from the sea. For this reason, this hotel was not considered this year.
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The second time we choose this hotel for recreation, the food here is at the highest level, the territory is all green, the service is just class. We were settled in a villa, we did not even expect (we were just free, as they explained to us).
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The second time we choose this hotel for recreation, the food here is at the highest level, the territory is all green, the service is just class. We were settled in a villa, we did not even expect (we were just free, as they explained to us).
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How to choose a hotel It's simple - we went for the first time in a long time and for the sake of improving the health of a 4-year-old child, so everything was aimed only at a comfortable stay there with a small child. Rested from 17 to 31 July. I was guided by last year's reviews of other tourists and my personal impressions and feelings, and therefore I express my deep gratitude to the girl who gave a detailed report on her vacation in this hotel with a small child - it was mainly thanks to her accurate report that I finally decided on Vita Park ”and I don’t regret it a bit, because.
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How to choose a hotel
It's simple - we went for the first time in a long time and for the sake of improving the health of a 4-year-old child, so everything was aimed only at a comfortable stay there with a small child. Rested from 17 to 31 July. I was guided by last year's reviews of other tourists and my personal impressions and feelings, and therefore I express my deep gratitude to the girl who gave a detailed report on her vacation in this hotel with a small child - it was mainly thanks to her accurate report that I finally decided on Vita Park ”and I don’t regret it a bit, because... the rest was a success!
About the hotel
Nice small (relatively) and cozy hotel. Rooms without unnecessary frills such as a refrigerator, but with air conditioning, although a refrigerator would not be superfluous for us personally - we brought a lot of medicines with us that needed to be stored in the refrigerator, and upon arrival home we had to throw them away : ( The room is clean and quite comfortable, I liked it furniture - quite thought out, roomy, but devoid of cuteness... The hotel area is clean, they constantly clean it, mow the grass, etc. There is a lot of greenery and old trees, which cannot be said about some hotels on the first line of the sea - from Jordana (or Georgiana ”) to Nona, everything is fine with this, because they are adjacent to the reserve, but the rest, especially those close to the main shopping street, are not very good, just a couple of seedy rose bushes and small trees, so keep that in mind. Located from the sea 10-15 minutes at a leisurely walk, which sometimes it was even useful to walk after a hearty lunch or breakfast We didn’t get along well... For the sake of interest, we somehow went to Kom on Monday evening, when the animation team had a day off. So there is just some kind of madhouse: crowds of people, noise-din. Although very interesting interior design, large pools. And “our” hotel is quieter, calmer, I would even say homely : ) Somehow they hung out near the “Mura”, and it was during dinner - everything was also somehow quiet, peaceful, not stressful.
Cleaning was every day, tip left constantly. Once there was no small money, I left 2 leva - so they took it as a signal for action and changed both the bed and the towels : ) There was a remark about the iron that they couldn’t find it. The iron was always enough for me and at any time. True, they have 2 of them, and one is normal, and the second is like that... Well, the main thing with him is just not to use a steamer so as not to spoil the clothes; )
Eating and drinking
The dining room is a couple of minutes from the hotel. Actually, this is a type of restaurant, but my husband and I just called it that - a dining room, because from the restaurant there are only waiters and the presence of booze.
Honestly and frankly, given the "ultra all inclusive" I wanted something more and interesting. By the end of the holiday, my husband was already taking over his head from the thought that I had to go to the dining room, because I had no idea what to feed the baby - she turned out to be very picky about their food. The remarks about the monotonous breakfast are still relevant from my side - eggs, a couple of salads like "pick, make and season yourself", pancakes, scrambled eggs and a couple of types of sausages or sausages. It seems nothing, but most of the sausages and sausages were not the most edible - live soybeans. They didn't take pancakes often, because they came when there were very queues for them. There were also dry cereals for children. Lunch and dinner were already more interesting, more choice. There were lines, but... I always waited a bit, came up in 3-4 minutes and could definitely take the meat that was cooked on the grill without a queue. Something, but the meat was the most delicious they had, the cooks there cooked it well. Those. pork, lamb, veal, chicken have always been a win-win tasty option. The loss was pasta and potatoes. It's something inedible. Macaroni - okay, but potatoes! How can you ruin a potato? We need to bring them our Belarusian varieties, so that at least they feel the taste : ) There were 4 times fried squids during our stay, twice mussels. Oh, and fish! Their mackerel is something. I have never eaten such mackerel with us - it is fatty, tasty, juicy... This is what it means to live near the sea... There were always two types of soups for lunch and dinner - some are generally inedible, many are very tasty... Well, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions , asparagus beans, cheeses and cheese, olives, there was always some kind of porridge - rice, semolina, pearl barley... Two types of white and two types of red wine on tap - you come and pour it from a barrel. There were often queues at the bar, so their service was rarely used. There was also a mini-pizzeria, but we did not try it - there was still the same soy sausage, and I personally did not see the point of taking it on pizza. And yes, everything that is made from minced meat - cabbage rolls, meatballs, sausage - is very soy, almost only soy, which did not give them a taste. Once I took, like, their signature “shopska salad” - terrible muck, another time for the sake of interest - it was delicious... Why so - I didn’t understand... And yes, juice! Apple! They have it really super-duper, with pulp, not sour and not sweet. There was also something like "Jupi" divorced. I took it a couple of times - and that’s all, thanks, we can drink chemistry at home, although we won’t use this at home any more : ) Several coffee machines in the dining room, I always took coffee with milk, I liked it. They also have delicious teas. Fruits were always pretty monotonous - at the beginning of our visit there were very tasty apricots, then there were not the most delicious peaches and normal nectarines, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, melon and watermelon were several times. Moreover, the melon is not quite familiar to us, some kind of melon they have there is different...
Drinking... Well, my husband only drank beer and wine at lunch or dinner, sometimes he took a gin and tonic. I drank mostly : ) Cocktails. Well, once in a while, of course, it didn’t happen, but my husband found a common language with one barmaid from a snack bar, he came up and asked me to cook something for the girl to her taste, and it was always great! At the end we even gave her a tip for good work : ) Well, Spry, Cola and Fanta. Only everything was somehow not quite real or something, as my husband laughed: “What, for ultra all inclusive, do you want to not be diluted yet? ” Those. in my homeland, from such an amount of drunk alcohol, I would have already rolled around in slums, but here... Even that rarely gave me a head.
Separately, I would like to say about the cuisine on the beach in Havana. I always liked everything there. Compared to poolside snack bar pizza, their pizza is a masterpiece. Sausages were with real minced meat, not soy. There was always enough. Ice cream… Well, there were several varieties, but… I personally liked only banana, everything else is not really mine.
Sea and beach
There are buses from the hotels to the beach - from "Ralitsa" and "Koma", and from "Koma" it always stood near our hotel, the schedule is at the reception. Therefore, I suspect that "Kom" has also joined the "Ralitsa" and "Vita-Park" and they have one owner. We always tried to go there (although we didn’t always succeed), but back on foot. And so twice a day. In the morning, the bus from Ralitsa stopped near our canteen, picked up those who wanted to, but there were always twice as many people who wanted to fit on the bus. Whoever wanted to try to squeeze in, but we always calmly walked to our hotel and got into a comfortable tourist bus, almost free, "Komovsky". The bus from "Ralitsa" was taken only after 4 o'clock, and so it is always packed for some reason, and for some reason "Komovsky" is always, if not half empty, then quite free. But again, I’ll say that if you are not with children, the bus is not so important, you can either knock around for 3-4 minutes, or you can walk like white people and get some fresh air.
There are many sunbeds and umbrellas, but there were not enough umbrellas. True, this happened only on weekends, when a lot of Bulgarians themselves came, and they simply took their places. Sometimes their rescuers drove them, but I saw it only once in all the time.
The biggest disappointment is, alas, the sea. It turned out to be restless. Very restless. When my husband asked, the lifeguard said that the sea would almost always be like this now, because some kind of season changes there. And indeed. The calm sea was only two days before our departure. During these two days the sea was so clear, the water was crystal blue like in a swimming pool. And since the sea was restless, the water was not the cleanest. The husband and daughter were once covered so that the child was afraid of the waves and did not particularly climb into the sea until the end of the trip. Once I was covered so that I lost my glasses (regular). As the optician later said, "these days the sea is working for us. " There were so many like me. Honestly, I expected the beach to be cleaner, since it supposedly had to be sieved every day through some kind of aggregate. And he was still dirty. Probably, it's all about culture, but still... About 15 years ago, the beach near Odessa was even cleaner than here.
It's simple - we went for the first time in a long time and for the sake of improving the health of a 4-year-old child, so everything was aimed only at a comfortable stay there with a small child. Rested from 17 to 31 July. I was guided by last year's reviews of other tourists and my personal impressions and feelings, and therefore I express my deep gratitude to the girl who gave a detailed report on her vacation in this hotel with a small child - it was mainly thanks to her accurate report that I finally decided on Vita Park ”and I don’t regret it a bit, because... the rest was a success!
About the hotel
Nice small (relatively) and cozy hotel. Rooms without unnecessary frills such as a refrigerator, but with air conditioning, although a refrigerator would not be superfluous for us personally - we brought a lot of medicines with us that needed to be stored in the refrigerator, and upon arrival home we had to throw them away : ( The room is clean and quite comfortable, I liked it furniture - quite thought out, roomy, but devoid of cuteness... The hotel area is clean, they constantly clean it, mow the grass, etc. There is a lot of greenery and old trees, which cannot be said about some hotels on the first line of the sea - from Jordana (or Georgiana ”) to Nona, everything is fine with this, because they are adjacent to the reserve, but the rest, especially those close to the main shopping street, are not very good, just a couple of seedy rose bushes and small trees, so keep that in mind. Located from the sea 10-15 minutes at a leisurely walk, which sometimes it was even useful to walk after a hearty lunch or breakfast We didn’t get along well... For the sake of interest, we somehow went to Kom on Monday evening, when the animation team had a day off. So there is just some kind of madhouse: crowds of people, noise-din. Although very interesting interior design, large pools. And “our” hotel is quieter, calmer, I would even say homely : ) Somehow they hung out near the “Mura”, and it was during dinner - everything was also somehow quiet, peaceful, not stressful.
Cleaning was every day, tip left constantly. Once there was no small money, I left 2 leva - so they took it as a signal for action and changed both the bed and the towels : ) There was a remark about the iron that they couldn’t find it. The iron was always enough for me and at any time. True, they have 2 of them, and one is normal, and the second is like that... Well, the main thing with him is just not to use a steamer so as not to spoil the clothes; )
Eating and drinking
The dining room is a couple of minutes from the hotel. Actually, this is a type of restaurant, but my husband and I just called it that - a dining room, because from the restaurant there are only waiters and the presence of booze.
Honestly and frankly, given the "ultra all inclusive" I wanted something more and interesting. By the end of the holiday, my husband was already taking over his head from the thought that I had to go to the dining room, because I had no idea what to feed the baby - she turned out to be very picky about their food. The remarks about the monotonous breakfast are still relevant from my side - eggs, a couple of salads like "pick, make and season yourself", pancakes, scrambled eggs and a couple of types of sausages or sausages. It seems nothing, but most of the sausages and sausages were not the most edible - live soybeans. They didn't take pancakes often, because they came when there were very queues for them. There were also dry cereals for children. Lunch and dinner were already more interesting, more choice. There were lines, but... I always waited a bit, came up in 3-4 minutes and could definitely take the meat that was cooked on the grill without a queue. Something, but the meat was the most delicious they had, the cooks there cooked it well. Those. pork, lamb, veal, chicken have always been a win-win tasty option. The loss was pasta and potatoes. It's something inedible. Macaroni - okay, but potatoes! How can you ruin a potato? We need to bring them our Belarusian varieties, so that at least they feel the taste : ) There were 4 times fried squids during our stay, twice mussels. Oh, and fish! Their mackerel is something. I have never eaten such mackerel with us - it is fatty, tasty, juicy... This is what it means to live near the sea... There were always two types of soups for lunch and dinner - some are generally inedible, many are very tasty... Well, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions , asparagus beans, cheeses and cheese, olives, there was always some kind of porridge - rice, semolina, pearl barley... Two types of white and two types of red wine on tap - you come and pour it from a barrel. There were often queues at the bar, so their service was rarely used. There was also a mini-pizzeria, but we did not try it - there was still the same soy sausage, and I personally did not see the point of taking it on pizza. And yes, everything that is made from minced meat - cabbage rolls, meatballs, sausage - is very soy, almost only soy, which did not give them a taste. Once I took, like, their signature “shopska salad” - terrible muck, another time for the sake of interest - it was delicious... Why so - I didn’t understand... And yes, juice! Apple! They have it really super-duper, with pulp, not sour and not sweet. There was also something like "Jupi" divorced. I took it a couple of times - and that’s all, thanks, we can drink chemistry at home, although we won’t use this at home any more : ) Several coffee machines in the dining room, I always took coffee with milk, I liked it. They also have delicious teas. Fruits were always pretty monotonous - at the beginning of our visit there were very tasty apricots, then there were not the most delicious peaches and normal nectarines, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, melon and watermelon were several times. Moreover, the melon is not quite familiar to us, some kind of melon they have there is different...
Drinking... Well, my husband only drank beer and wine at lunch or dinner, sometimes he took a gin and tonic. I drank mostly : ) Cocktails. Well, once in a while, of course, it didn’t happen, but my husband found a common language with one barmaid from a snack bar, he came up and asked me to cook something for the girl to her taste, and it was always great! At the end we even gave her a tip for good work : ) Well, Spry, Cola and Fanta. Only everything was somehow not quite real or something, as my husband laughed: “What, for ultra all inclusive, do you want to not be diluted yet? ” Those. in my homeland, from such an amount of drunk alcohol, I would have already rolled around in slums, but here... Even that rarely gave me a head.
Separately, I would like to say about the cuisine on the beach in Havana. I always liked everything there. Compared to poolside snack bar pizza, their pizza is a masterpiece. Sausages were with real minced meat, not soy. There was always enough. Ice cream… Well, there were several varieties, but… I personally liked only banana, everything else is not really mine.
Sea and beach
There are buses from the hotels to the beach - from "Ralitsa" and "Koma", and from "Koma" it always stood near our hotel, the schedule is at the reception. Therefore, I suspect that "Kom" has also joined the "Ralitsa" and "Vita-Park" and they have one owner. We always tried to go there (although we didn’t always succeed), but back on foot. And so twice a day. In the morning, the bus from Ralitsa stopped near our canteen, picked up those who wanted to, but there were always twice as many people who wanted to fit on the bus. Whoever wanted to try to squeeze in, but we always calmly walked to our hotel and got into a comfortable tourist bus, almost free, "Komovsky". The bus from "Ralitsa" was taken only after 4 o'clock, and so it is always packed for some reason, and for some reason "Komovsky" is always, if not half empty, then quite free. But again, I’ll say that if you are not with children, the bus is not so important, you can either knock around for 3-4 minutes, or you can walk like white people and get some fresh air.
There are many sunbeds and umbrellas, but there were not enough umbrellas. True, this happened only on weekends, when a lot of Bulgarians themselves came, and they simply took their places. Sometimes their rescuers drove them, but I saw it only once in all the time.
The biggest disappointment is, alas, the sea. It turned out to be restless. Very restless. When my husband asked, the lifeguard said that the sea would almost always be like this now, because some kind of season changes there. And indeed. The calm sea was only two days before our departure. During these two days the sea was so clear, the water was crystal blue like in a swimming pool. And since the sea was restless, the water was not the cleanest. The husband and daughter were once covered so that the child was afraid of the waves and did not particularly climb into the sea until the end of the trip. Once I was covered so that I lost my glasses (regular). As the optician later said, "these days the sea is working for us. " There were so many like me. Honestly, I expected the beach to be cleaner, since it supposedly had to be sieved every day through some kind of aggregate. And he was still dirty. Probably, it's all about culture, but still... About 15 years ago, the beach near Odessa was even cleaner than here.
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From 08/12/2011 to 08/26/2011 we went on vacation to Bulgaria at the Albena resort as a group of four - me, my daughter (1.5 years old), mother and niece (10 years old). I would like to share my impressions, experience and thank the Avocado travel agency (Yekaterinburg) and the NEVA travel agency (Yekaterinburg), who organized our vacation.
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From 08/12/2011 to 08/26/2011 we went on vacation to Bulgaria at the Albena resort as a group of four - me, my daughter (1.5 years old), mother and niece (10 years old).
I would like to share my impressions, experience and thank the Avocado travel agency (Yekaterinburg) and the NEVA travel agency (Yekaterinburg), who organized our vacation.
To be honest, I didn’t want to go with the NEVA tour operator, because the reviews about their work are not the best, however, we were pleasantly surprised by the hotel accommodation, the organization of excursions, and the transfer. So, apparently, once in a while it is not necessary.
The country and the resort were not chosen by chance. When in May the question arose of where to go on vacation with a small child, the choice was between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. Turkey disappeared almost immediately, because. in August it's still hot there - it's hard for a small child... Greece scared me with an unstable political situation. And in Bulgaria it seems calm, mild climate, food close to ours - in general, Bulgaria was chosen. Regarding the resort, too, there were no particular doubts, since Albena is the only resort truly suitable for children - a sandy beach, a gentle entrance to the sea (20 meters of water from the shore knee-deep), no stones, the water is warm, clear; The resort has many water slides and attractions. Everything that was read on the Internet about the resort was confirmed. Umbrellas and sun loungers are free this year (although it is difficult to find free umbrellas at 10 am - only at the end of the beach - all umbrellas are occupied by the sea at 6 am, who is not too lazy to get up, and who plans to spend the whole day on the beach). We spent 2-2.5 hours a day on the beach, so we easily managed with sun loungers (they were always free at 9-10 in the morning). As the NEVA guide told us, Albena is the only resort that has been preserved in its original form - unlike Sunny Beach and Golden Sands, there have not been more hotels, and the resort is simply planted with greenery. The air is really just saturated with the freshness of flowers and trees.
We rested at the Vita Park 3 * hotel. The hotel was also not chosen by chance. I read the reviews of tourists about the hotels of Albena, and the most positive reviews were about the Ralitsa 3* hotel, which is part of the Ralitsa hotel group (Ralitsa 3*, Ralitsa 4* Superior and Vita Park 3*).
The main criteria for choosing a hotel were:
1. Impeccable cuisine, the presence of a children's menu.
2. The presence of children's chairs, preferably - cots, preferably - playgrounds, slides, etc.
3. Clean sandy beach.
4. Close to the airport (within 30-40km)
5. Lack of construction sites near the hotel.
6. View of the rooms on the park - or where it is guaranteed to be quiet and calm from 11 pm to the morning (lack of loud music at night and drunken subjects).
Ralitsa fit all the criteria, but there were no empty seats. We were offered the Vita Park 3 * hotel. Knowing that it is part of the Ralitsa hotel group, I naturally agreed, and we were confirmed the availability. We did not regret the choice of the hotel at all - about it later.
Flight. They flew great. The flight was at 7:20 am. The child had to be woken up early, but there was no particular inconvenience associated with this. Baggage was checked in quickly, customs clearance went through quickly - everything is calm, without delay, which cannot be said about Bulgaria - there is complete crap with this! Upon arrival at the customs, they stood in line for 40 minutes, if not more (two control posts) - and this is all stuffy with a small child - there are no elementary benches. Back - the same story - even worse - there are small children howling at the end (personally, mine did not give anyone peace - she was ready to climb the wall from her whims) - one control post and a huge queue. There is not a single empty seat in the waiting room. Compared to the Bulgarian airport, our airport is a fairy tale!
For the plane, I specially collected soft puzzles, children's books so that the child would not get bored on the plane - all this was very useful. But the food in the jar was not useful, because there is no microwave on the plane, and the plane food is not so bad, as it turned out, they were content with it. The baby slept in my arms for 1.5 hours. Therefore, the flight went, in principle, imperceptibly both there and back. They thought for a long time whether to take a stroller with them - nevertheless they took it and did not regret it for a minute. For long distances without it, nowhere, you don’t have to think about whether you will get a stroller at the hotel (if not your own, but rent a hotel) - at any time at hand, the flight without problems - they took you to the plane, they loaded it into the luggage compartment for free at the plane, received together with luggage in absolutely normal, undamaged condition (there and back are the same). We flew with Ural Airlines (special thanks to them - the flight attendants are super - on the way back they even offered me and my baby a special chair that reclines to make it more comfortable to sleep - they put the bags there so that no one would take it; and little passengers were given coloring books with wax crayons and puzzles so that it was not boring in flight : )
Transfer. We were taken to the hotel in a comfortable minibus in 30 minutes. Our hotel is the first at the entrance to the resort, which is also a huge plus (although for excursions - a minus - we were always picked up last on excursions, seats were taken at the end of the bus right under the air conditioner, but if you ask the guide to book seats on the bus at the beginning or middle in advance, then it's not a problem).
Currency exchange. The national currency is the lev. 1 lev = 20.53 rubles. Currency exchange throughout the resort at one rate - 1.85 leva for 1 euro. In Varna they give more - 1.93-1.95. At the airport, the exchange rate is unfavorable (buying euros - I don’t remember the exchange rate, and selling levs - 1 euro for 2.10 levs, in Albena for 2 levs). Basically, we changed at the hotel at 1.85. In Varna, they tried to change it once, but to no avail. It was Sunday, banks are not open on Sundays. Changed at the exchange office - on the street the rate is 1.95, at the point - 1.59. You ask in the window at what rate the purchase of 200 euros will be. Answer 1.85 (as in our hotel). I had to exchange at the same rate. Although the taxi driver who drove us back to Albena said that we had been deceived - we had to contact him, he would have helped us with the choice of an exchange office - they would have changed for 1.95. In general, if the situation is the same, contact either the taxi driver with whom you arrived, or the guide, or be picky with exchange offices (he said that it is better to change on the main streets), or change on weekdays at banks when banks are open .
Accommodation. We arrived at the hotel at 9:30. Our guide "NEVA" asked at the reception if the rooms were ready for us (we booked two rooms - 1 double and 1 single for me and the child). The boys at the reception gave, it seemed to us, a positive answer, and the guide happily said: “Your numbers are ready. Have a nice holiday. I went. " We, too, delighted with a pleasant surprise, said "Thank you" and said goodbye to the guide. After a while (3-5 minutes) we are told that we need to wait, our rooms are not ready yet…. . I am at a loss trying to figure out why 5 minutes ago they told us one thing, and now they say something else… We are told that our guide misunderstood that she was told the rooms were not ready. If I had not been present at the conversation between the guide and the reception, I might have come to terms with the current state of affairs, checked in my luggage and calmly waited until 13.30 until the room was ready. But I was present during the conversation, and it was quite clear from the intonation that our numbers were ready. I concluded that, probably, you just need to pay (especially since the travel agency warned me that such issues are resolved much faster for a nominal fee). I delicately asked what needs to be done so that the rooms are ready not in 4 hours, but now. Didn't get a clear answer. They called "NEVA", talked to the hotel manager - they heard the same answer - check-in is not earlier than 13.30. Frustrated, they handed over their luggage to the storage room and approached the reception with the question: “What time should we come? “At 13.30? ” They answer us: “Why at 13.30? ” and after the call, apparently, the maid is answered: “In 10 minutes” (??? ) In general, I don’t know why this whole performance was needed, but they really settled us in 10 minutes, moreover, better than we expected - two double rooms with a connecting door (beauty! ), overlooking the street, not the pool, where it is noisy all the time. Everything you need in the room - two beds, two bedside tables, a table, a chair, an armchair, a TV with 2 Russian channels (ORT and Russia), a wardrobe and a cabinet for shoes. There is a table and two chairs on the balcony. Shower in bathroom. There is a mosquito net at the balcony door, so you can not take mosquito repellent. They immediately brought a baby cot to the room (free of charge). The rooms are not luxury, of course, but quite clean and tidy. It's good that the floor is tiled and not carpeted, because. we have not yet learned to go to the potty, but I would like to take a break from diapers on vacation . All the initial unpleasant emotions from communicating with the reception immediately disappeared. This was, perhaps, the only negative moment of the holiday (with the exception of the lack of an iron - more on that later). By the way, the representative of "NEVA" Darina ("on duty" in Albena) did not take long to wait - she appeared literally 1.5-2 hours after it all started, apologized for the inconvenience, spent a lot of time on us, telling in detail about the resort, about the hotel, about excursions and about other little things that interested us. By the way, a big THANK YOU to her!
Meals at the hotel. They tried to refuse us lunch, since lunch was ordered for us on the last day of our stay, but I said that we were leaving at 9.20 in the morning and we didn’t need lunch at all on the last day - we need lunch now, and the issue was settled. We agreed again through Darina. They immediately put on bracelets and showed where the restaurant is located. There is only one kitchen for 3 hotels of the Ralitsa group, the halls of the restaurants are different. For the first week I went to the restaurant with my children's dishes (a plate, a mug, 2 spoons), being afraid of any infections, until I finally realized that it was completely unnecessary, and the dishes in the restaurant are really clean - there is nothing to fear. The food there was really at a high level - delicious, varied, children's cuisine, high chairs (always free), pleasant music, delicious wine - SUPER!! ! I was afraid that the child would have stomach problems due to changes in nutrition, but the fears were in vain. Her appetite was better than the three of us put together, there was always a children's kitchen. For breakfast, porridge / scrambled eggs, a sandwich with soft cheese (overeating! - I tried to find something similar in Albena supermarkets - it turns out to be a rarity, so if you want to buy home, look in advance - they say it happens); for lunch - soup (with finely chopped vegetables, so a blender is useless), vegetable casserole / stuffed zucchini / steamed meatballs, fruit; for dinner - Bulgarian sour milk (our curdled milk) with berries from compote, depending on the appetite, something vegetable. From drinks they drank, mainly compote. For adults, there is also a very large selection: salads, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. I read in some reviews about the lack of free tables and queues for meat. There was no free table 1 time in 14 days, and then we had to wait not long. There really are lines for meat - there used to be 10 people, for pancakes the same way, but we somehow managed without all this - there is a lot of food without this. And if you come immediately to the opening of the restaurant, then no queues.
Beach and sea. The beach is 20-25 minutes from the hotel. With a child - far away, so we went by bus. The bus to the beach and back runs every 20 minutes. Travel time is 3-5 minutes. From the bus to the beach - 2 minutes. Trains also run around the resort, but they are paid - 3 levs for an adult, 2 levs for a child, babies are free. They also run every 20 minutes. I already wrote about the beach - impeccable. By the way, you can ride a boat - 30 minutes 5 leva per person (100 rubles), small children - for free. Great walk with music. As beach accessories, we bought a lot of all sorts of things, of which only a sand set for the little one and armlets for the niece were useful. A tent from the sun, an inflatable circle, an inflatable mattress - all this lay in the room as unnecessary. And in Albena they bought a boat for a child with two cut holes for legs in the bottom, and she swam in the sea with pleasure with us - it turned out to be an irreplaceable thing. The prices there for such goods are the same as ours - there is everything from swimming goggles to mattresses and sun umbrellas, and they inflate, by the way, right there. But the hats are expensive - a simple panama hat cost me 10 leva (300 rubles), so it's better to take care of it at home. Large beach towels from 8 to 10 leva.
Attractions. Attractions are indeed located throughout Albena. The cost is from 1 lev to 10 lev. Free only playgrounds with swings and slides, which are even on the beach. The average price of attractions is 3-5 leva. The assortment is small (there are more attractions in Eburg and better in quality). We were not advised to go to the local circus (a visitor, very meager compared to the Russian one). For attractions it is better to go to Varna - Seaside Park. The driver of a taxi or minibus so directly and say - you need to go where the rides are, because. the park is long - a dolphinarium, an aquarium and attractions in different parts of the park. There are a lot of attractions - both for adults (there are even roller coasters) and for children. The cost for all rides is 2 leva. If you buy a card of 30 points for 15 leva, the cost of the attractions is 2 points (i. e. 1 lev - 20 rubles). It is better to go there for the whole day - from morning to evening. There are cafes right in the park. Lunch for 4 cost us about 40 leva (shopska salad, beer/cocktail, pizza).
Animation. I won’t say anything about the daytime animation by the pool - we were sleeping at that time, and the hotel’s evening animation was excellent. I'm talking about children's animation in the hotel's amphitheater, as they entertained children, not themselves. From 20.30 to 21.00 every day children's disco, from 21.00 to 21.30 shows for children. Children (and not only children - adults on the ground danced and sang along) were completely delighted. Guys-animators - Well done with a capital letter!
Tours and transport. Since I have a small child, only my mother and niece went on excursions. On excursions with "NEVA" we went to Nessebar (2.5 hours by bus from Albena), Veliko Tarnovo (4 hours from Albena) and Sofia (7 hours from Albena - only mother went - it's hard for a child). They say that you can take excursions in Varna - perhaps it will cost less. You can go by yourself (buses go from Varna), the hotel can be booked via the Internet. We didn't experiment. I liked the excursions very much - the most beautiful ancient cities (especially Plovdiv, Pleven - on the way to Sofia), an interesting laser show in Veliko Tarnovo, which is worth seeing, Shipka Mountain, from where a beautiful view opens, good guides. Collectors of knives and daggers can complete their collection at the ethnographic open-air museum in Gabrovo (on the way to Veliko Tarnovo) - they are made there and delivered throughout Bulgaria. They also produce silver jewelry. In Sofia, the Rila Monastery - my mother said that for this alone it is worth enduring 7 hours of the road. We went there overnight. We spent the night in a great hotel. They fed both lunch and dinner.
But you can go to Varna and Balchik yourself. Minibuses run from the Albena bus station (autogara in Bulgarian). 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The ticket price to Balchik is 2 levs, to Varna - 5 levs. You can take the stroller with you - the driver will put it in the luggage compartment. To Balchik - 10 minutes, to Varna - 30 minutes. You can use the services of taxi drivers (they cluster at the Albena bus station, at the Varna Cathedral or at the Balchik botanical garden). The road will cost to Balchik - from 20 to 25 levs round trip, to Varna - from 40 to 50 levs round trip. Taxi drivers at the hotel charge more - up to 70 levs. Waiting is negotiated separately. Be sure to bargain, pretending that you know everything, and say the end point of the route, otherwise it will take you to the Albena bus station and ask for 5 levs from the top to the hotel, although it is 2 minutes away. In Balchik, it is worth seeing the batanic garden (you need to ask to stop at the botanical garden) and the palace of Mary (which is located there). In Varna, we were in the Seaside Park (the attractions are excellent; there is nothing special to watch in the aquarium, we didn’t have time to see the show at the Dolphinarium - there at a certain time, so it’s better to know the schedule in advance - they say it’s good). If someone decides to buy a tablecloth as a gift (they are sold by grandmothers in the Seaside Park), it is better to buy in the Albena supermarket - it is better and cheaper there. Take a trip to the Stone Forest (by taxi from Varna Cathedral 20 km, from 40 to 60 leva round-trip - bargain! - we went for 50 - they threw it for an extra wait and for delivery to the attractions). Waiting there will be at least 1 hour (we thought it would be less). We read a lot about the fact that photographic equipment breaks down there. Actually, I’m a skeptic and don’t really believe in such things, but right in the energy center of the Stone Forest my camera shutter broke, and at the end of my vacation it refused to work at all - photos are viewed on it, but the photography and video shooting mode does not work. Of course, I find other explanations for this - most likely the sand got in (it is very dry, hot there, there is sand, stones and the wind is blowing). Perhaps if the camera was in a case, everything would be fine. But doubts remained. . .
The pirate walk didn’t make much of an impression on me personally, but the kids seemed to be satisfied. The guide from the Safari (jeep trips) said that this excursion should be taken in Varna. It is more interesting there - the "battle" between pirates of different ships. We took from "NEVA" and "the battle" was on the ship - we were divided into two teams and we poured water over each other from buckets (not particularly interesting).
Safari (jeep ride) is also so-so. Instead of giraffes, horses, instead of lions, a cat and a dog fed mushrooms (for the first time I saw a cat and a dog eating mushrooms - they were starving, apparently). The excursion program includes driving on broken roads in a gas truck, a trip to a local apiary, where they will tell you how honey is produced (by the way, honey is very tasty, natural and inexpensive compared to ours - you can buy it), a trip to a private "factory" for the production of barrels for storing wine (you can also buy homemade Rakia there) and a picnic (wine, mineral water, soda for children and fried mushrooms). Fans of "broken roads" might like it. Riding over bumps and dusty clothes do not impress me very much.
Communication and Internet. Free Wi-Fi is available in the hotel lobby. But it works disgustingly (or I was just unlucky) - it constantly crashed and tried to restore the connection again for 30-40 minutes. Wi-Fi does not work in the rooms - checked. I used Skype and ICQ to communicate with family and friends - the most inexpensive and most convenient way to communicate. The laptop can be deposited in the safe. The safe is not in the room, but at the reception, it costs 40 leva (800 rubles) for 2 weeks. When there were problems with Wi-Fi, I called from the post office. The post office is 5 minutes from the hotel. A call to a landline number costs 0.20 leva (4 rubles) / minute, to cell phones, in my opinion, 1 lev. But the connection, as I was later told, was not very good - they heard me badly. To communicate with each other, cards are sold at the post office, but we did not need it.
ADVIСE.
1. Perhaps it’s better to take a small travel iron with you, since I froze the iron at the reception for the whole day (I got everyone there) - they have 2 irons for the whole hotel, there is no use system, as such - no deposits need to be left, use it as much as you want, so irons roam around the numbers of friends, acquaintances of those who originally took it - in general, there are no ends to be found. The hotel manager had to donate her iron to us so that I could finally fall behind.
2. Take diapers with a margin - it took us at least 4 pieces a day (in our homeland we manage a maximum of 3).
3. There is no hair dryer - take your own.
4. Do not forget to notify the reception about your departure in advance if you are leaving early in the morning so that you can have a packed lunch, as the hotel guide will not warn you, and you may be left without breakfast at all. When leaving for excursions early in the morning, it is also better to warn just in case.
5. When leaving Bulgaria, do not forget to put all sharp objects in your luggage - my folding knife was confiscated at customs - all bags go through a personal inspection (carefully checked by hand). You can’t take liquids with you on the plane - only baby water, but they will ask you to drink from a bottle with them.
I would like to share my impressions, experience and thank the Avocado travel agency (Yekaterinburg) and the NEVA travel agency (Yekaterinburg), who organized our vacation.
To be honest, I didn’t want to go with the NEVA tour operator, because the reviews about their work are not the best, however, we were pleasantly surprised by the hotel accommodation, the organization of excursions, and the transfer. So, apparently, once in a while it is not necessary.
The country and the resort were not chosen by chance. When in May the question arose of where to go on vacation with a small child, the choice was between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. Turkey disappeared almost immediately, because. in August it's still hot there - it's hard for a small child... Greece scared me with an unstable political situation. And in Bulgaria it seems calm, mild climate, food close to ours - in general, Bulgaria was chosen. Regarding the resort, too, there were no particular doubts, since Albena is the only resort truly suitable for children - a sandy beach, a gentle entrance to the sea (20 meters of water from the shore knee-deep), no stones, the water is warm, clear; The resort has many water slides and attractions. Everything that was read on the Internet about the resort was confirmed. Umbrellas and sun loungers are free this year (although it is difficult to find free umbrellas at 10 am - only at the end of the beach - all umbrellas are occupied by the sea at 6 am, who is not too lazy to get up, and who plans to spend the whole day on the beach). We spent 2-2.5 hours a day on the beach, so we easily managed with sun loungers (they were always free at 9-10 in the morning). As the NEVA guide told us, Albena is the only resort that has been preserved in its original form - unlike Sunny Beach and Golden Sands, there have not been more hotels, and the resort is simply planted with greenery. The air is really just saturated with the freshness of flowers and trees.
We rested at the Vita Park 3 * hotel. The hotel was also not chosen by chance. I read the reviews of tourists about the hotels of Albena, and the most positive reviews were about the Ralitsa 3* hotel, which is part of the Ralitsa hotel group (Ralitsa 3*, Ralitsa 4* Superior and Vita Park 3*).
The main criteria for choosing a hotel were:
1. Impeccable cuisine, the presence of a children's menu.
2. The presence of children's chairs, preferably - cots, preferably - playgrounds, slides, etc.
3. Clean sandy beach.
4. Close to the airport (within 30-40km)
5. Lack of construction sites near the hotel.
6. View of the rooms on the park - or where it is guaranteed to be quiet and calm from 11 pm to the morning (lack of loud music at night and drunken subjects).
Ralitsa fit all the criteria, but there were no empty seats. We were offered the Vita Park 3 * hotel. Knowing that it is part of the Ralitsa hotel group, I naturally agreed, and we were confirmed the availability. We did not regret the choice of the hotel at all - about it later.
Flight. They flew great. The flight was at 7:20 am. The child had to be woken up early, but there was no particular inconvenience associated with this. Baggage was checked in quickly, customs clearance went through quickly - everything is calm, without delay, which cannot be said about Bulgaria - there is complete crap with this! Upon arrival at the customs, they stood in line for 40 minutes, if not more (two control posts) - and this is all stuffy with a small child - there are no elementary benches. Back - the same story - even worse - there are small children howling at the end (personally, mine did not give anyone peace - she was ready to climb the wall from her whims) - one control post and a huge queue. There is not a single empty seat in the waiting room. Compared to the Bulgarian airport, our airport is a fairy tale!
For the plane, I specially collected soft puzzles, children's books so that the child would not get bored on the plane - all this was very useful. But the food in the jar was not useful, because there is no microwave on the plane, and the plane food is not so bad, as it turned out, they were content with it. The baby slept in my arms for 1.5 hours. Therefore, the flight went, in principle, imperceptibly both there and back. They thought for a long time whether to take a stroller with them - nevertheless they took it and did not regret it for a minute. For long distances without it, nowhere, you don’t have to think about whether you will get a stroller at the hotel (if not your own, but rent a hotel) - at any time at hand, the flight without problems - they took you to the plane, they loaded it into the luggage compartment for free at the plane, received together with luggage in absolutely normal, undamaged condition (there and back are the same). We flew with Ural Airlines (special thanks to them - the flight attendants are super - on the way back they even offered me and my baby a special chair that reclines to make it more comfortable to sleep - they put the bags there so that no one would take it; and little passengers were given coloring books with wax crayons and puzzles so that it was not boring in flight : )
Transfer. We were taken to the hotel in a comfortable minibus in 30 minutes. Our hotel is the first at the entrance to the resort, which is also a huge plus (although for excursions - a minus - we were always picked up last on excursions, seats were taken at the end of the bus right under the air conditioner, but if you ask the guide to book seats on the bus at the beginning or middle in advance, then it's not a problem).
Currency exchange. The national currency is the lev. 1 lev = 20.53 rubles. Currency exchange throughout the resort at one rate - 1.85 leva for 1 euro. In Varna they give more - 1.93-1.95. At the airport, the exchange rate is unfavorable (buying euros - I don’t remember the exchange rate, and selling levs - 1 euro for 2.10 levs, in Albena for 2 levs). Basically, we changed at the hotel at 1.85. In Varna, they tried to change it once, but to no avail. It was Sunday, banks are not open on Sundays. Changed at the exchange office - on the street the rate is 1.95, at the point - 1.59. You ask in the window at what rate the purchase of 200 euros will be. Answer 1.85 (as in our hotel). I had to exchange at the same rate. Although the taxi driver who drove us back to Albena said that we had been deceived - we had to contact him, he would have helped us with the choice of an exchange office - they would have changed for 1.95. In general, if the situation is the same, contact either the taxi driver with whom you arrived, or the guide, or be picky with exchange offices (he said that it is better to change on the main streets), or change on weekdays at banks when banks are open .
Accommodation. We arrived at the hotel at 9:30. Our guide "NEVA" asked at the reception if the rooms were ready for us (we booked two rooms - 1 double and 1 single for me and the child). The boys at the reception gave, it seemed to us, a positive answer, and the guide happily said: “Your numbers are ready. Have a nice holiday. I went. " We, too, delighted with a pleasant surprise, said "Thank you" and said goodbye to the guide. After a while (3-5 minutes) we are told that we need to wait, our rooms are not ready yet…. . I am at a loss trying to figure out why 5 minutes ago they told us one thing, and now they say something else… We are told that our guide misunderstood that she was told the rooms were not ready. If I had not been present at the conversation between the guide and the reception, I might have come to terms with the current state of affairs, checked in my luggage and calmly waited until 13.30 until the room was ready. But I was present during the conversation, and it was quite clear from the intonation that our numbers were ready. I concluded that, probably, you just need to pay (especially since the travel agency warned me that such issues are resolved much faster for a nominal fee). I delicately asked what needs to be done so that the rooms are ready not in 4 hours, but now. Didn't get a clear answer. They called "NEVA", talked to the hotel manager - they heard the same answer - check-in is not earlier than 13.30. Frustrated, they handed over their luggage to the storage room and approached the reception with the question: “What time should we come? “At 13.30? ” They answer us: “Why at 13.30? ” and after the call, apparently, the maid is answered: “In 10 minutes” (??? ) In general, I don’t know why this whole performance was needed, but they really settled us in 10 minutes, moreover, better than we expected - two double rooms with a connecting door (beauty! ), overlooking the street, not the pool, where it is noisy all the time. Everything you need in the room - two beds, two bedside tables, a table, a chair, an armchair, a TV with 2 Russian channels (ORT and Russia), a wardrobe and a cabinet for shoes. There is a table and two chairs on the balcony. Shower in bathroom. There is a mosquito net at the balcony door, so you can not take mosquito repellent. They immediately brought a baby cot to the room (free of charge). The rooms are not luxury, of course, but quite clean and tidy. It's good that the floor is tiled and not carpeted, because. we have not yet learned to go to the potty, but I would like to take a break from diapers on vacation . All the initial unpleasant emotions from communicating with the reception immediately disappeared. This was, perhaps, the only negative moment of the holiday (with the exception of the lack of an iron - more on that later). By the way, the representative of "NEVA" Darina ("on duty" in Albena) did not take long to wait - she appeared literally 1.5-2 hours after it all started, apologized for the inconvenience, spent a lot of time on us, telling in detail about the resort, about the hotel, about excursions and about other little things that interested us. By the way, a big THANK YOU to her!
Meals at the hotel. They tried to refuse us lunch, since lunch was ordered for us on the last day of our stay, but I said that we were leaving at 9.20 in the morning and we didn’t need lunch at all on the last day - we need lunch now, and the issue was settled. We agreed again through Darina. They immediately put on bracelets and showed where the restaurant is located. There is only one kitchen for 3 hotels of the Ralitsa group, the halls of the restaurants are different. For the first week I went to the restaurant with my children's dishes (a plate, a mug, 2 spoons), being afraid of any infections, until I finally realized that it was completely unnecessary, and the dishes in the restaurant are really clean - there is nothing to fear. The food there was really at a high level - delicious, varied, children's cuisine, high chairs (always free), pleasant music, delicious wine - SUPER!! ! I was afraid that the child would have stomach problems due to changes in nutrition, but the fears were in vain. Her appetite was better than the three of us put together, there was always a children's kitchen. For breakfast, porridge / scrambled eggs, a sandwich with soft cheese (overeating! - I tried to find something similar in Albena supermarkets - it turns out to be a rarity, so if you want to buy home, look in advance - they say it happens); for lunch - soup (with finely chopped vegetables, so a blender is useless), vegetable casserole / stuffed zucchini / steamed meatballs, fruit; for dinner - Bulgarian sour milk (our curdled milk) with berries from compote, depending on the appetite, something vegetable. From drinks they drank, mainly compote. For adults, there is also a very large selection: salads, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. I read in some reviews about the lack of free tables and queues for meat. There was no free table 1 time in 14 days, and then we had to wait not long. There really are lines for meat - there used to be 10 people, for pancakes the same way, but we somehow managed without all this - there is a lot of food without this. And if you come immediately to the opening of the restaurant, then no queues.
Beach and sea. The beach is 20-25 minutes from the hotel. With a child - far away, so we went by bus. The bus to the beach and back runs every 20 minutes. Travel time is 3-5 minutes. From the bus to the beach - 2 minutes. Trains also run around the resort, but they are paid - 3 levs for an adult, 2 levs for a child, babies are free. They also run every 20 minutes. I already wrote about the beach - impeccable. By the way, you can ride a boat - 30 minutes 5 leva per person (100 rubles), small children - for free. Great walk with music. As beach accessories, we bought a lot of all sorts of things, of which only a sand set for the little one and armlets for the niece were useful. A tent from the sun, an inflatable circle, an inflatable mattress - all this lay in the room as unnecessary. And in Albena they bought a boat for a child with two cut holes for legs in the bottom, and she swam in the sea with pleasure with us - it turned out to be an irreplaceable thing. The prices there for such goods are the same as ours - there is everything from swimming goggles to mattresses and sun umbrellas, and they inflate, by the way, right there. But the hats are expensive - a simple panama hat cost me 10 leva (300 rubles), so it's better to take care of it at home. Large beach towels from 8 to 10 leva.
Attractions. Attractions are indeed located throughout Albena. The cost is from 1 lev to 10 lev. Free only playgrounds with swings and slides, which are even on the beach. The average price of attractions is 3-5 leva. The assortment is small (there are more attractions in Eburg and better in quality). We were not advised to go to the local circus (a visitor, very meager compared to the Russian one). For attractions it is better to go to Varna - Seaside Park. The driver of a taxi or minibus so directly and say - you need to go where the rides are, because. the park is long - a dolphinarium, an aquarium and attractions in different parts of the park. There are a lot of attractions - both for adults (there are even roller coasters) and for children. The cost for all rides is 2 leva. If you buy a card of 30 points for 15 leva, the cost of the attractions is 2 points (i. e. 1 lev - 20 rubles). It is better to go there for the whole day - from morning to evening. There are cafes right in the park. Lunch for 4 cost us about 40 leva (shopska salad, beer/cocktail, pizza).
Animation. I won’t say anything about the daytime animation by the pool - we were sleeping at that time, and the hotel’s evening animation was excellent. I'm talking about children's animation in the hotel's amphitheater, as they entertained children, not themselves. From 20.30 to 21.00 every day children's disco, from 21.00 to 21.30 shows for children. Children (and not only children - adults on the ground danced and sang along) were completely delighted. Guys-animators - Well done with a capital letter!
Tours and transport. Since I have a small child, only my mother and niece went on excursions. On excursions with "NEVA" we went to Nessebar (2.5 hours by bus from Albena), Veliko Tarnovo (4 hours from Albena) and Sofia (7 hours from Albena - only mother went - it's hard for a child). They say that you can take excursions in Varna - perhaps it will cost less. You can go by yourself (buses go from Varna), the hotel can be booked via the Internet. We didn't experiment. I liked the excursions very much - the most beautiful ancient cities (especially Plovdiv, Pleven - on the way to Sofia), an interesting laser show in Veliko Tarnovo, which is worth seeing, Shipka Mountain, from where a beautiful view opens, good guides. Collectors of knives and daggers can complete their collection at the ethnographic open-air museum in Gabrovo (on the way to Veliko Tarnovo) - they are made there and delivered throughout Bulgaria. They also produce silver jewelry. In Sofia, the Rila Monastery - my mother said that for this alone it is worth enduring 7 hours of the road. We went there overnight. We spent the night in a great hotel. They fed both lunch and dinner.
But you can go to Varna and Balchik yourself. Minibuses run from the Albena bus station (autogara in Bulgarian). 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The ticket price to Balchik is 2 levs, to Varna - 5 levs. You can take the stroller with you - the driver will put it in the luggage compartment. To Balchik - 10 minutes, to Varna - 30 minutes. You can use the services of taxi drivers (they cluster at the Albena bus station, at the Varna Cathedral or at the Balchik botanical garden). The road will cost to Balchik - from 20 to 25 levs round trip, to Varna - from 40 to 50 levs round trip. Taxi drivers at the hotel charge more - up to 70 levs. Waiting is negotiated separately. Be sure to bargain, pretending that you know everything, and say the end point of the route, otherwise it will take you to the Albena bus station and ask for 5 levs from the top to the hotel, although it is 2 minutes away. In Balchik, it is worth seeing the batanic garden (you need to ask to stop at the botanical garden) and the palace of Mary (which is located there). In Varna, we were in the Seaside Park (the attractions are excellent; there is nothing special to watch in the aquarium, we didn’t have time to see the show at the Dolphinarium - there at a certain time, so it’s better to know the schedule in advance - they say it’s good). If someone decides to buy a tablecloth as a gift (they are sold by grandmothers in the Seaside Park), it is better to buy in the Albena supermarket - it is better and cheaper there. Take a trip to the Stone Forest (by taxi from Varna Cathedral 20 km, from 40 to 60 leva round-trip - bargain! - we went for 50 - they threw it for an extra wait and for delivery to the attractions). Waiting there will be at least 1 hour (we thought it would be less). We read a lot about the fact that photographic equipment breaks down there. Actually, I’m a skeptic and don’t really believe in such things, but right in the energy center of the Stone Forest my camera shutter broke, and at the end of my vacation it refused to work at all - photos are viewed on it, but the photography and video shooting mode does not work. Of course, I find other explanations for this - most likely the sand got in (it is very dry, hot there, there is sand, stones and the wind is blowing). Perhaps if the camera was in a case, everything would be fine. But doubts remained. . .
The pirate walk didn’t make much of an impression on me personally, but the kids seemed to be satisfied. The guide from the Safari (jeep trips) said that this excursion should be taken in Varna. It is more interesting there - the "battle" between pirates of different ships. We took from "NEVA" and "the battle" was on the ship - we were divided into two teams and we poured water over each other from buckets (not particularly interesting).
Safari (jeep ride) is also so-so. Instead of giraffes, horses, instead of lions, a cat and a dog fed mushrooms (for the first time I saw a cat and a dog eating mushrooms - they were starving, apparently). The excursion program includes driving on broken roads in a gas truck, a trip to a local apiary, where they will tell you how honey is produced (by the way, honey is very tasty, natural and inexpensive compared to ours - you can buy it), a trip to a private "factory" for the production of barrels for storing wine (you can also buy homemade Rakia there) and a picnic (wine, mineral water, soda for children and fried mushrooms). Fans of "broken roads" might like it. Riding over bumps and dusty clothes do not impress me very much.
Communication and Internet. Free Wi-Fi is available in the hotel lobby. But it works disgustingly (or I was just unlucky) - it constantly crashed and tried to restore the connection again for 30-40 minutes. Wi-Fi does not work in the rooms - checked. I used Skype and ICQ to communicate with family and friends - the most inexpensive and most convenient way to communicate. The laptop can be deposited in the safe. The safe is not in the room, but at the reception, it costs 40 leva (800 rubles) for 2 weeks. When there were problems with Wi-Fi, I called from the post office. The post office is 5 minutes from the hotel. A call to a landline number costs 0.20 leva (4 rubles) / minute, to cell phones, in my opinion, 1 lev. But the connection, as I was later told, was not very good - they heard me badly. To communicate with each other, cards are sold at the post office, but we did not need it.
ADVIСE.
1. Perhaps it’s better to take a small travel iron with you, since I froze the iron at the reception for the whole day (I got everyone there) - they have 2 irons for the whole hotel, there is no use system, as such - no deposits need to be left, use it as much as you want, so irons roam around the numbers of friends, acquaintances of those who originally took it - in general, there are no ends to be found. The hotel manager had to donate her iron to us so that I could finally fall behind.
2. Take diapers with a margin - it took us at least 4 pieces a day (in our homeland we manage a maximum of 3).
3. There is no hair dryer - take your own.
4. Do not forget to notify the reception about your departure in advance if you are leaving early in the morning so that you can have a packed lunch, as the hotel guide will not warn you, and you may be left without breakfast at all. When leaving for excursions early in the morning, it is also better to warn just in case.
5. When leaving Bulgaria, do not forget to put all sharp objects in your luggage - my folding knife was confiscated at customs - all bags go through a personal inspection (carefully checked by hand). You can’t take liquids with you on the plane - only baby water, but they will ask you to drink from a bottle with them.
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From 12.08. 2011 to 26.08. 2011 we went on vacation to Bulgaria to the resort of Albena, four of us - me, my daughter (1.5 years old), mother and niece (10 years old). I would like to share my impressions, experience and thank the Avocado travel agency (Yekaterinburg) and the NEVA travel agency (Yekaterinburg), who organized our vacation.
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From 12.08. 2011 to 26.08. 2011 we went on vacation to Bulgaria to the resort of Albena, four of us - me, my daughter (1.5 years old), mother and niece (10 years old). I would like to share my impressions, experience and thank the Avocado travel agency (Yekaterinburg) and the NEVA travel agency (Yekaterinburg), who organized our vacation. The country and the resort were not chosen by chance. When in May the question arose of where to go on vacation with a small child, the choice was between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. Turkey disappeared almost immediately, because in August it is still hot there - it’s hard for a small child... Greece scared me with an unstable political situation. And in Bulgaria it seems calm, mild climate, food close to ours - in general, Bulgaria was chosen. Regarding the resort, too, there were no particular doubts, since Albena is the only resort truly suitable for children - a sandy beach, a gentle entrance to the sea (20 meters of water from the shore knee-deep), no stones, the water is warm, clear; The resort has many water slides and attractions. Everything that was read on the Internet about the resort was confirmed. Umbrellas and sun loungers are free this year (although it is difficult to find free umbrellas at 10 am - only at the end of the beach - all umbrellas are occupied by the sea at 6 am, who is not too lazy to get up, and who plans to spend the whole day on the beach). We spent 2-2.5 hours a day on the beach, so we easily managed with sun loungers (they were always free at 9-10 in the morning). As the NEVA guide told us, Albena is the only resort that has been preserved in its original form - unlike Sunny Beach and Golden Sands, there have not been more hotels, and the resort is simply planted with greenery. The air is really just saturated with the freshness of flowers and trees. We rested at the Vita Park 3 * hotel. The hotel was also not chosen by chance. I read the reviews of tourists about the hotels of Albena, and the most positive reviews were about the Ralitsa 3* hotel, which is part of the Ralitsa hotel group (Ralitsa 3*, Ralitsa 4* Superior and Vita Park 3*). The main criteria for choosing a hotel were: 1. Impeccable cuisine, the presence of a children's menu. 2. The presence of children's chairs, preferably cots, preferably playgrounds, slides, etc. 3. Clean sandy beach. 4. Not far from the airport (within 30-40 km) 5. Lack of construction sites near the hotel. 6. View of the rooms on the park - or where it is guaranteed to be quiet and calm from 11 pm to the morning (lack of loud music at night and drunken subjects). Ralitsa fit all the criteria, but there were no empty seats. We were offered the Vita Park 3 * hotel. Knowing that it is part of the Ralitsa hotel group, I naturally agreed, and we were confirmed the availability. We did not regret the choice of the hotel at all - about it later. Flight. They flew great. The flight was at 7.20 am. The child had to be woken up early, but there was no particular inconvenience associated with this. Baggage was checked in quickly, customs clearance went through quickly - everything is calm, without delay, which cannot be said about Bulgaria - there is complete crap with this! Upon arrival at the customs, they stood in line for 40 minutes, if not more (two control posts) - and this is all stuffy with a small child - there are no elementary benches. Back - the same story - even worse - there are small children howling at the end (personally, mine did not give anyone peace - she was ready to climb the wall from her whims) - one control post and a huge queue. And there's not a single empty seat in the waiting room. . Compared to the Bulgarian airport, our airport is a fairy tale! For the plane, I specially collected soft puzzles, children's books so that the child would not get bored on the plane - all this was very useful. But the food in the jar was not useful, because there is no microwave on the plane, and the plane food is not so bad, as it turned out, they were content with it. The baby slept in my arms for 1.5 hours. Therefore, the flight went, in principle, imperceptibly both there and back. They thought for a long time whether to take a stroller with them - nevertheless they took it and did not regret it for a minute. For long distances without it, nowhere, you don’t have to think about whether you will get a stroller at the hotel (if not your own, but for rent from the hotel) - at any time at hand, the flight without problems - they took you to the plane, they loaded it into the luggage compartment for free at the plane, received together with luggage in absolutely normal, undamaged condition (there and back are the same). We flew with Ural Airlines (special thanks to them - the flight attendants are super - on the way back they even offered me and my baby a special chair that reclines to make it more comfortable to sleep - they put the bags there so that no one would take it; and little passengers were given coloring books with wax crayons and puzzles so that it was not boring in flight : ) Transfer. We were taken to the hotel in a comfortable minibus in 30 minutes. Our hotel is the first at the entrance to the resort, which is also a huge plus (although for excursions - a minus - we were always picked up last on excursions, seats were taken at the end of the bus right under the air conditioner, but if you ask the guide to book seats on the bus at the beginning or middle in advance, then it's not a problem). Currency exchange. The national currency is the lev. 1 lev = 20.53 rubles. Currency exchange throughout the resort at one rate - 1.85 leva for 1 euro. In Varna they give more - 1.93-1.95. At the airport, the exchange rate is unfavorable (buying euros - I don’t remember the exchange rate, and selling levs - 1 euro for 2.10 levs, in Albena for 2 levs). Basically, we changed at the hotel at 1.85. In Varna they tried to change it once, but without success. It was Sunday, banks are not open on Sundays. Changed at the exchange office - on the street the rate is 1.95, at the point - 1.59. You ask in the window at what rate the purchase of 200 euros will be. Answer 1.85 (as in our hotel). I had to exchange at the same rate. Although the taxi driver who drove us back to Albena said that we had been deceived - we had to contact him, he would have helped us with the choice of an exchange office - they would have changed for 1.95. In general, if the situation is the same, contact either the taxi driver with whom you arrived, or the guide, or be picky with exchange offices (he said that it is better to change on the main streets), or change on weekdays at banks when banks are open . Accommodation. We arrived at the hotel at 9.30. Our guide "NEVA" asked at the reception if the rooms were ready for us (we booked two rooms - 1 double and 1 single for me and the child). The boys at the reception gave, it seemed to us, a positive answer, and the guide happily said: “Your numbers are ready. Have a nice holiday. I went. " We, too, overjoyed by a pleasant surprise, said "Thank you" and said goodbye to the guide. thirty? " They answer us: “Why at 13.30? ” and after the call, apparently, the maid is answered: “In 10 minutes” (??? ) In general, I don’t know why this whole performance was needed, but they really settled us in 10 minutes, moreover, better than we expected - two double rooms with a connecting door (beauty! ), overlooking the street, not the pool, where it is noisy all the time. Everything you need in the room - two beds, two bedside tables, a table, a chair, an armchair, a TV with 2 Russian channels (ORT and Russia), a wardrobe and a cabinet for shoes. There is a table and two chairs on the balcony. Shower in bathroom. There is a mosquito net at the balcony door, so you can not take mosquito repellent. They immediately brought a baby cot to the room (free of charge). The rooms are not luxury, of course, but quite clean and tidy. It’s good that the floor is tiled, not carpeted, because we haven’t learned how to go to the potty yet, and I would like to take a break from diapers on vacation. All the initial unpleasant emotions from communicating with the reception immediately disappeared. This was, perhaps, the only negative moment of the holiday (with the exception of the lack of an iron - more on that later). By the way, the representative of "NEVA" Darina ("on duty" in Albena) did not take long to wait - she appeared literally 1.5-2 hours after it all started, apologized for the inconvenience, spent a lot of time on us, telling in detail about the resort, about the hotel, about excursions and about other little things that interested us. In general, a huge THANK YOU to her! Meals at the hotel. They tried to refuse us lunch, since lunch was ordered for us on the last day of our stay, but I said that we were leaving at 9.20 in the morning and we didn’t need lunch at all on the last day - we need lunch now, and the issue was settled. We agreed again through Darina. They immediately put on bracelets and showed where the restaurant is located. There is only one kitchen for 3 hotels of the Ralitsa group, the halls of the restaurants are different. For the first week I went to the restaurant with my children's dishes (a plate, a mug, 2 spoons), being afraid of any infections, until I finally realized that it was completely unnecessary, and the dishes in the restaurant are really clean - there is nothing to fear. The food there was really at a high level - delicious, varied, children's cuisine, high chairs (always free), pleasant music, delicious wine - SUPER!! ! I was afraid that the child would have stomach problems due to changes in nutrition, but the fears were in vain. Her appetite was better than the three of us put together, there was always a children's kitchen. For breakfast, porridge / scrambled eggs, a sandwich with soft cheese (overeating! - I tried to find something similar in Albena supermarkets - it turns out to be a rarity, so if you want to buy home, look in advance - they say it happens); for lunch - soup (with finely chopped vegetables, so a blender is useless), vegetable casserole / stuffed zucchini / steamed meatballs, fruit; for dinner - Bulgarian sour milk (our curdled milk) with berries from compote, depending on the appetite, something vegetable. From drinks they drank, mainly compote. For adults, there is also a very large selection: salads, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. I read in some reviews about the lack of free tables and lines for meat. There was no free table 1 time in 14 days, and then we had to wait not long. There really are lines for meat - there used to be 10 people, for pancakes the same way, but we somehow managed without all this - there is a lot of food without this. And if you come immediately to the opening of the restaurant, then no queues. Beach and sea. The beach is 20-25 minutes from the hotel. With a child - far away, so we went by bus. The bus to the beach and back runs every 20 minutes. Travel time is 3-5 minutes. From the bus to the beach - 2 minutes. Trains also run around the resort, but they are paid - 3 levs for an adult, 2 levs for a child, babies are free. They also run every 20 minutes. I already wrote about the beach - impeccable. By the way, you can ride a boat - 30 minutes 5 leva per person (100 rubles), small children - for free. Great walk with music. As beach accessories, we bought a lot of all sorts of things, of which only a sand set for the little one and armlets for the niece were useful. A tent from the sun, an inflatable circle, an inflatable mattress - all this lay in the room as unnecessary. And in Albena they bought a boat for a child with two cut holes for legs in the bottom, and she swam in the sea with pleasure with us - it turned out to be an irreplaceable thing. The prices there for such goods are the same as ours - there is everything from swimming goggles to mattresses and sun umbrellas, and they inflate, by the way, right there. But the hats are expensive - a simple panama hat cost me 10 leva (300 rubles), so it's better to take care of it at home. Large beach towels from 8 to 10 leva. Attractions. Attractions are indeed located throughout Albena. The cost is from 1 lev to 10 lev. Free only playgrounds with swings and slides, which are even on the beach. The average price of attractions is 3-5 leva. The assortment is small (there are more attractions in Eburg and better in quality). We were not advised to go to the local circus (a visitor, very meager compared to the Russian one). For attractions it is better to go to Varna - Seaside Park. The driver of a taxi or minibus so directly and say - you need to go where the rides are, because the park is long - a dolphinarium, an aquarium and attractions in different parts of the park. There are a lot of attractions - both for adults (there are even roller coasters) and for children. The cost for all rides is 2 leva. If you buy a card of 30 points for 15 leva, the cost of the attractions is 2 points (i. e. 1 lev - 20 rubles). It is better to go there for the whole day - from morning to evening. There are cafes right in the park. Lunch for 4 cost us about 40 leva (shopska salad, beer/cocktail, pizza). Animation. I won’t say anything about the daytime animation by the pool - we were sleeping at that time, and the hotel’s evening animation was excellent. I'm talking about children's animation in the hotel's amphitheater, as they entertained children, not themselves. From 20.30 to 21.00 every day children's disco, from 21.00 to 21.30 shows for children. Children (and not only children - adults on the ground danced and sang along) were completely delighted. Guys-animators - Well done with a capital letter! Excursions and transport. Since I have a small child, only my mother and niece went on excursions. On excursions with "NEVA" we went to Nessebar (2.5 hours by bus from Albena), Veliko Tarnovo (4 hours from Albena) and Sofia (7 hours from Albena - only mother went - it's hard for a child). They say that you can take excursions in Varna - perhaps it will cost less. You can go by yourself (buses go from Varna), the hotel can be booked via the Internet. We didn't experiment. I liked the excursions very much - the most beautiful ancient cities (especially Plovdiv, Pleven - on the way to Sofia), an interesting laser show in Veliko Tarnovo, which is worth seeing, Shipka Mountain, from where a beautiful view opens, good guides. Collectors of knives and daggers can complete their collection at the ethnographic open-air museum in Gabrovo (on the way to Veliko Tarnovo) - they are made there and delivered throughout Bulgaria. They also produce silver jewelry. In Sofia, the Rila Monastery - my mother said that for this alone it is worth enduring 7 hours of the road. We went there overnight. We spent the night in a great hotel. They fed both lunch and dinner. But you can go to Varna and Balchik yourself. Minibuses run from the Albena bus station (autogara in Bulgarian). 10 minutes walk from the hotel. Ticket price to Balchik - 2 levs, to Varna - 5 levs. You can take the stroller with you - the driver will put it in the luggage compartment. To Balchik - 10 minutes, to Varna - 30 minutes. You can use the services of taxi drivers (they cluster at the Albena bus station, at the Varna Cathedral or at the Balchik botanical garden). The road will cost to Balchik - from 20 to 25 levs round trip, to Varna - from 40 to 50 levs round trip. Taxi drivers at the hotel charge more - up to 70 levs. Waiting is negotiated separately. Be sure to bargain, pretending that you know everything, and say the end point of the route, otherwise it will take you to the Albena bus station and ask for 5 levs from the top to the hotel, although it is 2 minutes away. In Balchik, it is worth seeing the batanic garden (you need to ask to stop at the botanical garden) and the palace of Mary (which is located there). In Varna, we were in the Seaside Park (the attractions are excellent; there is nothing special to watch in the aquarium, we didn’t have time to see the show at the Dolphinarium - there at a certain time, so it’s better to know the schedule in advance - they say it’s good). If you decide to buy a tablecloth as a gift for someone (they are sold by grandmothers in the Seaside Park), it is better to buy in the Albena supermarket - it is better and cheaper there. Take a trip to the Stone Forest (by taxi from Varna Cathedral 20 km, from 40 to 60 leva round-trip - bargain! - we went for 50 - they threw it for an extra wait and for delivery to the attractions). Waiting there will be at least 1 hour (we thought it would be less). We read a lot about the fact that photographic equipment breaks down there. Actually, I’m a skeptic and don’t really believe in such things, but right in the energy center of the Stone Forest my camera shutter broke, and at the end of my vacation it refused to work at all - photos are viewed on it, but the photography and video shooting mode does not work. Of course, I find other explanations for this - most likely the sand got in (it is very dry, hot there, there is sand, stones and the wind is blowing). Perhaps if the camera was in a case, everything would be fine. But doubts remained. . . The pirate walk didn't make much of an impression on me personally, but the kids seemed to be satisfied. The guide from the Safari (jeep trips) said that this excursion should be taken in Varna. It’s more interesting there - the “battle” between pirates of different ships. We took from "NEVA" and "the battle" was on the ship - we were divided into two teams and we poured water over each other from buckets (not particularly interesting). Safari (jeep ride) is also so-so. Instead of giraffes, horses, instead of lions, a cat and a dog fed mushrooms (for the first time I saw a cat and a dog eating mushrooms - they were starving, apparently). The excursion program includes driving on broken roads in a gas truck, a trip to a local apiary, where they will tell you how honey is produced (by the way, honey is very tasty, natural and inexpensive compared to ours - you can buy it), a trip to a private "factory" for the production of barrels for storing wine (you can also buy homemade Rakia there) and a picnic (wine, mineral water, soda for children and fried mushrooms). Fans of "broken roads" might like it. Riding over bumps and dusty clothes do not impress me very much. Communication and Internet. Free Wi-Fi is available in the hotel lobby. But it works disgustingly (or I was just unlucky) - it constantly crashed and tried to restore the connection again for 30-40 minutes. Wi-Fi does not work in the rooms - checked. I used Skype and ICQ to communicate with family and friends - the most inexpensive and most convenient way to communicate. The laptop can be deposited in the safe. The safe is not in the room, but at the reception, it costs 40 leva (800 rubles) for 2 weeks. When there were problems with Wi-Fi, I called from the post office. The post office is 5 minutes from the hotel. A call to a landline number costs 0.20 leva (4 rubles) / minute, to cell phones, in my opinion, 1 lev. But the connection, as I was later told, was not very good - they heard me badly. To communicate with each other, cards are sold at the post office, but we did not need it. ADVIСE. 1. Perhaps it’s better to take a small travel iron with you, since I froze the iron at the reception for the whole day (I got everyone there) - they have 2 irons for the whole hotel, there is no system of use, as such, there is no need to leave any deposits, use it as much as you want, so the irons roam around the numbers of friends, acquaintances of those who originally took it - in general, there are no ends to be found. The hotel manager had to donate her iron to us so that I could finally fall behind. 2. Take diapers with a margin - it took us 4 pieces a day at least (at home we manage a maximum of 3). 3. There is no hair dryer - take your own. 4. Do not forget to notify the reception about your departure in advance if you are leaving early in the morning, so that they can prepare a dry ration for you, as the hotel guide will not warn you, and you may be left without breakfast at all. When leaving for excursions early in the morning, it is also better to warn just in case. 5. When leaving Bulgaria, do not forget to put all sharp objects in your luggage - my folding knife was confiscated at customs - all bags go through a personal inspection (carefully checked by hand). You can’t take liquids with you on the plane - only baby water, but they will ask you to drink from a bottle with them.
Review from — vOtpusk.ru
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We rested in June 2011. My husband chose the hotel, he wanted the child and I to have a great rest. The first impression caused a surge of vivacity and a lot of good emotions upon arrival: they were well received at the airport, put on the bus, while we were driving we had a small excursion - class! The bus to I couldn’t drive up to the hotel, I had to walk, but the porter carried our suitcases.
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We rested in June 2011. My husband chose the hotel, he wanted the child and I to have a great rest. The first impression caused a surge of vivacity and a lot of good emotions upon arrival: they were well received at the airport, put on the bus, while we were driving we had a small excursion - class! The bus to I couldn’t drive up to the hotel, I had to walk, but the porter carried our suitcases. We were greeted at the reception with a smile, as relatives were even offered a room (No. 126). They agreed, but when I entered the room, I realized why it was free: 1st floor, view of the pool, it should be, only it is blocked by a large spruce with fluffy paws, so the pool is not visible and it is dark, the sun does not hit. But that's okay, ants are crawling on the balcony - there are a lot of them, there is dried cheese on the railing, I tried to peel it off it didn’t work out - it’s been lying there for a long time,
I went to the reception and said, I don’t need such a number, but they smile at me and say that there are no others, come tomorrow. I had to give them to change the number, they changed it. And in this room, while we were resting there, they didn’t put anyone in, you see a “great” room. We got a good room on the 5th floor overlooking the sea, the restaurant where we ate. let’s go explore the surroundings, the area is large, my child was most interested in the pool, seeing the pool and even with slides...... Nothing else is needed, if you left with tears. Because, as long as you don’t have a bracelet on your hand, use you can’t, and bracelets are hung only after 14.30. When you have a bracelet on your hand, you can assume that you are on vacation and everything is open for you (bars, restaurant, pool, beach, you can use sun loungers, umbrellas). Arriving in the room, they saw on the table a bottle of mineral water and 3 apples wrapped in cling film (as I realized later, so that the ants would not crawl, but they are everywhere. While there are no fruits in the room and there are no ants, as soon as you bring them, they are right there - probably a scent).
In general, about the rest, everything is not bad, the room was cleaned daily, towels and bedding every 2 days. The rooms are all standard, the differences are only in the beds. - there is a lot of food, but there is not much variety, except for sweets. Fruits are mostly watermelons, apples, peaches, apricots, cherries and melons appeared at the end of the holiday. The restaurant is large, there is a balcony where you can also take food.
The beach is large, the sea is clean, if you come early, you can take a seat from 1 to 4 rows, but if after 9 o'clock, then further from the sea. The representative said that there were no mattresses on the beach, only sun loungers, but we took them calmly, but the pool almost never got it. We went to the sea, the first bus to the sea at 9 o’clock, I wanted to look at the sea, and not at the lying bodies. And we already went back by bus, because it’s hard to climb the hill after swimming and sunbathing.
Albena for a quiet family holiday is an ideal option - there is greenery all around, transport is only walking: bicycles, carriages, trains, mostly pedestrian zones. Well done guys, they tried. In the morning they worked with the kids, and in the afternoon sports activities for adults: aerobics, basketball, water volleyball, football, boccia. In the evening, a disco for children, and then performances for adults. No, they are still GOOD.
Everything is fine, I was satisfied with the rest. Perhaps someday we will come to Bulgaria - Albena.
So if you go to the Vita Park Hotel and you will be offered number 126, feel free to refuse, you will not lose, unless you like the sun.
I went to the reception and said, I don’t need such a number, but they smile at me and say that there are no others, come tomorrow. I had to give them to change the number, they changed it. And in this room, while we were resting there, they didn’t put anyone in, you see a “great” room. We got a good room on the 5th floor overlooking the sea, the restaurant where we ate. let’s go explore the surroundings, the area is large, my child was most interested in the pool, seeing the pool and even with slides...... Nothing else is needed, if you left with tears. Because, as long as you don’t have a bracelet on your hand, use you can’t, and bracelets are hung only after 14.30. When you have a bracelet on your hand, you can assume that you are on vacation and everything is open for you (bars, restaurant, pool, beach, you can use sun loungers, umbrellas). Arriving in the room, they saw on the table a bottle of mineral water and 3 apples wrapped in cling film (as I realized later, so that the ants would not crawl, but they are everywhere. While there are no fruits in the room and there are no ants, as soon as you bring them, they are right there - probably a scent).
In general, about the rest, everything is not bad, the room was cleaned daily, towels and bedding every 2 days. The rooms are all standard, the differences are only in the beds. - there is a lot of food, but there is not much variety, except for sweets. Fruits are mostly watermelons, apples, peaches, apricots, cherries and melons appeared at the end of the holiday. The restaurant is large, there is a balcony where you can also take food.
The beach is large, the sea is clean, if you come early, you can take a seat from 1 to 4 rows, but if after 9 o'clock, then further from the sea. The representative said that there were no mattresses on the beach, only sun loungers, but we took them calmly, but the pool almost never got it. We went to the sea, the first bus to the sea at 9 o’clock, I wanted to look at the sea, and not at the lying bodies. And we already went back by bus, because it’s hard to climb the hill after swimming and sunbathing.
Albena for a quiet family holiday is an ideal option - there is greenery all around, transport is only walking: bicycles, carriages, trains, mostly pedestrian zones. Well done guys, they tried. In the morning they worked with the kids, and in the afternoon sports activities for adults: aerobics, basketball, water volleyball, football, boccia. In the evening, a disco for children, and then performances for adults. No, they are still GOOD.
Everything is fine, I was satisfied with the rest. Perhaps someday we will come to Bulgaria - Albena.
So if you go to the Vita Park Hotel and you will be offered number 126, feel free to refuse, you will not lose, unless you like the sun.
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Vacationing with children. The hotel is not bad, the rooms are comfortable, fed for slaughter. Pluses - a pool bar in the shade under the pine trees, near a casino, a supermarket (everything is much cheaper there than on the street) minuses - 10-15 minutes walk to the sea, or a free bus from the hotel in 3 minutes.
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Vacationing with children. The hotel is not bad, the rooms are comfortable, fed for slaughter. Pluses - a pool bar in the shade under the pine trees, near a casino, a supermarket (everything is much cheaper there than on the street) minuses - 10-15 minutes walk to the sea, or a free bus from the hotel in 3 minutes. In general, I liked it.
Review from — vOtpusk.ru
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In June 2005 rested with family in this hotel. The positive side of the holiday: friendly staff, wonderful buffet in the restaurant, daily housekeeping, clean sea and beach. The negative side of the rest: in the room there is a bottle of wine with the name of the hotel, but they forgot to warn us that you have to pay for it, the animation is designed for the Germans, there are cases of theft (two towels were stolen from the balcony of the first floor).
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In June 2005 rested with family in this hotel. The positive side of the holiday: friendly staff, wonderful buffet in the restaurant,
daily housekeeping, clean sea and beach.
The negative side of the rest: in the room there is a bottle of wine with the name of the hotel, but they forgot to warn us that you have to pay for it, the animation is designed for the Germans, there are cases of theft (two towels were stolen from the balcony of the first floor).
daily housekeeping, clean sea and beach.
The negative side of the rest: in the room there is a bottle of wine with the name of the hotel, but they forgot to warn us that you have to pay for it, the animation is designed for the Germans, there are cases of theft (two towels were stolen from the balcony of the first floor).
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• 9.5
