Quinten

Anyone been there? Am looking to book a holiday there in the next couple of days, and I'm keen on hearing some first hand advice before I part with my hard earned.

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Awooga!!!

ag.morley

The place will be deserted, now Bulgaria and Poland have joined the EU there all over here..

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anonymouse

No recent advice - went 15 years ago. Then it was very basic - in fact my wife wept when we were shown our room (a glass door panel was broken in half). Got another room.
Was very cheap then (black market in currency made things so cheap).
Had a damn good time, made lots of friends (luckily I speak some Russian).

But - and a big but - you have to watch the sun, even when it is cloudy and windy (which I believe it often is there). It can burn you without you realising. A girl I knew went there and then spent several weeks in hospital over there with 'whatever degree' burns, and then several more over here.
So, it's probably totally different now i.e. smarter, dearer (no chance for black market foreign exchange deals - I would think now that it is part of the EU) - BUT watch the sun.

heresmo

A previous boss bought a factory in Bulgaria close to the east coast. As said, it gets very very hot (up to 40 deg). I think he used to go up into the mountains where the skiing was (edit it gets cold in winter). Sorry, not much help, but might be an idea to check the temperatures at times of the year.

Regards
Mo

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Johnwg

Went to a resort further down the coast from Golden Sands back in 2005 - Elinite Holiday village.... we had a great time. Some things were a little basic but the standard of food was good, and there was a wide avilabliity of things avilable in the shops.

It was cheap as chips over there to say the least, although now Bulgaria is in the EU I expect this would change.

On a Socio-Economic front it was quite interesting, as it appeared half the population were doing very well for themselves, driving around in brand spanking new Audi's, and the other half not so well, driving around in battered old Skud's and Lada's.

There is a hell of a lot of building work and investment going on over there and it would be interesting to see what the place will look like in 10-15 years time.

Temp hit 100F everyday on the beach

All in all it was a great Holiday, and I'd go back to Bulgaria again.

To sum it up I would say it was like Spain, except with an Eastern European twist

Quinten

Thanks John, that seems to be the general consensus I found reading reports on the internet too. It will make an interesting change from the usual destinations

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PussCat

I went to Bulgaria in 1975 so I don't think anything I can remember about it would be much use

Only things I do remember.....
the sand was so hot you couldn't walk on it barefoot.
They seemed to like cucumber salad ( = a plate of cucumber, nowt else) and then black cherries for dessert.
Ate my first goulash over there.....
The local alcohol (plum brandy etc) was about 7p a shot - not that I had any, I was but a wee bairn at the time!
Black market was rife
You had coupons to use in the restaurants... and the locals would just about kill to get hold of those lol

there - no use whatsoever

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Johnwg

It is an interesting change but not too different to totaly throw you, if you know what I mean.

Dunno if you have kids but my little girl loved it as well, I'm quite often asked "when are we going back to Bulgaria".

Large bottle of Stella was only 70p as well

Quinten

I have 2 (age 8 and 2) so that is good to hear.

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Johnwg

They should love it then, just remeber to take plenty of factor 60

Quinten

Always

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spevie

i whent on hols there the same year they came out of comunism, was well good, clean beaches and the food was excellent and loads of it.

For a 1ltr bottle of beer it was around 16p..........took 300 spondoolies for a week and came back with 220, me, wife,kid,m in law..........so holiday was almost fantastic, hahahahaha

spevie

Quinten

Thought I be thoughtful for a minute and provide a little review

We went for 2 weeks to the Golden Sands resort and stayed in the Kristal Hotel. The hotel was absolutely fantastic, with the only downside being the 2 lifts of which always one seemed to be stuck somewhere between floors. Breakfast was continental buffet with hot and cold options and good enough for us. The pool was great with a small area specially for the tiny ones.

The resort itself felt very 'Spanish', and there are so many restaurants that you can spend a year there eating out every night and not visiting the same place again. All tastes accounted for

The most annoying thing were the fly tippers who seemed to be located throughout the resort with 10 feet between them. Imagine being asked to join their restaurant about 50 times an evening and you get the picture.

Beach was big and clean, but as I hate swimming in the sea, we only went a couple of times.

I can certainly recommend it, but you ideally need to go to a few excursions (we didnt as our 2.5 year old wouldnt like it much) to see a bit more of the country. 2 weeks were certainly enough.

Prices are still very cheap, our average dinner bill came to £20 for the 4 of us. And where else can you get a Mr Whippy for 38p!?!?

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swedishskoda

With cheap booze (25 p. for a bottled beer) you can expect a lot of night life and young peeps partying. This might of course differ a lot between different places. Don't know a bit about Golden Sands, but a lot was written in Swedish newspapers about a Swedish tourist beaten to death in a bar fight this summer (in Sunny Beach), and a few days before that a 17 year old Danish kid died from alcohol OD.
Since you're bringing the kids, check carefully with the travel agent that Golden Sands is the proper place to go.
Don't want to be a joy-killer, might turn out to be a fantastic holiday too.

Quinten

I can safely say that Golden Sands is more geared towards families, and even on Party Street (!) there were no signs of troubles.

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swedishskoda

Me thickhead. Didn't notice that it was an old thread and that you just have posted a report of a pleasant holiday. Glad to hear everything was fine! Maybe I should put Bulgaria on the list of holiday possibilities should next summer be like this year's...

heresmo

Yay! Nice time

Can I ask: Did you cope with the heat OK? That being my biggest worry a while back.

Welcome home

Mo

soviet

Hi,

I went to Golden sands about 15 years ago, when it was still communist, and I remember flying on a Tupolev 154 which is a sort of Russian built airbus. A lovely smooth flight, I recall.
We had great time because of the black markets exchange rate, as the locals would bite ones hands off for dollars, and second favourite Sterling.
One needed to be a bit careful however as, a favourite trick was when changing pounds, to hand local money over with a single note on the top, and blank paper in the rest of the bundle.
I remember going to a restaurant called 'Bulgarian Wedding' and because I changed some money or something. (can't quite remember) we were treated to plate after plate of chicken until we were full to bursting with wine thrown in for no extra charge. it helped because I have a smattering of German and the owner spoke it fluently. Also visited the hotel Varna for a meal, and was a bit embarrassed, as the waiter pulled my chair out for me to sit at the table, and then cooked the meat on a big flame grill thing in front of us, and then he serenaded us on the violin with Russian, and Hungarian folk tunes. I am not accustomed to being pampered in this way.
I seem to recall that the currency was called the Para, and its sub the stastinski,
but it is possibly the Euro, now a days. Probably its all changed now, and no good deals to be had anymore. But I don't want to put you off, as I am certain that it still has its good points, and it was one of the best holidays that I have had.

Soviet

soviet

Hi,

I also didn't realise that this was an old thread and that you have now been there and returned, and had a good time. I would probably go back there again, out of curiosity, and hopefully to enjoy it as much as I did the last time.


Soviet.

Quinten

We left for the UK again when it was 36C During the day you try to do as little as possible, although I found the heat more bearable than for instance in Spain. Humidity is very low I think, hence it just feels hot but not as sweaty.

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Johnwg

Glad you enjoyed it, seems although you've drawn similar conclusions about Bulgaria as I did

Just got back from Corfu (Roda) and can recommend that for a decent 2 week family break as well

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rigsby

Ive been twice now, to elenite and albenna, and loved it both times, i can recomend the tattoo shops too, about a tenth of the price of the uk

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