So its the school holidays and is only fair that in-between our adult only jet setting that we should take the two little ones (Girls aged 3 and 8) on a good old fashioned family holiday for fun in the sun, sand and lots of time in the water!

But does it all have to be built-up resorts, screaming children at every turn and any sane persons idea of hell???  Well, I can’t promise a trip to the Black Sea Coast in Bulgaria will steer clear of all of that, but I can share our experience to help you plan an even better trip!

We chose Bulgaria this year as quite simply we have never been.  Don’t expect to be welcomed with open arms as British tourists or abtcipate that everyone will speak and understand English, but you can normally communicate with enough words to get by.

Tourism here for the Brits is still pretty new, but you will see many eastern Europeans attracted to these resorts.

Locals just don’t appear to be of a friendly nature, customer services just doesn’t seem to be their thing.  Learning Bulgarian is not going to be anything that will come easy to you what with them having a completely different alphabet, so reside yourself to the fact that you will be at their mercy and learn to shrug off their general rudness.  Afterall they are speaking better English even with just the odd word than we are Bulgarian.

Setting off:

We find an early morning flight with little ones the best.  They tend to still be tired and sleep with a bit of luck.  Its a 3.5hr flight from Birmingham sirport and we fly with Thomas Cook Airlines which all goes without a hitch.  Taking the portible DVD players with headphones for the girls is a god send for the plane and for the entire holiday – never leave home without them!

Arriving in Bulgaria:

The border contril is far from quick even when still part of the eurpean union so we can only wonder what delays us as brits are set to experiencepost Brexit.  There is lucky a WC in the waiting area though!

Our luggae was ready and waiting the other side so we are left with only a transfer to sort to take us to our four star aparthotel resort – Fort Noks Premier, Sveti Vlas, which we know to be around 3okm from the airport and a 20-30minute drive.  We approach the taxi rank located immediately outside of the airport exit doors just over to the left.  We are shown to a taxi and our bags loaded in – so far so good….  Then  it all goes wrong, we ask the taxi driver for an idea on price who is unable to tell us as its all on a meter but predicts about 100lv (£50).  Bearing in mind he is classed as the taxi driver for the airport only and we are going to a main area of Bulgaria it was a little odd that he couldn’t give us a price.  The plot then thickens when we are told it will be more than usual as a road it shut and he is going to have to go the long way around adding another 15-20 minutes to our journey!  – that old chesnut!  We asked him to take the normal route we were happy to risk the road closures but he ignored us and went cross country anyway.

After finally arriving at our hotel with two very hot and bothered children as the aircon wasn’t working and the bumpy road was enough to make any good passenger feel travel sick, we were presented with a charge of 150lv (£75.00).

We had been well and truly ‘had’ and the most frustratiung thing was we knew it was happening.  When children are in tow the flexibility to say stop, walk away and try and different route for your journey is just not possible.  It was such a shame to start off our holiday with a bitter taste in our mouth.

 

The Hotel: Fort Noks, Premier

Located outside of Sunny Beach this hotel/apartment complex is to a good 4star standard. All very clean and the grounds are well kept.

We had a one bedroom apartment for a family of four which had a double sofa bed in the lounge. The apartment itself was very clean and modern with good storage. The bathroom was a shower cubicle (no bath) so if a bath is essential to you, request it at time of booking as I understand some apartments do come with both.

There is a small kitchenette with a fridge/freezer, two ring hob, kettle, toaster and microwave along with crockery, cutlery and pans. All apartments have a good sized balcony, which come with a clothes airer and mini plastic table and 4 chairs. The aircon unit fan elements are located on the balcony so these are pumping out warm air. Great for drying clothes but does make it a little uncomfortable to sit out there when these are going.

There was a reasonable size TV mounted on the wall in the lounge which had UK channels as well as European. There was also a safety deposit box free to use.

To my glee the apartment also came with a washing machine along with complimentary powder which was replaced when all used up part way through the holiday. Not very rock n roll but was a god send with children!!

The apartment was cleaned everyday and fresh towels. A nice touch was the supply of 4 beach towels left in your room for use during your stay.

The only issue we had with our apartment was that the hot water would run out on shower 3 in a row. If you stop and start the shower between soaping and rinsing you may just get all four showers out of it.

The beds were quite hard and as doubles they came and with two single duvets which is a little annoying!

The hotel lobby has amazing flooring, reception staff reasonably friendly and helpful and arranged an early check-in for us and also helped us arrange car hire which was delivered to the hotel for us and we had free parking on site.

There are three pools on site. A smallish one by the restaurant which is more suitable to adults and then a larger children’s fun pool with a water slide and a separate baby pool. Loungers are multiple around the pools, but as with anywhere in the school holidays it does get very busy. There is a pool side bar/cafe by the fun pool.

On site there is shop selling all essentials plus inflatables etc for the children. It isn’t the cheapest of shops, other supermarkets in the area are cheaper but this one is obviously convenient.

There is also a spa offering a range of treatment (massage was very good!) again it does get busy so book in advance. There is also a first aid room which is handy with kids when they fall over and graze their knee etc!

The children’s club (Animations Team) in all honestly wasn’t the best. It was more like a crèche and the activities really didn’t look that fun. The staff were forced to come out twice a day to the edge of the pool and do a repetitive routine to a very long and annoying song. The staff clearly didn’t want to be doing it! There were no smiles or cheering on as they performed it was clearly just a chore that they wanted to be over asap. I personally would scrap this. Offers nothing to holiday makers and clearly makes the staff uncomfortable.

The beach is just at the edge of the complex and there are plenty of loungers that you can pay for to sit out. The sea is exceptionally calm in this particular area and the sea has shallow spots even a little way out, so really is a good area for swimming with children.
Food:

We went full board. In hindsight we would have been better opting for half board as once we had a car it was more fun (and relatively cheap to eat out). The buffet restaurant at the hotel is what you come to expect with food not being that warm and the offering staying the same and becoming a little boring. We opted out of breakfast as after two morning of absolute mayhem in the restaurant, cold food and fights at the buffet counter we found it a more calming and pleasant morning to utilise our kitchen facility within the apartment and eat there.
The restaurant was far better for lunch and dinner and there was a far more chilled out atmosphere to enjoy your food.
Note: drinks only included with breakfast, you must pay for all drinks with lunch and dinner.

If you have chosen this hotel to purely sit around the pool/beach and eat in the hotel then this hotel is a good option for you. If you like to wander around a town or look in shops etc then it may be worth hiring a car as there is much more accessible within easy driving distance and the roads are all well signed. Nesabar old town is certainly one to visit.

 

 

Resorts and Beaches

 

Attractions