The thought of a full-board hotel with two children under 10 in the peak of the school holidays does not get me itching to grab my passport and get going! “What’s the pool like?, How big is it?, Does it have slides and things to play on?” is ringing in my ears as I make the hotel selection for the family holiday.

I’m one of these characters that can happily spend family time with our own children (in my case ‘step’), but the high pitch screeches, melt downs and tantrums of other peoples children is just like nails on a chalkboard – ouch!

So in trying to find the happy balance between a quiet location but with things to entertain the children, a good standard but 5 star luxury would be wasted on them and of course close enough to a few sites and attractions that us adults may take some time out of the ‘fun pool’ and drag the children around in the hope of giving them some culture education that they will reflect upon in later life (who am I kidding?… if they remember much more than the size of the swimming pool and the number of slides we will be doing well!); this is what shone through as a good option for our family for our child friendly summer holiday:

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’s 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 booked 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 particularly warm and the offering becoming somewhat monotonous.

After two mornings of absolute mayhem at the breakfast buffet coupled with cold food and fights at the serving counters, we decided to ‘opt out’ for the rest of the week, instead choosing a more calm and pleasant morning utilising our kitchen facility within the apartment and eating there.

The restaurant was more manageable during lunch and dinner buffets and there was a far more pleasant 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 for a week, eat only in the hotel,  then the Premier Beach Apart/Hotel is a good option for you. If you like to wander around a town or look in shops etc then you will find nothing to entertain you here.

Shuttles, taxi’s or car hire can soon take you a few miles down the road to the resorts of Sunny Beach and Nesebar (see my reviews)