Kristal Hotel

We arrived at our hotel with no problems at all and as described the Hotel Kristal was a very pleasant and well managed place to stay. The hotel is kept very, very clean at all times and the room services were very good. All hotel staff are very helpful and friendly. The food all be it buffet style was well presented and had a wide variety and was very enjoyable, overall I would recommend this hotel.
As a resort, Golden Sands has a very varied atmosphere with something to suit all tastes, there are plenty of good bars and restaurants, it is very cheap, but on a downside the leaflet distributors that stand on the main street do tend to be annoying as your holiday goes on but you learn to live with it the people that do this are very nice and are only doing there job and there is no way to avoid them as they are everywhere. But so what, it did not stop us enjoying our holiday here. The weather here, you can not predict so pack a lightweight jacket and a brolly.
Do not change any money other than at a bank or your hotel we heard stories of people changing money at other places and getting forged or old currency. (Be aware).

I have just come back from Bulgaria with my partner and our young son. We arrived late in the evening and all staff were welcoming considering the late hour.
The Hotel Kristal itself was clean and the staff were friendly. The food was a little to be desired although you could not say that you were not able to eat anything. The resort itself was cheap so we ate out on a couple of occasions.
The First Choice Reps were always on hand to give us useful information. The Kids Club Reps were excellent, we hardly ever saw our son as he was with them the majority of the time and the entertainers made us laugh til we cried with the shows that they put on.
I would recommend this accommodation for families as there are lots for the children both at the hotel and along the coast line. However, if you are looking for the night life it is only a 5 minute walk to the main Party Street.

We went to Hotel Kristal in June 2006, when we got there we arrived into a thunder storm but luckily the next day was bright and hot and the weather continued for the duration of our stay.
The hotel was clean and tidy, and the staff were all friendly too. The First Choice reps there were absolutely brilliant although if you don’t like kids don’t go here! A lot of the entertainment revolved around the children staying here!
Bulgaria was beautiful though and the beaches were lovely. Food not Bad!

When I arrived there the staff could not have been better, they were good mannered and helped us with any questions. The breakfast they provided was top class the rooms were cleaned every day.
One day we went to the monasteries and they were very helpful. There is nothing stopping me from going again next year. The toilets were clean the swimming pool was very cooling when you have been in the sun.
All the people there were really friendly and I am proud to say that I have stayed in this hotel.

I went to Golden Sands in September 2005. Unfortunately the weather wasn't too hot, rained the majority of the time but that wasn’t the hotels fault ya ken?
Hotel was lovely, got a free bath robe and flip flops, the food was no bad, cant say I made breakfast often as I would normally stroll in at 6 in the morning after a bit of skinny dipping he he! To be honest had the runs a lot as well but that always happens I guess.
They’re quite fly in the respect that you get meals for free, but this does not include drinks so they charge over the odds for a sprite an aw that! WARNING-do not get food from the pool side bar, my burger bap had blue mould and it put me off it for life, staff were not very friendly when a refused to pay. Not all staff were bad though. September time was the majority of families, so if you’re young and hip like me CJ Payne I'd advise to go in the Summer.

Been back a couple of weeks now so thought i had better write a report. When we arrived at Varna airport we queued up to go through customs, only 3 control points were open and 3 flights all landed within 10 minutes of each other. The control desk we were queuing in was going very slow. When we got to the desk the man took about 10 minutes checking our passports. I know that they have to check them but he stamped our passports and then kept looking at them again.
Baggage reclaim hall was very unorganised. Like I said 3 flights had landed roughly at the same time and there was not enough room for people to move when getting their bags as everyone was stood at the carousels even when it was not their flights suitcases. Had to wait over an hour and a half for all the people being transferred to golden sands to get on the coach. Went to Kristal Hotel GS. The hotel is lovely and very clean. Food in the hotel was varied and didn’t get an upset tummy this year like i did when I was in Albena last year. Our room in the hotel was very big and was comfortable. Don’t know if it was because it was our Honeymoon but we got put on the top floor right at the far end of the hotel which was nice as you didn’t hear the noise from the bar/reception or the pool during the day. Staff worked very hard and all very polite. Cleaning staff did a great job. We asked reception for extra pillows for our room on the second day and by the time we had gone up to our room the extra pillows where there.
The staff bent over backwards to keep everyone happy. Golden sands was a very busy resort, I wouldn’t like to go at the height of summer as I think it would be manic. Weather was a bit temperamental had a few days of sun the rest of the week it was overcast and had a whole day of rain and a couple of rainy nights. I have enjoyed my holidays over the past couple of years in Bulgaria & I would go back to Golden sands, but next year will be visiting family in Oz hopefully.

What can I say, I went to this hotel in the middle of September this year, I cant fault the hotel, the rooms were spacious, staff where friendly and facilities were modern.
The only downside is that when we were there it was raining for 4 days out of the 7 and there was not much to do in the resort. I thought it was too purpose built, although some of the excursions were good, they were not worth their money, but it was definitely an experience.
I cant say I would go again to Golden Sands or Bulgaria and if you want to see the real Bulgaria, I wouldn’t recommend the area, as it is too commercial.
And Varna and towns are underdeveloped and creepy.
Worth a try in July or August if you have children and its hot, other then that I would give that a miss.
Maybe its an age thing ( I'm in my 20's ) but I have been to better places.

Please Please Please do not get this hotel mixed up with the one in Sunny Beach. This hotel is Brilliant the staff are great the rooms are very clean and the facilities very adequate.
We went with first choice. I believe they are the only English company that use this hotel and the Reps where good and the entertainers and kids club reps where fantastic. Some days we hardly saw the Kids from early morning till late at night.
Here's a tip if your going to Bulgaria for the first time you may think that the hotel is cheap at £3 for 4 pints larger (strong lager) is cheap but its half that if you hunt out cheaper bars. Also try and keep to local produced stuff anything imported is expensive (Beer spirits etc) also take some HP sauce even if you don’t like it you could sell it on the black-market.
Back to the Hotel Food is very good and the selection is good also. the food serving times are not very strict so don’t worry about missing meals.
You can also go to Pool bars at the beach which can be good.
All in all very good Well recommended.

This was our first visit to Bulgaria and we did not know what to expect. I can now say after having a great week there, that it is a lovely place. We stayed at the Kristal Hotel which was spotless, our bedroom was very clean and spacious, with a great view.
The food in the Hotel was really nice and there was a good choice of meals each day. The staff were very polite and tried to tend to your every need. My wife and children plus me of course will definitely be going back in 2006, in short we really loved it and had a great holiday

I noticed that one of your members have emailed asking if anyone had any info on the Hotel Kristal, Golden Sands in Bulgaria. Please if you read this please take note that there are 2 Hotel Kristals.
There is one in Sunny Beach I know this because myself and my husband were horrified by the reviews we found on the net in connection with this Hotel and tried to cancel our holiday, but then we discovered our mistake. I have done loads of research into our hotel in the Golden Sands resort and it all sound to good to be true. So like yourself we hope to have a good holiday to.
I thought I would let you know as the reply that was sent to you sounds like the Hotel Kristal in Sunny Beach.(The not so very nice one.)