Lion Hotel, Borovets, Bulgaria
Hotel Information
Recent Price: £66
Hotel Class:
Hotel Description:
This hotel is well-maintained with bright rooms, 24-hour reception with small mini-market and safety deposit boxes for hire, two restaurants and two cozy bars with fire place and pool table, and fitness room. loading...
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Lion Hotel Reviews
" Lovely hotel "
Submitted By: debskris
Overall, we loved our stay at Hotel Lion. The hotel and rooms were clean, tidy and modern. Although a tip for anybody going there... take cool clothing as the heating is on 24/7 and it can get a bit warm sat around in the bar.
When we booked our holiday, we decided to upgrade our room to a superior/deluxe room. This was pretty pointless as we later found out. The rooms were only slightly larger than the others. Try for a balcony though as some of the views are lovely.
The staff were a bit of a mixture. The restaraunt staff were unhelpful and arrogant whereas the bar staff were fantastic and you could not fault them. Maria and Stoyan were brilliant. We were there for Christmas and my fiance celebrates his birthday on Christmas Day. Maria and Stoyan organised a cake for him and even bought him a gift from them.
The food in the hotel isn't bad. I'm a fussy eater and we ate there most nights without any problems. If you do find that there is nothing to suit your taste in the restaraunt, then the food in the bar was delicious. Also, Katies steak bar is fantastic. The reps recommended Francos.... do not eat there!!! They served us frozen fish and to be honest we tried it again afterwards and it didn't make up for it.
As for nightlife, there is not much in the hotel (we took a pack of cards and played poker in the bar) but there are a lot of friendly bars in the village. Chilli Peppers and Francos had a good lively atmosphere. Whereas Sunski bar was cheaper than most.
The skiing was good although there wasn't many blue slopes to progress onto. It was good for beginners and intermediate skiiers but there seemed to be no in between.
All in all we had a fantastic holiday and would definitely go back again!
When we booked our holiday, we decided to upgrade our room to a superior/deluxe room. This was pretty pointless as we later found out. The rooms were only slightly larger than the others. Try for a balcony though as some of the views are lovely.
The staff were a bit of a mixture. The restaraunt staff were unhelpful and arrogant whereas the bar staff were fantastic and you could not fault them. Maria and Stoyan were brilliant. We were there for Christmas and my fiance celebrates his birthday on Christmas Day. Maria and Stoyan organised a cake for him and even bought him a gift from them.
The food in the hotel isn't bad. I'm a fussy eater and we ate there most nights without any problems. If you do find that there is nothing to suit your taste in the restaraunt, then the food in the bar was delicious. Also, Katies steak bar is fantastic. The reps recommended Francos.... do not eat there!!! They served us frozen fish and to be honest we tried it again afterwards and it didn't make up for it.
As for nightlife, there is not much in the hotel (we took a pack of cards and played poker in the bar) but there are a lot of friendly bars in the village. Chilli Peppers and Francos had a good lively atmosphere. Whereas Sunski bar was cheaper than most.
The skiing was good although there wasn't many blue slopes to progress onto. It was good for beginners and intermediate skiiers but there seemed to be no in between.
All in all we had a fantastic holiday and would definitely go back again!
Advice: Shop around for the cheaper bars as there are still some around
Activities: Katies Steak House is a must-go! The food was gorgeous!
Good for: Ski
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- Date of Holiday:Dec 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Neilson
" Had a fab week in borovets... "
Submitted By: Mrs K Blackford
Had a fab week in borovets skiing...arrived 26th Jan... Had downfall of snow for a day n half. Alex out ski instructor was very good, we were up on the mountain after 2 days of lessons, done the blue and the red run.. All the slopes were good for skiing..Brilliant views from up their. Stayed at Hote Lion, which was fifteen mins walk to the ski slopes, had a free bus running in case you didnt want to walk it. We caught the bus in the morning and walked back in the evenings after the skiing. Plenty of bars, mainly ski shops around te area. The hotel was up to standard,very warm inside, multiple choice of food to pick from, staff were friendly and helpful, would defo go back next year and reccomend it to anyone...... :)
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- Date of Holiday:Jan 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Thomson
" Hotel Lion is a spacious hotel and... "
Submitted By: Miss A O'' Hara
Hotel Lion is a spacious hotel and the rooms are a great standard and cleaned everyday. The bar is cosy and the cocktails are tasty! There is a bus provided by the hotel and it runs every 20 minutes to the resort and is always on time. However, the staff in the restaurant are so rude. They stare at you blankly (they can speak English, they just don't bother) as if you are an inconvenience to them. Everything is a hassle to them from getting you water to asking for bread! The food is fine, not really much of an effort made but edible. The reception staff are also rude and unhelpful.
The resort itself is fine but the slopes are never groomed which make the runs bumpy and tough at times. We got lots of snow which was great and we enjoyed most of the runs. The gondolas were closed two days due to high winds which was disappointing.
The pizzas and 'hot wine' in 'Joy' are superb and I recommend Katy's for a steak!
Overall we enjoyed our stay but the hotel staff and the ungroomed slopes put a dampner on the holiday at times.
The resort itself is fine but the slopes are never groomed which make the runs bumpy and tough at times. We got lots of snow which was great and we enjoyed most of the runs. The gondolas were closed two days due to high winds which was disappointing.
The pizzas and 'hot wine' in 'Joy' are superb and I recommend Katy's for a steak!
Overall we enjoyed our stay but the hotel staff and the ungroomed slopes put a dampner on the holiday at times.
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- Date of Holiday:Mar 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Sunworld
" I stayed at the Lion Hotel for 1 week... "
Submitted By: Miss A Fitton
I stayed at the Lion Hotel for 1 week with a group of 5 friends.
On arrival I was really impressed with the quality of the hotel, It was modern, spacious and clean. We got checked in and went to our rooms, we were all more than happy with the rooms, the bathrooms were lovely and the bedroom was spacious and comfotable.
Then we went to the restaurant for dinner, again it all seamed really nice, we sat down and helped ourselves to the buffet....AWFUL!!! I have never tasted anything like it. Everything was soggy, slimey and cold. I decided soup and a roll was the way forward, the soup was really quite nice and then i buttered my bread roll, and the butter reaked of cheese! Brakfast was as bad.
The service we recieved throughout the holiday was poor, I found the staff rude, surly and unwelcoming. It seemed like we were nothing but an inconvenience to them.
The resort was a bit of a chanty town, the skiing was poor...all in all I was massively disappointed with the holiday. The only saving grace for me was that i was in good company and the beer was cheep.
I wouldnt recomend this place to anyone, Having said that if you do go you should visit a restaurant called katys steak and wine pub for a fantastic steak.
On arrival I was really impressed with the quality of the hotel, It was modern, spacious and clean. We got checked in and went to our rooms, we were all more than happy with the rooms, the bathrooms were lovely and the bedroom was spacious and comfotable.
Then we went to the restaurant for dinner, again it all seamed really nice, we sat down and helped ourselves to the buffet....AWFUL!!! I have never tasted anything like it. Everything was soggy, slimey and cold. I decided soup and a roll was the way forward, the soup was really quite nice and then i buttered my bread roll, and the butter reaked of cheese! Brakfast was as bad.
The service we recieved throughout the holiday was poor, I found the staff rude, surly and unwelcoming. It seemed like we were nothing but an inconvenience to them.
The resort was a bit of a chanty town, the skiing was poor...all in all I was massively disappointed with the holiday. The only saving grace for me was that i was in good company and the beer was cheep.
I wouldnt recomend this place to anyone, Having said that if you do go you should visit a restaurant called katys steak and wine pub for a fantastic steak.
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- Date of Holiday:Mar 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Neilson
" Had a fantastic holiday. Would... "
Submitted By: Mrs P N
Had a fantastic holiday. Would definitely recommend Lion hotel. Courtesy bus every 20mins or so to centre of Borovets - painless. Rooms first class. Food - you'll get used to it, but not really a problem. We found staff courteous and cleaners so friendly. (Try the Derby for a drink - meal - you could not wish for better service). For a quiet break, you could not do better than stay at this hotel.
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- Date of Holiday:Jan 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Crystal Ski
" Hotel rooms very spacious and very... "
Submitted By: Mrs L Murray
Hotel rooms very spacious and very clean. Food was different to UK but very edible.
Hotel is very warm - so take your t-shirts and maybe shorts for in hotel. Would definitely go back to this hotel. Hopefully going back next year. Word of warning in Borovets found lots of places expensive e.g. in one place a coke costs 6 lev = £2.40 but also found others to be 2 - 3 lev = approx 80p. (Don't be pushed into eating where your ski instructors want you to eat, as these are the most expensive places) we found this out for ourselves and found alot cheaper places and our instructors then got into trouble when we did not eat where they were supposed to take us.
Hotel is very warm - so take your t-shirts and maybe shorts for in hotel. Would definitely go back to this hotel. Hopefully going back next year. Word of warning in Borovets found lots of places expensive e.g. in one place a coke costs 6 lev = £2.40 but also found others to be 2 - 3 lev = approx 80p. (Don't be pushed into eating where your ski instructors want you to eat, as these are the most expensive places) we found this out for ourselves and found alot cheaper places and our instructors then got into trouble when we did not eat where they were supposed to take us.
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- Date of Holiday:Feb 2008
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Thomson
" Hotel Lion.
A middle... "
Hotel Lion.
A middle size hotel just 7 minutes mini bus drive from the lifts. The Rila and Samokov are huge and central to the lifts but are so big we have heard varying reports about staying there.
The Lion has very good standard rooms with most items you’d expect for a mid 4* hotel. Cleaned and beds made each day with a spacious en suite facility.
The room includes the usual overpriced mini bar but the one thing we missed, was coffee making facilities.
The dining hall is slightly undersized but they overcome the problem by asking you to opt for a dinner time of 6.00, 7.00 or 8.00pm.
Food was of a buffet style and although some of the dishes were a little unusual they were tasty and edible with a good choice for most diners unless you are a really fussy eater.
There is a very nice lounge at the entrance with bar and a mezzanine area above with more lounge chairs. A small Internet room, shop and swimming pool make this a very reasonable hotel for anyone who wants a little extra without being in a huge complex.
Although the staff appeared a little surly at times we generally found them helpful and courteous. We’d be happy to stay here again. The one down side was the heating! Hot or what? Even with all our radiators off the room still boiled.
I’m not sure what size their carbon footprint is but I reckon it must be half the size of Bulgaria. Bring plenty of thin tee shirts!
Skiing at Borovets
My wife and I are good intermediate skiers. Enjoy red and even black slopes after a fresh snow fall.
We came to Borovets in the half term holiday period. The resort is strangely split between two areas and sadly they do not really join up.
The lower slopes are accessed by a couple of chair lifts which start off on wide blue slopes ending in a choice of reds a black or a green mountain path.
There are a couple of very wide nursery slopes but these were incredibly crowded for the first 3-4 days. We saw groups of 15+ in classes and it seemed to take ages for the pupils in the classes to take their turn.
At worst the beginner drags had 75+ people shuffling in line for their turn. It must have been 40+ minutes to get onto the drags at peek time.
Also on the first day we were shocked by the length of queues to get ski gear for some of the groups (it’s unlikely they got their gear before lunch on the first day) so get up early to get your skis.
The second range (much higher and therefore much colder) is reached via the gondolas (25 minute ride) and has an amazing wide green run at the top along with a good blue, a couple of nice wide reds and a black.
The drags are tedious though and the 2nd and 3rd drags are horrendously jerky and uncomfortable. The runs down are mainly reds with one nice blue for part of the way. Strangely a couple of the reds run down to nowhere and you have to either walk back or take one of the horse drawn taxis (10 Lev) back to the gondola.
There is one chair lift up the side and when the gondola queue is huge (over 30 mins) then it could be advisable to take a taxi to the chair lift which goes up to the middle of the range where you can join the gondolas from the reds, not advisable for beginners.
We arrived after a fresh snow fall and so the first few days enjoyed relatively good conditions. The snow on the higher range stays fresher if conditions turn mild, but it’s icy till mid day if there has been no cloud cover overnight.
We enjoyed many of the slopes but were annoyed that on some days not all the slopes were refreshed by Piste bashers. With the limited runs it seems incredibly lazy not to have them all in good working order at the start of each day.
On the last day they closed the top gondola so many more beginners were packed onto the lower range. Too many beginners trying their first red slopes at the end of their first week to make it a safe experience.
There is an opportunity to night ski on floodlit slopes but I’m not sure of the attraction as its just floodlit and at extra cost (no flaming torch processions etc)
If you are a good strong skier you will have skied the entire range in two days or less, but there are plenty of off Piste tracks for the more adventurous.
All in all a reasonable range but too crowded at times and very annoying that random runs were left undressed and remained heavily rutted when they could have been so much better.
We can thoroughly recommend one of the restaurants on the nursery slope. As you come off the number 3 red slope facing the Rila Hotel it is on your right facing the first of the two chairlifts.
Their pizzas are amazing and so is their hot wine. A mug of that mid afternoon will certainly help you fly down the reds and blacks for the rest of the afternoon!
A word of caution:
The hole in the wall machines seem to either not work or deliberately not accept English cards of any sort. Is it a conspiracy with the bureau de change and hotels?
This forced us to take out cash from our credit card in the hotel with a handling charge of 10%! The cash exchange rate is generous so bring English cash for emergencies.
A middle size hotel just 7 minutes mini bus drive from the lifts. The Rila and Samokov are huge and central to the lifts but are so big we have heard varying reports about staying there.
The Lion has very good standard rooms with most items you’d expect for a mid 4* hotel. Cleaned and beds made each day with a spacious en suite facility.
The room includes the usual overpriced mini bar but the one thing we missed, was coffee making facilities.
The dining hall is slightly undersized but they overcome the problem by asking you to opt for a dinner time of 6.00, 7.00 or 8.00pm.
Food was of a buffet style and although some of the dishes were a little unusual they were tasty and edible with a good choice for most diners unless you are a really fussy eater.
There is a very nice lounge at the entrance with bar and a mezzanine area above with more lounge chairs. A small Internet room, shop and swimming pool make this a very reasonable hotel for anyone who wants a little extra without being in a huge complex.
Although the staff appeared a little surly at times we generally found them helpful and courteous. We’d be happy to stay here again. The one down side was the heating! Hot or what? Even with all our radiators off the room still boiled.
I’m not sure what size their carbon footprint is but I reckon it must be half the size of Bulgaria. Bring plenty of thin tee shirts!
Skiing at Borovets
My wife and I are good intermediate skiers. Enjoy red and even black slopes after a fresh snow fall.
We came to Borovets in the half term holiday period. The resort is strangely split between two areas and sadly they do not really join up.
The lower slopes are accessed by a couple of chair lifts which start off on wide blue slopes ending in a choice of reds a black or a green mountain path.
There are a couple of very wide nursery slopes but these were incredibly crowded for the first 3-4 days. We saw groups of 15+ in classes and it seemed to take ages for the pupils in the classes to take their turn.
At worst the beginner drags had 75+ people shuffling in line for their turn. It must have been 40+ minutes to get onto the drags at peek time.
Also on the first day we were shocked by the length of queues to get ski gear for some of the groups (it’s unlikely they got their gear before lunch on the first day) so get up early to get your skis.
The second range (much higher and therefore much colder) is reached via the gondolas (25 minute ride) and has an amazing wide green run at the top along with a good blue, a couple of nice wide reds and a black.
The drags are tedious though and the 2nd and 3rd drags are horrendously jerky and uncomfortable. The runs down are mainly reds with one nice blue for part of the way. Strangely a couple of the reds run down to nowhere and you have to either walk back or take one of the horse drawn taxis (10 Lev) back to the gondola.
There is one chair lift up the side and when the gondola queue is huge (over 30 mins) then it could be advisable to take a taxi to the chair lift which goes up to the middle of the range where you can join the gondolas from the reds, not advisable for beginners.
We arrived after a fresh snow fall and so the first few days enjoyed relatively good conditions. The snow on the higher range stays fresher if conditions turn mild, but it’s icy till mid day if there has been no cloud cover overnight.
We enjoyed many of the slopes but were annoyed that on some days not all the slopes were refreshed by Piste bashers. With the limited runs it seems incredibly lazy not to have them all in good working order at the start of each day.
On the last day they closed the top gondola so many more beginners were packed onto the lower range. Too many beginners trying their first red slopes at the end of their first week to make it a safe experience.
There is an opportunity to night ski on floodlit slopes but I’m not sure of the attraction as its just floodlit and at extra cost (no flaming torch processions etc)
If you are a good strong skier you will have skied the entire range in two days or less, but there are plenty of off Piste tracks for the more adventurous.
All in all a reasonable range but too crowded at times and very annoying that random runs were left undressed and remained heavily rutted when they could have been so much better.
We can thoroughly recommend one of the restaurants on the nursery slope. As you come off the number 3 red slope facing the Rila Hotel it is on your right facing the first of the two chairlifts.
Their pizzas are amazing and so is their hot wine. A mug of that mid afternoon will certainly help you fly down the reds and blacks for the rest of the afternoon!
A word of caution:
The hole in the wall machines seem to either not work or deliberately not accept English cards of any sort. Is it a conspiracy with the bureau de change and hotels?
This forced us to take out cash from our credit card in the hotel with a handling charge of 10%! The cash exchange rate is generous so bring English cash for emergencies.
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- Date of Holiday:Feb 2007
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Directski
" A beautiful hotel and a fantastic... "
Submitted By: elsiefish
A beautiful hotel and a fantastic location. Being away from the centre of Borovets it's nice and peaceful but you can walk into the village centre in about 15mins if you prefer some entertainment.
The rooms are very well appointed and scrupulously clean. There's a nice bar/lounge area and drinks and food are extremely cheap. Food in the restaurant is OK - the menu is varied so you can always find something suitable.
The hotel provides a free minibus service to the resort centre and we found this no trouble at all.
In all we enjoyed are stay there and would recommend it to anyone. We have also stayed at the Rila which is ideally situated for the slopes but is nowhere near as good as the Lion for comfort and service.
The rooms are very well appointed and scrupulously clean. There's a nice bar/lounge area and drinks and food are extremely cheap. Food in the restaurant is OK - the menu is varied so you can always find something suitable.
The hotel provides a free minibus service to the resort centre and we found this no trouble at all.
In all we enjoyed are stay there and would recommend it to anyone. We have also stayed at the Rila which is ideally situated for the slopes but is nowhere near as good as the Lion for comfort and service.
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- Date of Holiday:Jan 2006
- Board Basis:Half Board
- Tour Operator:Panorama
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+ Hotel furnishings, rooms and reception area were decorated to a very nice standard (Modern, clean and tidy).
-the hotel was very warm, we had to sleep with the window open, which was fine, but cooler clothing was required for sitting in reception/bar areas. (T-shirts etc)
+ Staff spoke basic Enlish, enough to get by. They didn't look very happy, but this is just their way and were actually quite helpful.
+Breakfast was similar each day, but there was something for everyone
- Dinner was also similar each evening, meals were hot but sometimes got a bit repetitive. As vegetarians we struggled, sometimes there were no options other than soup, chips and veg!
+A bus takes you into the centre of the ski resort, only takes 5 mins and runs every ~20mins. We walked it a few times, it only took 10mins and it was nice to stretch our legs after skiing!
Resort review:
+Slopes and instuctors made it excellent for beginners
- Weather can strongly influence slope conditions, lack of snow can make slopes icey
Overall a very pleasureable stay!
Good for: Ski