Lion Hotel

Stayed in Hotel Lion from 3rd March 07 for one week, the hotel is nice, clean, comfortable and the hotel staff are polite, apart from the reception staff who seem to be the least helpful. The food in the hotel is okay, not great but I do think they are trying to improve the menu. When we visited there was no snow so the whole of the area is a building site, snow makes everything look nice. It was often difficult to sleep because of the packs of dogs that roam around, either fighting, mating or just barking. The dogs were also a problem coming from a country of animal lovers (UK) many had old or new injuries and are obviously just left to heal, I found some of the sights quite distressing. Watch the Taxi's I was in a party of six we took two taxi's one evening one cost 5 levs (£1.50) the other cost 30 levs! This ended up in a major argument back at the hotel with the taxi driver, the hotel staff were not interested, infact the receptionist told one in our party to (--). The locals are okay many seem to have a real resentment towards us, and often can't even raise a smile. Beware of theives, I and my partner had our ski's stolen on our second day, again no one seemed interested, it was left to me to go and search for them but to no avail. Transfers are a nightmare to and from Sofia airport. Some of the local food is really good though I would recommend finding where the locals eat, if you venture into the tourist places you quite evidently get different poorer quality food from other diners who are either local or able to communicate with the staff. Not many people outside of the hotels speak very good english so it's impossible to be understood and to understand. I wouldn't go again, maybe in a few years when it has been more developed, and the standard of living for the locals has risen.

May I say the Hotel Lion was lovely and the rooms were huge and very comfortable - The food is, interesting, no ok it was pretty awful. The bar staff were great and the bar food was very good - The reception staff were a bit Poe faced (not sure if thats the right spelling) - Would return to the hotel no problem but would not return to Bansko for at least five years if ever - You have got to see the building work to believe it - This year the queues for the Gondola were sometimes as much as an hour long - Next year when the next 3000 rooms are complete ( multiply that by two per room) that will put another 6000 people on the mountain or rather in the Gondola queue - New Gondola planned but the eco warriors are on the warpath and trying to halt it so can't see it happening anytime soon

We stayed here at the end of February 2007 and found the hotel to be fantastic. It's only a short walk from the gondola and town centre (10mins to both). They also run 2 busses to the gonola whitch run very often.The staff were very good. The reception/bar area is massive with loads of seats. Drinks and food there were very good and nice and cheap. The breakfast and dinner in the main restaurant was not so good but it was OK. The superior rooms we had were huge and very nice (Free HBO on the telly was a nice bonus too). The only downside was that it's very hot in the hotel. We slept with the balcony door open most nights. Building work is visible from every room in the hotel but it wasn't a problem.

After taking advice from a previous traveller, we asked for 'quiet' rooms away from the nightclub and this was honoured. Overall we found the Lion good value for money. The rooms were clean and the bathrooms spotless. Food did vary a little in quality and a week was probably long enough but it gave you sufficient calories to tackle the slopes. We did complain about the music in the bar and restaurant. It was relentless and just a little loud if you wanted to talk. There was also a good mini-bus service to the Gondola if you were one of the lucky ones to actually get on it. Otherwise it was a 10 min walk. We were there half-term plus an international Biathlon was in town so the gondola queues and the slopes were very busy. We would definitely stay at the Lion again but not at half-term. As a matter of concern, we have been to Bansko 3 years running and the expansion of the town is incredible. However, there are no more ski-runs although a new gondola is supposedly planned for summer 2007.

The hotel Lion has very nice rooms & common areas decorated to a high standard, with a great pool area, it is very hot in the evening & you will only need short sleeves! Food quality is very poor (we ate of the bar menu most nights which was very cheap), even the breakfast wasnt great. Drinks are very cheap though. The Hotel runs a bus but it was complete bedlam in the morning the queue would start from 7.30 & the bus didnt run until 8.00 once it arrived it was every man for himself. The gondala is not easy to get to without using the bus due to brick walls being bulit which do not provide access though. The week which we arrived was half term & we expected it to be busy but if you were not at the gondala by 8.15 the queues were so big you could queue for about one & a half hours (being crushed by impatient people) Once arriving on the slopes we when to lessons we had 22 people in ours .......(aparently not enough english speaking ones ) the slopes that were classed as blue were more like reds, one map marked the slopes in blue & then another we got marked them in red, very bumpy slopes made the skiing very hard work espcially for beginners . This is not a resort for beginners as avertised.

Just arrived back from hotel lion and we had a wonderful time. this was our first skiing trip and it wont be our last. the hotel lion was a warm spacious hotel, we had a large family room which was always kept clean and had fresh towels. the staff at the hotel were all very friendly and helpful. Our only minor complaint about the hotel was that the pool was quite chilly compared to english pools but you soon get over it with the help of ther sauna. the food at the hotel was very good, we ate there most nights food was buffet style and there was always something to suit all tastes both at breakfast and the evening meal. the rep at the lion was always there when it was said she would be and was again very friendly and always helpful. in bansko itself it was very busy with alot of building work going on dread to think how busy it will be when all the hotels are completed as the slopes were also very busy ( however this could have had something to do with half term and the biathalon which was on whilst we were there) ques for the gondola in the morning were long and it took us anything up to 1 1/2 hours to get up the mountain each day. Bansko is very cheap to eat and drink in. would return to bansko but not in school holidays. ski school was excellent instructor very patient and had a sense of humour learnt loads.

My wife and I enjoyed this hotel. We booked through lastminute.com and upgraded to a family room and were given a huge room on the 6th floor which was excellent. It was cleaned daily to a high standard and all the hotel staff were helpful. The swimming pool area is well maintained and quite relaxing and we both had a massage there which was invigorating and great value for money. The bar area is welcoming with open fires and comfortable lounge seating and the local beer is good as well as being cheap although imported drinks are closer to UK prices. The restaurant offers a good selection on a buffet style basis - breakfast was always good and the evening menu was pretty good on one night but average on the next. I would recommend trying some of the local restaurants as we had an excellent meal in the town for a very reasonable price. The hotel also runs two shuttle buses to the gondolas which ran very regularly. Overall I would recommend staying at this hotel. We certainly will if we return to Bansko.

on arriving @ 6.30am very pleased with Hotel, very spacious family room, very clean & well maintained. Collected Ski equipment & met ski instructer @ 9.30, well organised, Gondala cue very busy ,need to arrive about 8.30 to miss crowds's. Ski instructer very pleasant & patient, B,B board standard breakfast, Food in hotel Bar very cheap & tasty especially Chicken fajitas atmosphere lively & friendly But very very warm!!! vest & short's needed not jumper's, pool & sauna + steam room excellent , Good ski resort & will be back next year no complaints from us

I stayed at this hotel for 5 nights around Christmas of 2006. This hotel is fine for package holidays and families with small children. It has less appeal to independent travelers and couples. Positives include: new property, large rooms with balconies, nice bathrooms, warm and cozy everywhere, location close to the main lift, free shuttle to the lift, large pool, nice lobby area, pleasant lobby bar Negatives: somewhat sullen staff attitude, lack of towels in the sauna/steam room area, generally poor design of the fitness/sauna area which looks like an afterthought. Unlike other reviewer I didn't hear any noise from the disco. It could be that my room was away from it. Now about the food. I had breakfast included and it wasn't terrible. They had a buffet with scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. It wasn't Four Seasons quality but it was acceptable. Once we had dinner in the traditional tavern of the hotel and it was OK. I'd recommend people opting out of dinner at the hotel and sampling some of the taverns and restaurants around town. In particular Dedo Pene and the Italian restaurant of the Kempinski are excellent in their own way. Verdict: acceptable if somewhat mediocre hotel in a fast-growing ski destination. If you can afford the Kempinski, by all means stay there. But Lion is an OK budget alternative. It doesn't have the coolness factor of Villa Roka but the rooms are more comfortable.

First impressions upon arrival were very good. We arrived at 2am were allocated a nice spacious family apartment consisting of two rooms both with en-suite. However my joy only lasted a few seconds when I realized there was loud music blasting up from a night club in the basement of the hotel. This night club operated until 4am every day throughout my weeks stay and even a good set of ear plugs did little to stifle the music reverberating up through the building from below. Hotel staff said it was not there problem as it was operated independently from the hotel which I thought was strange it could be accessed from within the hotel and I was asked you to comment on how well I enjoyed it on the end of stay questionnaire. Now the Food - well without wanting to appear too scathing, it was extremely poor. Pretty much inedible in fact. Breakfast and dinner were buffet style and mostly consisted of rather strange meat dishes, often undercooked and cold (beware of the pink chicken). Meals would have benefited immensely had they been served with potatoes/rice/pasta/chips etc. Deserts consisted of sliced apples and banana, both turned well brown, and the occasional small cake if you were very lucky. We paid half board but ended up eating out in local restaurants every night. Overall the food served was I presumed aimed at the Russians and Rumanians who mostly occupied the hotel. However if you were willing to pay on top of what you had paid already, (and why should I), there did exist a menu which included some rather fine looking dishes more suited to Western European taste. One evening in the restaurant we were entertained by the manager who had a blazing row on his mobile phone in front of everyone. This should give you an idea of the professionalism in the way the place is run. Other problems conveyed to me by other guests which I cannot speak of first hand were of money going missing from rooms and the bar conveniently running out of change. This hotel is advertised as four star, however just now I would say even by package holiday standards it is more three star. The hotel is used by UK tour operators such as Thomsons, Crystal etc, and I thought that they would have done more research before using this hotel to ensure that the food was at least satisfactory and that families were not going to be positioned above noisy night clubs. In summary as you have guessed I am unable to recommend this hotel as it is just now unless you are deaf and on a diet. In order to make this hotel an acceptable place to stay, the food would have to be vastly improved upon and the night club closed at midnight, as well as the staff benefiting from a little charm school training.