Iglika Hotel

We have been 2 yrs running (March 2005 & 2006) to Iglika on half board basis - you get what you pay for. The hotel IS basic, and the food in the hotel is just about edible but we have had 2 FABULOUS holidays. And it is SO cheap to eat and drink out. The Iglika is a very short dander (through the Rila Hotel) onto the slopes and the slopes are great for all - we are a mixed adult group of skiers and boarders and Borovets suited all our varied abilities! Iglika is also a short walk to the pubs and restaurants - definitely a brilliant location.

23/02/07 to 03/03/07 Our group of fifteen (a mixture of snowboarders, skiers and ‘bladers’) had booked a package through Inghams; flights, half board, kindergarten and ski lessons for the children and lift passes, all for just under £400 per person. We arrived at the Iglika at around 9 o'clock after the hours transfer from Sofia. First impressions - great location in the centre of town, large comfortable bar, friendly staff and hot food waiting for us. Our group of 15 had paid extra for superior rooms and they were great. Large clean bathroom and a huge room with two single beds and a pull out bed. It was clean and in good condition. The bar, expertly run by Daniel, was extremely good value. A large beer was 3 Leva (about one pound), a generous shot 4 Leva and decent cocktails 7 Leva. The five children were well catered for in the form of a games room, with table football (2 Leva), a darts game and 4 Sony Playstations (4 Leva for thirty minutes). This was fantastic, as the grown ups could relax with a drink, knowing the kids were safe and happy. Breakfast was good and there was a good choice of greasy fry up, continental ham and cheese, cereals or fruit and yoghurt. You needed to allow an extra half an hour if you fancied toast though, as the toaster was extremely slow! All in all, it was a fantastic week’s holiday. We had good weather and fresh snow half way through was a real boost. The pistes are good and with plenty of red runs, offer a real challenge and the lift pass offers great value for money. The resort is fantastic for both apres ski and nightlife, and must be the cheapest in Europe. Do we recommend Borovets and the Hotel Iglika? Most definitely! Mark Coleman Luxury Apartments For Sale - see [--] and click "Chalet Iskar"

My family of 5 have just returned from a week in the Iglika Palace. We spread ourselves over 2 rooms. One was a superior room on the 4th floor with a bath. I had asked for us to be near to each other and our rooms were next door to each other but not adjoining.The hotel was clean and very warm. The hotel has a bar area which was great to relax in for a hot chocolate with or without brandy after a day on the slopes! It was my husbands 40th birthday while we were there and the staff organised a lovely cake for him ! The staff all spoke excellant english and helped out when required. We ate in the restaurant which was just OK although I heard others complaining. We ate out 2 nights. We had a meal at Katy's Bar 130 lev for 5 of us and on the last night we ate at Mamma Mias for 160 lev. The first meal was 3 courses, bottle of wine and beers. The latter was just main course and bottle of wine!! Both good food. Our group consisted of 3 beginners and 2 intermediate skiers. The 3 beginners had ski school from 10 til 3 for 6 days. They lunched with their group at different restaurants around the bottom of the slopes. Their ski instructor showed them a different one each day!! She got her lunch free! Avoid the Snow Bear Restaurant run by the Rila Hotel it was poor. I had the worst food I have ever eaten any where and sent it back. The Black Cat Restaurant was good for lunch. The skiing was ok for intermediates although we did feel we were repeating the runs over and over again especially when the lower slopes(1800meters) started to thaw and show grass towards the end of the week! I recommend a visit to Borovets if you have never been any where else as it is a cheap holiday. It cost us less than half what it would have cost if we had gone to France, Switerland or Andorra! We got value for the money we paid.

This was our second stay in Borovits, 1st time was at the Rila which is just too big. We had booked a superior room as a bath is essential. The main problem was that our room was on the ground floor , just behind the bar!!! The noise was constant from 7am till 3am every night. Also children were then running up and down our short corridor whilst parents were at the bar. Another problem was that we had paid for an extra bed in one of our rooms for my 11 year old daughter. This was the smallest bed ever seen. The mattress was no more than 45cm wide and only about 5cm deep. After complaining the staff brought a regular mattress which we placed on the floor, but not ideal. Our room was not cleaned every day, when I asked for it to be cleaned I was just told that the cleaner had gone home so would have to wait till the next day. Receptions staff and the porters were very rude. As the previos person mentioned we did have power cuts during one day. No provision was made by the hotel for this, ie no torches, we asked reception for a candle as it was pitch black in our room, which we were charged for. We didn't eat in the hotel as the 1st nights meal and breakfast put us off. We love Borovits and have skied in many other places. We will return there but not to the Iglika. We will instead rent one of the local apartments which are also very close to the slopes and much better value

Third time in Borovets but first time at Iglika Hotel (stayed at Hotel Olymp first 2 years) needless to say we would never go back to Olymp after this... we had a superior room for us two and an apartment for 3 teenagers. each of these rooms had a bath.. WONDERFUL.....hot water pretty much on demand except one day but we had just had a power cut for an hour or so. The bliss of a long soak after a day on the slopes is worth the money alone. The food was fine if sometimes not too hot, but if you read the brochures thats the way the locals have it. Good selection at breakfast and dinner and never ran out. Bar staff are wonderful... thanks to Luke and Daniel on the evening shift for very enjoyable times. The selection of cocktails and shots are great and served with a smile every time. Beer and cocktails were about the cheapest in town for a hotel so centrally placed. 3 lev for pint of beer and 4 lev for shots and 7 lev for cocktails. ( The Rila over the road was far more expensive). Luke the barman took our teenagers on the slopes on 4 days and they had a great time with him yet he still worked tirelessly till 2am each night with never a dull face and always cleaning and wiping the bar between serving. Hotel staff generally friendly but one or two receptionists seemed a little terse but i think their english was not as good as others so came across in the wrong way. Rooms cleaned each day. bathrobes are provided for the pool and sauna etc. Friendltystaff in the ski depot and reasonably priced for ski hire, service and waxing.. Overall our best week yet of the 3 we have had and already ready to rebook for next year. Never been anywhere else but have spoken to so many people who have and although the skiing may get limited for the hardcore skier and boarder Borovets and the Iglika are a perfect combination for a pretty, friendly, and value for money family holiday..

Our party of 8, stayed at the Iglika from 6th-13th January 2007. To be honest the way we all approached this holiday was to not expect a great deal (due to the amount we paid)....we were very pleasantly surprised! We booked superior rooms, which we were thankful for after seeing the smaller regular rooms another party we met out there had booked. Both breakfast and dinner catered for all; with cereals, fruit and a full cooked breakfast in the morning to a varied range of meats and a lovely selction of fresh salads. One point I would make is that the buffet selection did seem to vary throughout the evening and get slightly more limited the later you went down, so it was better to get down before 7.30pm. The hotel bar appeared to be one of the cheapest in town and the cocktails were most certainly the best! Beers cost around 3lev (£1.20) and cocktails between 6 and 7 lev (£2.50). Hotel staff friendliness varied - bar staff were lovely....reception not so, but you can't have everything! The skiing was good, none of us were very hardcore and we wanted a balance between partying and skiing, so if you are going just for the skiing and want to be on the first lift out and take the last one of the day for a final ski down - you may find the skiing limited and this may not be the resort for you. The resort itself has a good range of restaurants and bars, Franko's is good for pizza, but the drink is quite expensive..for Bulgaria that is! The Karioke bar, by the 4-man chair is good to start the night and we usally finished off in Buzz Bar. For a cheap holiday, with good accommodation, food and drinks, decent skiing and a range of nightlife - this is place to go!

Our 1st experience of skiing & being away over the Xmas turned out to be our best family holiday yet. Yes there could have been more snow & breakfast could have been hotter but the friendly approachable hotel staff, the attentative & helpful Ski Instructor, Dimo & the glorious Rila Mountains made our stay a very memorable one. We would thoroughly recommend Bulgaria to anyone wishing to spend Xmas away from home. We are already planning a return trip in the summer to see another side of this delightful country.

We stayed in the iglika in the begining of april 2006. The rooms we're small and the beds were hard. However the staff were fantastic, really friendly and helpfull. The food was not fantastic but it's a 3* hotel in bulgaria. Food in the resort was very good and very cheap. If your looking for a cheap base with a nice atmosphere thats close to the lifts you cant go wrong with this hotel.

We were at the Iglika from the 19th-26th March 2006. I had seen some pretty awful reviews about it, but it turned out to be fine. We booked early as we were a party of 4 adults and 3 kids, so we had a twin room, a family room & I had a single room. The rooms and bathrooms were big enough & clean. In the single room the bathroom was a wet room, with the shower next to the toilet, so everything was wet for ages after a shower. The meals were all buffet style, and we could always find enough to eat. The soups and salads were good every night, and plenty of fresh fruit. Unfortunately the kids only wanted to eat chips for breakfast and dinner! The beer in the bar was the cheapest in town, 75p/pint and Bulgarian brandy only 50p a (generous)shot. Staff were generally helpful and friendly. Only drawback was that you only get one small and one large towel for the week. All in all, adequate for a weeks cheap skiing. On the resort: This was the last week of the season & the upper part of the bubble lift was only open for 2 days (any excuse to save money we think) and they were short of instructors (only 15 left of 50 from high season). We would go back again, but slightly earlier in the season.

Returned from a weeks skiing on Saturday 18 February 2006. A party of six, two adults and four children.As it was half term we expected it to be busy, it was packed!!!. Two hour delay going out and seven hour delay coming home after a 5am start, not the best way to end a holiday.To say the hotel is up for a refirb is an understatement.I will not bore you with all the details. The food was very mediocre and never hot. We read that the best place to eat in Borovets was The Happy Duck, without doubt the worst food i have even been given to eat!.If you want good food at a reasonable price, the very best in Borovets is The Golden Horn at the bottom of the four man chair lift at the back of the Rila Hotel. Very limited skiing but the best equipment was to be found in the Rossignol shop under the Ela Hotel.