Bendita Mare

Have just returned from Bendita Mare Apartments in golden Sands, Bulgaria. My party consisted of myself, my husband and my 2 children aged 11 and 7.

This is a self catering hotel where all of the apartments are owned privately and then rented out through holiday companies. So as well as holiday makers there are also owners taking breaks and using the facilities. The hotel is still fairly new and is about 4-5 years old. There was a good mixture of nationalities at the hotel and when we stayed there were many English families.

The apartments are one or 2 bedrooms. Ours was 1 bedroom with a bed settee in the lounge area which was adequate. There is a small kitchen area with fridge and cooker and some apartments have washing machines. The kitchen was well equipped and the apartment was cleaned every day. We had a problem with ants in the apartment and the hotel were great in dealing with this.

There are 2 pools with numerous sunbeds. The first week was fine to get a sunbed but the 2nd week as the hotel became busier there was a problem with people putting towels on the beds early in the morning and then not using them until late in the day. There are also 4 poster sunbeds that can be used at a rate of 10 lev per day. In addition there is a spa area which consists of a gym,sauna, hot tub and steam room with a variety of treatments available.

The hotel is in a good location as it is near to the beach and also to the strip of shops and restaurants, however you access these down numerous steps which are fine going down but not so fine returning!!

The resort of Golden Sands is very lively and although this was within walking distance you are still far enough away so that there is no noise from the street.

There is 1 restaurant at the hotel which serves Italian food and is good value for money. We used it several times for both lunch and dinner. As the outside tables are the most popular it is wise to reserve.

There is also a covered bar area outside and a late bar inside the hotel. There were complaints about the outside bar area as the wooden floor was rotten due to a bad winter and areas of it had been patched up. At the side of the hotel is a shop which stocks everything and the owner is very accommodating and will order English newspapers. Items such as water, coke and lager are also much cheaper here than from the supermarkets on the strip.

The beach is lovely and clean but sunbeds & umberellas are pricey - approx 7 lev for a bed which is approx £3.50.

There is a huge variety of entertainment within Golden Sands suitable for everyone. The resport is purpose built and they have literally thought of everything for the holiday maker from bungee jumps to photos with snakes. There are a lot of "pr" people who constantly approach you which can be annoying. There is also a little train that runs down the strip that costs 6 lev per person but you do have to pay twice if you want to travel to the end of the strip. Most restaurants have toilets but you do have to pay - usually about 1 lev.

We went on 2 trips that we booked through the tour operator - Aquapolis is a small water park at the top of the resort. You pay by height of children and not age. Children over 1.2 metres pay adult prices. You are able to catch regular free minibuses around the resort that take you direct to the park which is useful. You also have to pay for sunbeds here.

We also did the 24 hour city tour to varna which we enjoyed. There are 4 bus stops around Golden sands and a double decker bus takes you to various places of interest in varna and you can hop on and off as you please.

Overall we really enjoyed the holiday and we met some lovely people and would definitely recommend Bendita Mare & Golden Sands.