Elina Hotel

What a great family run hotel,from the moment we arrived (1.30am) we where well greeted and fed, sandwich,fruit,salad and a drink in your room,after no in-flight meal (not offered) and no food found by rep on our 4 hour transfer we where ready for this feed.
Ok do not forget this is a Bulgarian run hotel, so English food tastes are minimal, breakfast was Continental, though with cooked eggs,sausage and other foods to feed you, hot instant coffee(with hot milk)fruit teas (take your own English tea) and ask for cold milk for cereals otherwise you will be given hot.
Plenty of toast,fruit and cake so no reason to go hungry.
The hotel is set amid forest surrounding at the end of a dead end road,there is a morning free transfer bus to the main ski station and return trips are after 3pm and run until about 5pm.
Hotel rooms are standard,clean and very warm, there is a small fridge to keep the drinks cold in.
The beds are comfortable with two duvets which tend to be too warm.
The shower and toilet are also clean and spotless,though the shower tends to overflow, more of a wet room,despite other reviews the toilet did not overflow but worked first time every time.
The decor has recently been renovated but is a diy not a professional revamp,its funky and friendly.
The bar is comfortable and cheap,with beer costing 2.75 lev(£1.05 per
pint) vodka was 2.50 lev a double (£1.00) and a bottle of coke at around 1.80 lev ( 60p), they do not serve Red Bull drinks but you can buy them at the resort supermarkets for around 1.60lev for Pit Bull. and drink them in the bar as the staff do not mind.(there is an open log fire which you have to light yourself and also tend,otherwise there is no heating in the bar area).
The bar staff are great they are a husband and wife team and they work from 7am until 1am always friendly and cheerful,no problem was too much trouble.
Restaruant was very comfortable limited food choice again very Bulgarian,so do not expect chips, food was varied,the tendency was for food to be served warm but a microwave is supplied to heat to your temperature.
Despite other reviews the food is not recycled,Breakfast and dinner is always different,we ate like gannets,there is an ala carte menu also.
Yes the food is limited and if you linger too long in your room prior to eating then you may miss out on the variety, with it being family run they cater for the number of guests and not over produce.
The hotel is a twenty minute walk into the main resort area,down a long slippery hill,there are bars and a variety of eating places,a couple of mini marts.
If you want a taxi back then barter hard as the starting price can be as high as 15-20 lev but you can get it down to 6lev,pay then and there.
As the hotel has no swimming pool,if you are looking for a swim then the hotel Perilik charges 8lev,well worth it as during the day you will be the only ones in it.
If you have brought your own skis, then leave them at ski station one which is a short walk from the hotel and the shuttle driver will drop you off there (if you ask him nicely),then you do not need to rely on the bus to get you home as its a short walk back up the hill.
There is a small nursery slop at the end of the road with a drag lift ideal for the kids as is quiet and not used by tourists.
Of course if you are skiing all day then the runs are numerous,well looked after and tend to be quiet,the main station is known as Studentets
which is busy with all the bars and eating places here,they tend to be pricey with Pizza at 8-13 lev and beer at 3lev hot drinks are around 4lev for coffee and chocolate.
There are plenty of chair lifts from 4-6 seat loads of drag and single seat lifts well organised also so short que.
This is a busy resort with plenty of skiing potential limited apri ski but the hotel bar is aduquate.
Hope this is useful to you do not be put off by the hotel reviews it is a great place with great staff who will make you stay enjoyable.
If you are adventourous and have a day of rest, then there are three(that we found) great forest walks,virgin snow and peace.

Ok lets be serious now..We arrived at the hotel, after reading these awful reviews, thinking "It cant be that bad!" But trust me...it is that bad!
Upon arrival we thought the room, however basic, was not tht bad. Plus they had prepared room for us after a long journey..and trust me that coach journey is LONG and the drivers are INSANE!
Realised that there where only 8 guests in the ENTIRE hotel..therefore NO buffet breakfast..stale toast, an egg (if your lucky) jam, cheese, ham and salami that could have been used for poker chips!
Skiing there was great fun, the instructors are awesome, make sure you get Peter...But watch out for the bell sellers! (Particularly MICHEAL - he is not your friend! and bullied about £15 out of us by the end of our week).
Back to the hotel...dinner, printed on an A4 sheet of paper...included... Cabbage, cold soup, stale bread, undercooked chicken, and chips - raw dipped in oil. And to top that off - An apple. On a plate. For your pudding.
It was soon we realised... The dinner was the same as was the breakfast - EVERY DAY.
The waiters seemed to not quite understand the laughter from the dining room, was not enjoyment, but instead shock at finding wood shavings in your baklava cake!
The room is FREEZING, the shower is SO POWERFUL and LEAKS EVERYWHERE the shower fills up like a bath, then spills all over the floor! Oh and yes...the toilet blocked...
To top this off, drinks are not included. Coffee but only with breakfast, when I went to get a coffee in the day, the staff turned the machine off!!
There is no gym, no massage, no nightclub. Just the remains of your soul after a week of hideous service.
We still had fun, but seriously, never again. Unless you want to live of protein bars, like we did!

1 reader found this review helpful

After arriving with a 5hr delay from Gatwick we entered our room it was like something out of faulty towers toilet kept backing up and flooding the floor...no shower screen on the shower so it went everywhere the floor was dangerously wet.The people on reception were rude didnt want to help all she done was stare at the computer all day.The girls in the bar were very unfriendly didnt want to serve us hot drinks kept saying its self service but the people from Bulgaria who were staying there they soon served them because they were leaving them a tip.The beds were very lumpy rooms were more than just basic it wouldnt be rated as a 3 star in England it was more like a 1 star and thats being generous.The food was cold in the resturant never enough cups or the things you neede out there were no lids on the hot plates to keep the food hot.The barman sat there all day playing loud music smoking and drinking..also spitting into the sink and blowing his nose into his hands.The girls walked around like they were princess and looked at you like you were a nasty smell.The heating was off from morning till about 3 in the afternoon even the cleaners were complaing how cold it was in the hotel.On a good side the man in the minibus who picked you up to take you to the slopes was really lovely.I would NEVER reccomend this hotel i havent got a good word to say about it,its the WORSE hotel ive ever stayed in.

How this hotel is ever rated as a 3 star i will never know i wouldnt of put it as a 1 star it was so bad. The rooms were terrible the beds were rock hard,the carpet was covered in bits & hair, it looked unclean with dirty nets at the window, the heating was on all night & off all day ?? so was freezing when back from ski-ing. The wardrobes had nails sticking out & my parents one fell apart !!! the bathroom sink leaked , toilet leaked , again my parents flushed thier loo & the waste came back out the bottom it was disgusting.The food was not fit for an animal nothing worked it was really cold so even though we were half board we ate out every night at the english pub called `The White Hart`.
The hotel staff were very rude especially the 2 younger ladies on reception & they shrugged thier shoulders at any time you tried to explain anything. The barmen & the waitresses just walked about & if you ordered a hot drink fromthe bar & you had to wait they then told you it was self service so not to sit somewhere & wait as they wouldnt bring it over BUT with bulgarian tourists they waited on them. We also had a 5 hour delay on the way to the resort. On the way back was worse as Plodiv was shut we were then re-routed to Sofia {4 hours away} to then be told we wasnt going home at all, we were then put up in a 5 star hotel which was lovely but had to check out at 12pm wait around til 14.30 to be picked up by the coach, after getting to the airport it then took nearly 3 hours to check -in no-one knew what was going on our rep had no clue ! we had no refreshment vouchers for the other side & hadnt eaten since 8am that morning in the hotel it was disgusting that nothing was provided there was no food in the cafes as they had run out !!! It seems the staff at the Hotel & the rep Emma had no people skills & were unequiped to deal with any problems. This wasnt a cheap holiday ethier & would never return, in my opinion this hotel should be shut down.

1 reader found this review helpful

My friends and I - a group of late 20's decided on Paporovo and the Elina for our first snowboarding holiday. After an arduous journey to Pamporovo following a re-route to Sofia airport (apparently this is not unusual and some even end up transfered to Greece!!), 2hrs wait for the coach and then a 5hr transfer to the hotel our group arrived at the Elina at 3:00am local time. As we entered the hotel 3 porters were watching a dvd on a laptop and didn't bother getting up to help us with luggage, and throughout our stay none of us can explain what they actually do, although they are always around... mostly drinking at the bar (yes in uniform).
On appearance, the hotel is very presentable and is situated high in a snow covered pine forest about 15 mins from town and the rest of the hotels. Its peaceful and warm and for the most part a relaxing place to stay.
However (the bad things):
1) The beds are solid in all the wrong places and you'll be lucky to get one that doesnt sound like a tree beaking when you move. Hopefully you'll be too tired after a day on the slopes to worry too much about this.
2) Not unlike everywhere else in Bulgaria, its boiling hot inside. They seem to over compensate for the cold outside and had a tendency to want to light the fire in the bar even when the central heating was on full blast. You'll need to sleep with the windows open in you're room for fear of shrivelling up in the heat.
3) I thought people were exagerating about the food in previous reviews... turns out they weren't! Breakfast is continental and served in a ban-marie that is never turned on (which is why its cold), and evening meals are just about edible. Worryingly one of the porters we got chatting to said he would never eat the meat served in the hotel as it wasn't fresh (he only told us this on the last day!). Be mindfull of the chicken wherever you eat it in Pamporovo... its often undercooked as we discovered after visiting several different restaurants.
4) Its not as cheap as you might hope. If you want a sauna/juacuzzi it'll cost you extra, although only 6-10 Lev and will take an hour to prepare. Taxis to and from town are 15 lev each way. Beers are 5 Lev, although the bar tender tried to charge us different amounts every night, and the pool table is 3 Lev per game.
Now the good points:
1) The free bus too and from the ski centre is always on time and the driver was a nice chap.
2) The hotel is for all its faults, clean and cozy and peaceful.
3) Showers in the rooms are nice and powerful (just remember that most bathrooms are wet rooms and not to put your clothes on the floor.... as my girlfriend unfortunately discovered too late).
4) Staff are friendly dispite the confusion over their own job-spec's.
In conclusion, and in the hotels own words (actually printed in the their brochure) "Elina hotel is not a vision of paradise but the place where you could spend unforgettable moments of rest and pleasure.
A quick word on the snowboarding and skiing - bloomin' brilliant, and the resort as a whole is definately up and coming. Would definately go back (but to a different hotel).

Hi everyone, we have just come back from our snowboarding holiday in pamporovo. We were staying in the hotel elina which first impressions seemed nice, reception, bar etc.
First, we were put in the wrong room which was horrible, beds were like sleeping on a biscuit, dirty and hairy carpet. Complained next day as this is not what we booked and got moved which was better! Still dodgy 70s rooms don’t jump on the bed cause it will hurt.
Shower floods everywhere, drainage problems, slippy on the floor, food was grim and cold fried eggs are not appealing. Evening meals were not much better, luke warm and little choice. Everything did look a bit regurge...but staff were friendly. Here’s a few tips as well, don’t go to Smolyan coz its a dump.
Beware of the bellman down at ski centre, these guys drive you nuts, trying to make you buy a stupid bell! They tie one to you for free then wait for you all day to come down off the slopes to force 1 on you really annoying!! The free bus was ok but didn’t run at night unless you booked it first.
Barman very nice but the main problem came when 50 kids turned up for a holiday! Who puts kids in a ski resort hotel in the middle of a forest with nothing to do, very noisy as you can imagine especially as their nannies had no control over them not happy!
Slopes were ok but lack of snow, our instructor was pretty crap and had no patience, I don’t think we will be coming here again....ooh and the kids broke the pool table!

The hotel is situated about 20 to 25 mins from town and is surrounded in a quiet forest.
I would not recommend walking into town at night, as there are no streetlights and at that time of year the roads were icy.
The hotel room we were in was basic but clean, although a little on the hot side, we had sleep with a window open.
The bar area with its log fire and helpful barman was the best place to be.
On the downside. The food in the restaurant was very poor with lukewarm dishes, no fresh vegetables or fruit and the leftovers from the night before being served again and again.
The so called shuttle bus to and from town in the evenings never happened as it was broken down, and even if it wasn't we did not find out about it until more than half way through our holiday.
The staff were always polite, even when replying to questions like 'is there skiing today?'
With answers like 'I don't know'.
All said, we would not return to this hotel. We would however return to the resort.
Our ski instructor was very patient with us (thank God) and tried his best to find uncrowned slopes for us to practise on, even though that was nigh on impossible to do, due to lack of snow fall.
All in all we had a great time and met some very nice people.
We are looking forward to returning to the slopes next year.

Hotel close enough to resort centre but far enough away for peace and quiet. Staff reasonably friendly, found the rooms to be basic but clean.
Rooms cleaned daily. Lovely bar area with Pool table, TV screens and music - they do a great Hot Chocolate!
Indulged in a whole body massage which was very relaxing and great after a few days on the slopes - very reasonably priced.
Hotel provides a courtesy bus in the mornings to the ski lifts at station 1 (closest) and station 2 (all ski schools).
On the down side, we found the food to be fairly awful. Ate in the restaurant two consecutive evenings to give benefit of the doubt but in the end ate out every night in the resort centre.
Food is only just warm (apparently the Bulgarians deem it unhealthy to serve food piping hot?!). Poor selection of hot foods but if you enjoy salads and cold meat you'll be just fine.
Breakfast offer was slightly better, I stuck to the natural yoghurt with honey but there is bread/ toast, cooked items, eggs, cereal etc. all the usual things.
There should be a courtesy bus in the evenings that takes you to the resort centre but we never saw it and when we asked about using the service, were told the bus had broken down and wouldn't be available for 3-4 days; strange then that we should see it working down at the ski centre within a few hours! Can only assume that they haven't anyone to drive the evening service.
A few good tips - if you want to eat out, go to the White Hart (next to the supermarket) or the Italian which is in the Perelik Hotel. Good food, cheaply priced and generally hot! Nice après-ski drinks in the Après-Bar also in the Perelik.
You generally have to pay to use most toilets at a charge of 50 Stotinki (or stinki as we call them). This equates to about 20p. You will not get small loose change in most places - only notes which makes paying for the toilet tricky!
Saying all this, we had a fab time. The resort is lovely, very friendly with great ski instructors. Non-stuffy as you may find in other better known European resorts and the prices are very cheap. Go B&B and eat out, you'll have a great time.

1 reader found this review helpful

Initial impression is good with a smart reception area & very nice bar with open log fire.
Sadly the rooms are very different and all I could compare them to is Butlins.
Our room had a leaking radiator, a warped window frame which was still 1" open when it should have been closed and thread-bare room carpets.
Also cigarette burns in the bedding, crumbling patches on the room walls, door frames patched with silicon sealant and so much noise from taxi's & music below that we couldn't sleep even using ear plugs.
The manageress refused to move us to a better room & the rep was no help either only being interested in booking excursions.
Staff were generally friendly but ineffective at resolving issues.
The evening meals were very limited with little variety over the week. On a positive note an excellent massage is available within the hotel, which is lovely after a few days skiing.
The skiing was good considering the shortage of snow and our ski instructor was excellent.
Basically, take a sense of humour with you & don't let the hotel spoil a good holiday. If you get a quiet room location, you're probably ok but otherwise you'd be much better off in the resort centre.
This hotel is not representative of others as we were in 'Finlandia' last year and were very impressed.