More and more popular are the hotels of St. Vlas (Bulgaria). This young growing resort is located half an hour from Burgas Airport and five minutes from the famous Sunny Beach resort. Its appearance is built in a smart way, by complex infrastructure projects, fortunately, it was popular in the last century, but now outdated “point building”, bypassing it. The resort here was built not from scratch, but as if in addition to the already existing county town. Thus, tourists here are not initially deprived of banking, medical and other infrastructure institutions, etc.
The cost of tours to the hotels of this resort is quite budget. Local three-star service is estimated for one person for 7 nights at a rate of 275-300 €; four-star - 380-430 €; five-star - 450-550 €. Thus, a Bulgarian five-star tour can be purchased at the price of a Turkish three-star.
The trick of relaxing in St. Vlas hotels is the calm atmosphere, the family orientation of relaxation and the powerful therapeutic effect of combining the purest mountain air with the healing water of the Black Sea. Those who wish can contact specialists for professional spa treatments. There is also a picturesque yacht marina where you can rent a ship. The Straya Planina mountain range provides the maximum comfortable climate for allergy sufferers and asthmatics. In the resort of St. Vlas, nature itself heals. The secret of recovery is that the local air is, in contrast to the classic sea, much drier. Practice shows: tourists who rested in the resort during the holiday season in the cold season are much less susceptible to respiratory diseases.
Resort Hotel
Five-star hotel complexes of this resort are few in number. Travel agencies recommend one of them - the Garden of Eden. However, not far from St. Vlas, just 4 km away, there is another five-star hotel - Royal Castle Design & Spa Hotel. Four-star service is provided by Apartcomplex Olymp, Marina Sunrise, St. George Hotel. The bulk of tourists choose hotels in St. Vlas (Bulgaria) three-level "star". They, relatively compact and neat, are the most numerous here.
Sustainable and deservedly popular among people who want to strengthen and heal their lungs, enjoys the resort of St. Vlas (Bulgaria). It is not a problem to find a hotel here ahead of time, since the existing infrastructure has a fairly wide range of 43 hotels from three to five star class.
Tropics
The three-star Tropiks Hotel (Saint Vlas, Bulgaria) with 52 rooms is located just 70 meters from the beach and a 15-minute walk from the resort center. Despite the fact that it is located in the city, it is calm here. The four-story building of the hotel complex is quite presentable. Its facade, decorated with intricate glazing, faces the city street, and a pool area is equipped behind its back.
The hotel has spacious double rooms, new ergonomic furniture, air conditioning, comfortable furnished loggia. The TV is tuned to Russian channels. The small refrigerator is serviceable and roomy enough. In the reception area, Wi-Fi is pretty decent in speed. The hotel staff is Russian-speaking.
The hotel has a children's playground and a children's pool. The territory of the hotel complex is quite compact, there is little vegetation on it.
"Iris"
Also, a comfortable three-star vacation guarantees its visitors the Iris Hotel (Bulgaria, St. Vlas). The three-story hotel building with spacious balconies has a rectangular shape. The hotel area is small, it is designed as a single terrace with an outdoor pool.
Its 45 rooms provide a relaxing family vacation for guests. “Warm” colors prevail in the interior decoration of the rooms: orange, brown, pastel-coffee. The furniture of the client rooms corresponds to the economy class.
It is located close enough to another, more noisy and crowded resort of Sunny Beach. From the windows of the third floor you can see its beaches and hotels. The sandy beach of the Iris Hotel is small but neat. In the pool area, thanks to the shade from the walls of the building, you can hide from the sun. The food of the hotel is noted in the reviews as good.
Larisa
The three-star Larisa Hotel (Bulgaria, St. Vlas), unlike the two already mentioned, hospitably opens the doors of two hotel buildings to its guests. Go to the sea for 7 minutes. There are many inexpensive shops and restaurants around. Mercury Hypermarket is a 10-minute walk away. The staff is Russian-speaking. Good welcoming attitude to guests. Internet at the hotel is free.
If the furniture, household appliances, plumbing "Larisa" are about the same class as in the "Tropic" and in the "Iris", then cleanliness lovers will surely enjoy staying in it: housekeeping is done more often - daily, linen is changed every 5 days. In addition, despite the compactness of the territory, it is planted with fruit trees and decorative plantings.
"Panorama"
Hotel Panorama (Bulgaria, St. Vlas) 3 * also offers its visitors a solid assortment of hotel services of a three-star level in a three-story small building containing 24 rooms. The hotel is organizationally a family business. The hosts are spouses. The husband solves organizational issues and procurement. My wife helps in the kitchen, another relative works there. The son is on duty at the reception.
According to the guest reviews, the Panorama restaurant deserves special praise. The local team is preparing an assortment of dishes that exceeds the level of three stars. If breakfast can be called standard and light, then lunch and dinner are cooked at home, with the first and second dishes for vacationers being prepared in two versions.
"St. Vlas"
On the third line from the sea is a three-star hotel "Saint Vlas" (Bulgaria). Reviews of tourists about him testify to the efforts of staff to please hotel guests. It should be recognized that the quality factor of the resort economic holiday is different for Bulgaria. Hotel “Sveti Vlas” (photo shows this) is a typical example of a well-set private family hotel business: a neat residential building, a clean pool, a pleasant calm atmosphere, good food, comfortable rooms. The safe is at the reception. Guests enjoy the municipal beach.
Near the hotel complex there is a bus stop, from where you can go to the more noisy resort of Sunny Beach.
The obvious advantage of the hotel is the proximity to the shopping center. However, the extreme compactness of the territory of this hotel complex contributes to its less attractiveness for families with small children.
"Julia"
According to reviews, the three-star hotel “Julia” (Bulgaria, St. Vlas) is convenient for families with small children, it has well-established and almost home-style food, the presence of a children's playroom, a slide near the children's pool. It is in the third line. A shuttle service is organized in the morning - to the beach - and after lunch - from the beach. The owner Boyan and his wife, Iskra, competently and cordially conduct their spa business.
You can choose the type of food for yourself. The staff speaks fluent Russian, but among the guests of Russian-speaking - about 50%. The second half of vacationers are British, Danes, Germans. Most guests come here as families, that is, with their children.
"Saint George"
For older people, as well as for families with young children, the four-star St. George Hotel (Bulgaria, St. Vlas) is ideally suited. It was built in 2009, which allowed to take into account the needs of a modern hotel industry. Spacious rooms are provided with simple but functional modern furniture and household appliances.
The hotel restaurant provides its guests with a variety of nutritious and delicious food. The restaurant menu is varied and multivariate. Visitors note the decent taste of meat and fish dishes, as well as an abundance of fruit.
There is a mini club at the hotel complex. There is a well-maintained children's playground. Animators are involved with children. The hotel area is prudently fenced, which allows parents to somewhat weaken their constant monitoring of the baby during these hours. At this time, for example, you can visit the hotel fitness club with fitness equipment or swim in the pool.
Beach vacation
Rested in St. Vlas, tourists recommend this resort in their reviews. They unanimously celebrate the local particularly clean and pleasant air. Mountains, like a natural barrier, do not allow wet air masses. The air in St. Vlas is a cocktail of mountain freshness and sea ions, it is relatively dry. The average temperature is 27 degrees. The holiday season lasts from May to September.
The sandy beaches of St. Vlas "Marina" and "Central" are quite small, the water area near them is limited by compact bays. Connoisseurs of sunbathing and swimming, noisy youth parties, water sports prefer to visit the wide beaches of Sunny Beach stretching along the coast through transport. They can be reached by bus in 15 minutes.
Nutrition
Let's try to orient those who wish to visit the resort of Sveti Vlas (Bulgaria) in food prices. The economy class hotel treats its visitors with portioned meat for 17 leva; the second dish in a pot, piquantly complemented with ham or feta cheese, or omelette - 7 leva; soup - up to 4 leva; salad - 3 leva (1 lev is a little more than 35 Russian rubles).
Gourmet tourists were also not offended. The restaurant with a view of the sea and the Bistro B41 embankment deserved good recommendations in the reviews (risotto, mussels, Mexican chicken, chicken steak, Greek salad are very tasty). Good national cuisine can be tasted in the restaurant “Waterfalls” (meat and fish sach, bean soup, tarator, all kinds of pancakes). In Kotva you should try the signature cake and paella, moussaka and kavarma.
In general, the infrastructure of St. Vlas, its street cafes and restaurants can significantly expand the hotel diet. They are inexpensive and welcoming. In them you can taste potatoes with cheese, shrimp, a variety of salads, originally cooked chicken. Delicious pizza and pastries are sold at kiosks.
Shopping
A good place to buy souvenirs and various household trifles is considered to be the resort of Sveti Vlas (Bulgaria). A hotel - almost any one, even with shops available on site - in and of itself cannot always satisfy the tastes of shopping gourmets. But the nearby infrastructure of small shopping establishments organically complements its capabilities.
The main street pleases with an abundance of shops and restaurants of vacationers of such a resort as Sveti Vlas (Bulgaria). Hotel districts of the city come close to it. The exchange rate at local exchangers is much better than at the airport.
However, the possibilities of local shopping, frankly, are not rich. Still, the trade of a county town is the trade of a county town. Grandmarket "Mercury" is a certain variety. But tourists should not go too far in their expectations from resort trade. You can count on local souvenirs worth up to 50 BGN.
But if you have big plans for purchases, do not despair, because the transport infrastructure of St. Vlas gives you the chance to implement them all the same. You will be absolutely right, hoping for a shopping tour to Istanbul, however, as a “Option B”, a trip to the shopping centers of Burgas is also suitable.
Conclusion
The resort of St. Vlas is fundamentally different from the neighboring Sunny Beach. Its climate is more healing. It’s not for nothing that Western tourists have chosen the town: it is being built according to the patterns of a classic western resort. Neat streets, shops, impeccable roads. Everything is quiet, beautiful, decorous. Here in the evenings, as on the neighboring Sunny Beach, crowds of drunk youth are not visible. Here Europeans, accustomed to order, feel comfortable and at ease: Germans, British, etc. Among the guests, by the way, they are the majority.
Calm resort, decent place. Judging by the reviews, many tourists who have been here are not averse to visiting this place again.