Obzor Beach Resort

“Good value and great location”

Overall we had a good holiday. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared based on other reviews. Great location with a choice of beach or pool right next to eachother. We had a 2 bed ocean front sea view room which I’d recommend. Amazing view and we loved sitting on the balcony of an evening watching the… more

Overall we had a good holiday. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared based on other reviews. Great location with a choice of beach or pool right next to eachother. We had a 2 bed ocean front sea view room which I’d recommend. Amazing view and we loved sitting on the balcony of an evening watching the world go by/sea/moon etc. We liked being in Block B as it was quite central with its own pool but felt a bit more chilled than the ones with activities in. The apartment was massive with loads of storage and a 2nd bathroom which I wasn’t expecting! We had no issues with hot water (with 4 of us showering). The air con worked well and the curtain kept both bedrooms and the lounge nice & dark in the morning (maybe we got lucky on that front?). Cleaners came most days and seemed to do different things on different days but you generally got bins emptied, fresh towels & loo rolls. The sheet you lie on on the single beds (definitely wouldn’t call it a fitted sheet) were too small to tuck under even 2 sides so I had to re-make the kids beds every time they slept. The one on the double seemed ok but this bed seemed a bit old as every time one of us turned or got up the whole bed bounced quite dramatically. The animation team really added to the atmosphere of the holiday and were all hard working, friendly and fun with plenty of activities available in the day and about 1 hour’s entertainment plus discos in the evening. Disappointing and odd that no bar is open after 10. Reception staff were generally ok but we didn’t have any major issues. One bloke on reception was very helpful with a few basic queries we had post arrival. We went bed & breakfast and the breakfast was ok but we were glad we didn’t have to eat at the buffet for any other meals. It was quite basic food but there was loads of choice so we found enough to keep us happy most days. Some days/times certain things (eg bread/crumpets/fruit) were either very sparse or missing. There were great coffee machines but people would take the mickey standing getting about 8 drinks while lengthy queues formed. The mini golf was a joke and speaks volumes about the owners’ attitude to improvements. There were only enough putters/balls for one family to play at a time when we were there, and when we eventually got a turn, we found the course was in such a state of disrepair that it was impossible to play properly (bumpy damaged astroturf, warped frames etc). There were various other things in poor repair but they didn’t really affect us. Our son enjoyed diving for the tiles that had come detached from the pool floor! Sunlounger hogging wasn’t too bad. You had to get up about 8.15 to get enough for a family but there was generally a fair choice at that time and the odd one or two left as late as 10. A minority would reserve ‘their’ sunloungers day and night for the entire stay though..,The shuttle to Obzor was really handy and we used it pretty much every day for shopping and eating out (2 Levs each). Obzor was lovely. Much prettier than I expected with loads of choice of shops & restaurants. Our favourite restaurant were Sevastopol in the square - brilliant for people watching with great food & great service. Thracian Stan was beautiful with good traditional food. Tijuana was good too with tables on a lovely lit up garden. Great service and food. Loved the meatballs! The sea was very changeable - some days wild and some very still. Not great for swimming on the wilder days but I prefer the pool anyway. We went to the hotel just up the coast and paid to use the waterpark. Kids loved it. That hotel puts this one to shame but it was about double the price so you get what you pay for really. Thought for the price this place was alright. But they could easily make it better with a bit of expenditure.

less

“Noting special”

Overall, it's a nice enough hotel, but it's not the 4* that's advertised and it's quite tired in places. We stayed in a 3 bed apartment, which was slvery spacious, double aspect and fairly well appointed. However, lots of things are broken (lights, mosquito screens), windows don't seal fully, the… more

Overall, it's a nice enough hotel, but it's not the 4* that's advertised and it's quite tired in places. We stayed in a 3 bed apartment, which was slvery spacious, double aspect and fairly well appointed. However, lots of things are broken (lights, mosquito screens), windows don't seal fully, there are little bits of kitchen stuff that weren't there (chopping boards, tin openers etc.) and curtains are useless apart other things. Hot water in both showers wasn't issue provided you left a key in the power slot and left the hot water switches on. Air con worked fine. Rooms are not cleaned unless you put a door hanger up, but they do change towels, bring toilet paper and change bins every day. Bed linen was vegetal clean, but pillows felt like they were stuffed with cotton wool balls. Rooms get very sandy, but then the only people who brought sand in were us, and there's a hoover provided, so... In terms of the communal areas, the pools are plenty big enough, sunbeds were usually available, and it was never too noisy. That said, the main pool was always full of sand, as was the kids pool, and I'm not convinced the filters worked. Lots of tiles missing, filter covers, and several people fell through the pool surround (though this was always fixed quickly). The lifeguards might as well have not been there, but this seems pretty normal across the country. The crazy golf is unplayable, but the kids club was really good - that said, it's advertised as 10-12, but in reality you have to sit around whilst they dance around the pool and can't sign them in until 10.15, and they want them gone by 11.45. If you do not sign them in they get turfed out to wander the resort on their own; fine for my 9 yr old, less so for 5 yr olds though... The bar staff were lovely, but the prices were ridiculous - the drink prices in the on site supermarket were about half. The reception staff were 50:50 - some were lovely, the others could be at best described as hostile. Many of the apartments are owned outright, and the owners are not massively keen on tourists, and seem to have their own rules to follow. The beach is fantastic, and the highlight of the resort, but it's never going to be described as quiet. Would I go back? I wouldn't avoid it, but I'd probably not pick it again.

less

“Could do better. Resort needs work”

We stayed at obzor beach resort for 2 weeks. It's a large resort with 5 pools on the beachfront. There are 2 shops, some bars and restaurants. There's even a gym and spa facilities. There are some adjacent resorts, if which some parts of are relatively accessible. Whilst some of these things point … more

We stayed at obzor beach resort for 2 weeks. It's a large resort with 5 pools on the beachfront. There are 2 shops, some bars and restaurants. There's even a gym and spa facilities. There are some adjacent resorts, if which some parts of are relatively accessible. Whilst some of these things point to a 4 star stay, you can't help but get the feeling, the resort is in a state of decline. The apartment we rented though amply sized, contained only one pot and no colander or frying pan so didn't really provide us with necessary means to cook what we wanted. Beds we stayed on were old with springs popping through and sheets didn't really fit the beds. Turning the oven on tripped the electrics. Outside our apartment, most of the pools require maintenance with missing tiles and or broken filters - which clearly weren't done pre-season so who knows if they'll be done before the next. The mini golf course needed new astro turf laying, there weren't enough sun loungers if you didn't get there in time. We didn't really mind most of this decay and we commend the animation team for bringing a multitude of people with different languages and cultures together to enjoy activities. What was sad was it felt like the resort could do so much better. It felt like they were charging too much for a variety of things - both on site and others doing so elsewhere. A sign of the times perhaps or a reference to the state of Bulgaria's economy, but not really something which will leave you with pleasant memories and or a desire to come back. For example, to hire worn and torn putters from the reception for the mini golf cost 8 Lev per hour (circa £/€4). Given the state of the equipment and the course, these really should have been on deposit only rather than charged. The onsite shop contained sufficient items to see you through but some of the goods had a hefty bump in price compared to shops in Obzor town or Lidl at Sunny beach (Nessebar). If you hired a car, there were further parking fees both on site at the resort and just out side the resort gates - 15 Lev for day inside (€/£ 7.50) and 12 Lev (€/£6) outside. The bouncy castle for kids at the neighbouring resort was an eye watering €/£6 for 15 minutes. If I compare this to recent summer holidays in Greece, the Greeks generally had a more relaxed approach to parking and to fleecing you via your kids. When you compare customer service, the warmth of a Greek host with stoic pride of the Bulgarian, it sadly doesn't really entice a return to Bulgaria. Reception staff at the resort were hit and miss; some were charming and sought to provide a good service whilst others would happily ignore you preferring looking at a computer monitor than to even ask you to wait a minute. Obzor town, is more family oriented than Sunny Beach (think Malaga crossed with Malia), but it hasn't the charm of a provincial sleepy Greek or Spanish town. In my experience, Turkey would also be a much more hospitable option. Maybe we just stayed in the wrong resort in the wrong town in the wrong year. Our trip highlights were trips to Varna; a lovely city with lots to offer and Sozopol (very similar to old Nessebar).

less