Palace (Sunny Beach)

Another fantastic holiday at the Melia sunny beach after our month’s stay we cannot wait to return next year. Morning to night the staff really do make a difference to your stay the cleaning and how they work so hard behind the bars and in the restaurants doesn’t stop. Nothing in the hotel seems a problem that can not be solved by customer care the entertainment team is great not like other hotels we found boring before staying at Melia for the last 2years now we have no intention of going any where else. Rooms big airy clean bedding not able to fault showers bathroom modern clean and looked after. Food everything from soups salads pasta chicken pork lamb duck grilled fish salmon shrimp mussels lots of delicious desserts and fresh fruit breakfast is the same level then there’s the snack bar burgers toasted sandwiches hotdogs ribs ice cream parlour with slushy biscuits and a pizza wagon and with 3200 guest hardly any queuing. We have an adult son in a wheelchair he loves the archery shooting range the entertainment staff all know him as wheels and make his holiday with there friend ship and kindness towards him which is nice to see and not just with Entertainment also the staff and guests and for the end of this review it’s nice to see management walking around talking to guests and listening they only get a big thank you from me happy guest

First time in Bulgaria and thought the hotel Melia was amazing, could not fault it at all . The rooms were spacious the food really good , loads of swimming pools and fantastic staff where nothing was to much trouble 10/10

This hotel is perfectly situated with lots of shops, bars, a 22 hole mini golf and even a fun fair all within short walking distance, also the clean sandy beach is only a 2min stroll from the hotel. With private sun loungers, toilets and a snack bar offering paninis, beer, soft drinks and ice creams all included for guests. We had a nice walk along the beach into Nessebar to spend a few hours, which wasn't too far away (Took us about 1hr 15 mins). And caught the boat taxi back for a small fee. We found all the staff here are super friendly and hard working. Nothing was too much trouble. We had an issue with our safety deposit box which was quickly resolved (just needed a change of batteries). Shout out to the Chef serving in the snack bar he was always smiling and gave off good and happy vibes. Also the pool bar staff here are very hard working they keep the drinks flowing and queues down. Credit where credits due, our room was cleaned daily with fresh towels and a nice fresh scented smell so shout out to house keeping too. The food served up here was delicious, from the salad bar right through to the deserts. There is even a microwave to heat up your food if you need to, I used it at breakfast to make cheesy beans. There is back bacon for breakfast which I personally find rare in hotels abroad. Snacks include burgers pizza hot dogs and chips. Cakes and biscuits are also served in the afternoon. For dinner you can choose any of the main restaurants or there is also an Indian restaurant which we found amazing. Also beware of the seagulls any unattended food will be snatched within minutes if not seconds. There are 3 good sized pools here, all maintained daily and a life guard keeping guests safe. There are plenty of sun loungers available and 3 water slides opened twice a day. If I was to be picky the only thing we found poor was the paper cups, which drinks are served in at the pool bar, They had a tendency to split at the seams. It wasn't untill halfway during our stay we found you could purchase plastic glasses or a tankard from reception at €5 each, so my advice would be to either buy one or bring your own. On a footnote for the price you pay you cannot fault it. I advise to take the bad reviews with a pinch of salt, and say you can't please everyone. If you're planning to visit Sunny Beach then book this hotel you won't regret it

We got home last week from a nice week away at the Melia Sunny Beach, which was a great value hotel for the price my mum and I paid for a start of season getaway. This hotel is very much a family resort, so if you’re looking for peace and quiet without children, this wouldn’t be for you, but we were more than ok being at a family resort. The hotel complex is huge, right next to the Sunny Beach Strip and the beach. The strip was an experience, very loud and in your face, but we got some nice things from the shops when we ventured out on an evening. The beach was busy and hot so we only nipped down once to take a look, have a dip in the sea but we preferred the pool area. The hotel has a number of huge pools - these were really cold though so we went to the indoor pool a lot which was a better temperature. There were plenty of sunbeds around the pool, which meant that there wasn’t a mad dash in the morning to reserve beds. There were also lots of parasols around which was great. Our room was lovely. We were in block 3 on the 8th floor, which overlooked the main pool area and had a slight view of the sea. The balcony was nice and spacious. The AC worked well once we worked out how to use it and our room was quiet, despite it overlooking the main entertainment area. The room had a mini fridge (not stocked) and a safe which we were happy about and it looked as though our bathroom had been recently refurbished. One aspect of the bathroom we were really happy about were the toiletries provided, which were Rituals! If we’d known this, we wouldn’t have brought any of our own shampoo etc. as they were so nice. One aspect of this resort that was inconsistent were the food offerings. There are three buffet restaurants, each in one of the different blocks and you could use any of the restaurants regardless of which block you were staying in. We worked out that we liked the Spanish themed one best, as this was least like a busy canteen and had the best food offering. But it was so repetitive! I’m not sure I can look at paella or prawns again for a while! There were lovely fresh salads, bread, fruit and desserts, but the savoury hot dishes were so repetitive. If you were a picky eater, you would also struggle a bit. Sometimes the meat looked a bit mystery - it didn’t always align with what it said it was. Also, the fish on many days was tilapia or dogfish - I understand one or two days serving this but it being everyday was disappointing. The prawns with their shells on were nice when the chef wasn’t too heavy handed with the salt, otherwise they were pretty inedible as it was like they’d been cooked in sea water. We were happy but also rather annoyed on our last day of our trip, as the food on the lunchtime in the Spanish buffet was superb. Fresh salmon and sea bream, beef fillet, tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad, proper Spanish cheese and meats, a selection of olives etc. The reason for the improvement in that lunch that one day seemed to be that the hotel guest experience manager was leading a Familiarisation trip lunch with travel agents from different countries. So a show was put on with the food - it was so annoying as they’d been giving us dogfish, leftover meat in stews etc. then suddenly it improved drastically when external agents were visiting! Really not great - if the food had been like that day over the whole week, we would have been really impressed with the food offering at this hotel. We went into the Bulgarian buffet restaurant for dinner and for breakfast one morning in the Italian buffet restaurant. These felt a lot busier than the other buffet restaurant. The restaurants all seemed to serve very similar food and didn’t really live up to their themes, apart from the Spanish which did have lots of Spanish dishes on repeat everyday. We’d read reviews that the Indian restaurant was really good at this resort and we did really enjoy the food in this restaurant. If you’re wanting an Indian meal like you get in Britain, you might not like the food here though. It was quite traditional, authentic Indian cuisine which was very flavoursome, which you would expect when the head chef for this restaurant was Indian himself. But he was rather rude when we spoke to him one night. We asked whether the menu changes and he said ‘well, if I can be bothered to update it outside on the board’. Not really what you want to hear. We only went back another night as the food in the buffet was so poor on that particular evening. We visited the snack bar once during the week when we came back from a day trip out and the food here was lovely, freshly served and hot. We also tried some of the pizza slices one afternoon which were also great. We were really happy with the drinks at this hotel - self-serve soft drinks were always available and prosecco/wine/beer was good quality. The only small gripe we had was that even on an evening at the pool bar, drinks were served in paper cups. Of course we understood this during the day around the pool and we got used to this as the week went on, but on an evening, plastic flutes/cups for drinks would have felt a bit nicer! You did get served proper glasses when eating in the restaurants which was nice. One thing to mention is that the waiting/bar staff at this resort are so hard working, constantly tidying up, cleaning etc. A lot of them were seasonal workers from India, Egypt and Ukrainian staff. The language barrier was a bit difficult at times, but they tried their best and they were so friendly. A particular shout out to Ukrainian Katerina; Samir Daud; Mohan, Anubhav (who was the politest person ever) and Jade. Strangely for an all inclusive the animation team were practically invisible, which suited us fine as we just wanted to relax and not be bothered, but for people wanting to do some activities, I'm not sure where these were happening? Maybe it was because it was the start of the season, but the only time we saw them was when they led the hotel dance on the stage on an evening. The entertainment on an evening was not great, the best evenings were the live music from the Irish guy and watching the Bulgarian culture show. Apart from this, it was slapstick circus, magic and variety show performances - not great but I suppose that’s personal preference. Finally, a note for those who don't like birds: there are A LOT of seagulls. I am absolutely terrified of birds, but they actually didn't bother me. They only care about unattended food plates, so as long as you don't leave your table unattended or leave food around, you'll be fine. All in all, a nice, relaxing week and good value for money. We won't rush back to the resort or the area, but I'd definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a budget-friendly getaway.

Before arriving we didn't really know the hotels location to be pleasantly surprised with how well located it really is. A short walk to the main stripe and hotels part of the beach. The atmosphere was calm and family orientated. Plenty of space for everyone. The rooms were clean, spacious and a lovely large balcony. Had a good size clothes airer too. The price we paid was very good value for money. Once the balcony door was closed couldn't hear anything. Plenty of sun loungers and restaurants. We had an issue with the shower, sorted within the hour. The food was really nice and being Celiac I did wonder how well I would be catered for, I was blown away it was excellent 😀