Hotel for a relaxing holiday, close to the sea and with quality food

Written: 10 july 2018
Travel time: 1 — 8 june 2018
Who does the author recommend the hotel to?: For a relaxing holiday
Your rating of this hotel:
8.0
from 10
Hotel ratings by criteria:
Rooms: 9.0
Service: 9.0
Cleanliness: 9.0
Food: 9.0
Amenities: 9.0
My mother was at the hotel. Review in her own words.
I rested at the Luna Hotel in early June 2018. The hotel is located on the outskirts of the Golden Sands resort in a quiet part of the village. No noise in the evenings and weekends. Music does not rumble at night under the window. If you want to have fun, then it’s not far to go to the main entertainments in the center of Golden Sands, walking for about 15 minutes. In the center of Golden Sands it’s noisy in the evening, music is playing in numerous cafes. In Golden Sands it is better to take a hotel on the first or second line. The village is located on a steep hill, which is covered with dense forest. Walking to the sea from hotels located high on a mountain, along a steep slope, is tiring.
A big plus of the location of the hotel "Luna" is the first line. The hotel is located a little on a hill, and you need to go down the stairs to the sea, which has quite a few steps.

But the descent is not difficult, as the steps are wide and comfortable, alternating with flat landings. You go down the stairs, and you are already on the promenade between the hotel and the beach. To the sea 3 minutes walk. You can go from the beach to the hotel without changing clothes. For descent to the sea with prams or those with knee problems, you can go around. Exit the main entrance to the hotel from the side of the mountain and immediately turn right. In 1 minute you will reach the neighboring hotel "Morskoye Oko", go around it, following the bend of the road, turn right down. In this way, you do not need to overcome the steps and after 5 minutes you will find yourself on the promenade by the pool of the "Morskoe Oko" hotel, which is adjacent to the beach. Trams often go back and forth along the promenade. For tourists, there are many small shops on the promenade. The shop assistants are unobtrusive. In the evening, there are no drunks and heavily drunk on the promenade.
The hotel "Luna" has practically no territory, only a small area near the pool. The outside hotel pool is small but deep 1.50. There is also a small children's pool. It is convenient for parents to supervise their children. The water in the pool was warm enough for a comfortable swim. Although you need to go down to the sea from the Luna Hotel, the pool is not at the promenade itself, but, as it were, raised above it and is surrounded by tall, mostly coniferous, trees that create a shadow along the edges of the site, where you can hide from the sun if you wish. Sunbeds and umbrellas by the hotel pool are free of charge. The pool is open from 8 am to 6 pm. At other times, swimming in the pool is prohibited. In addition to the outdoor pool, Luna Hotel has an indoor pool. One afternoon there was a heavy downpour and a thunderstorm. I spent this time swimming in the hotel's indoor pool. The indoor pool is a great option in case of bad weather. The water in the indoor pool was warmer than the outdoor pool.
The side on which the number goes is very important. Definitely take immediately, without thinking, a room with a sea view. It is better to pay a little extra for a sea-view room when buying a ticket, but your vacation will be much more comfortable than park-view. Don't repeat my mistake. I bought a park-view ticket. I was given a room on the 6th floor. The view from the window was not very good: a hill, solid trees and a little bit of the Bendita mare hotel. There is no beauty, but it is quite possible to put up with it. The problem is that right below the balcony there is a road on which cars and tour buses drive all the time. The hotel car park and taxi rank are also located here. But the most unpleasant thing is that the main highway connecting Varna with the resorts of Balchik and Albena passes along the mountain, on which the windows of the rooms overlook the park. The traffic along this road is very busy, and although it is not visible behind the dense forest, it is very audible.
The room itself made a favorable impression.

The furniture is modern. Comfortable beds and pillows. Bed linen is white and new. There is a coffee table and 2 soft chairs. There is no electric kettle in the room. It seemed to me that in the evening there was insufficient lighting in the room, it was a bit dark. The room had a 32 inch LCD TV. He showed 3 Russian channels: the first, NTV and music. Also, it was possible to watch programs of German, Polish, Bulgarian television. The balcony is small but there is a handy dryer. Take clothespins from home. On the balcony are a plastic white table and 2 chairs. The park view rooms are located on the west side. The sun begins to shine through the windows of the room in the afternoon, when the sun is at its hottest. There is no safe in the room. I had to keep the documents at the bottom of the suitcase. Refrigerator in the room for a fee. I didn't put anything in the fridge. Left a bottle of drinking water on the table.
If the maid sees that you are using the refrigerator, you will be billed upon check-out. The bathroom had a bathtub with a curtain. There is a hair dryer. Towels are white and new. It is forbidden to take hotel towels to the beach or to the pool, you will be fined for this. You need to bring your own beach towel. Room cleaning was done daily, even on Sunday. Blue carpet on the floor. Cleaning the floor with a vacuum cleaner was not very thorough. After cleaning the room, the maid turned on the ventilation in the bathroom, which rumbles loudly like a tractor. I could not immediately understand that the ventilation is turned off by the middle key of the switch in the corridor. Soundproofing between rooms is good. You can't hear your neighbors behind the wall. But the entrance doors to the room are thin and what is happening in the corridor could be heard very well.
The hotel "Luna" has free wi-fi, at the reception, where there are soft sofas. The hotel offers luggage storage.
Upon arrival before check-in and before departure after the room is vacated, you can leave your luggage for free storage on the ground floor in a special room, which is locked by a hotel employee. You can change in the toilet. On the first floor, the toilet is very cramped, inconvenient for changing clothes. Below the floor near the entrance to the restaurant, the toilet is more spacious.
There is only one bank in Golden Sands - this is Raiffeisenbank in the center of the village on the promenade in the building of the Admiral Hotel. You can change currency at the bank, but you need a passport. "Raiffeisenbank" does not work on Saturday and Sunday. You can exchange money for leva at the hotel reception. But the hotel takes a commission and the exchange rate is more unfavorable than in a bank. I changed currency with a representative of my tour operator at the same rate as in Raiffeisenbank, and without commission. To buy drinking water I went to a small shop "Lidi" next to the hotel.

If you exit the "Luna" from the main entrance from the side of the mountain, you need to go right for 1 minute to the neighboring hotel "Morskoye Oko" and across the road there will be a "Lidi" store opposite. The prices here are slightly cheaper than in shops on the waterfront.
The sea in early June was not yet quite warm, it had just begun to warm up. But there was still an opportunity to swim in the sea. On June 1, the water temperature in the sea was 20 degrees, and a week later it warmed up to 22 degrees. At the beginning of June it is too early to go to Golden Sands, the weather is unstable. For the most part, the sea was calm and calm. But one day the sea raged a little, and there were active small waves, and adults jumped on the waves, and the rescuers persistently escorted the children out of the sea to the shore. The sea in Golden Sands is clean, moderately salty, pleasant, without algae. Sometimes there were small jellyfish. The water in the sea is opaque. The sea depends on the weather. After a storm, small litter was found on the surface of the water.
But after the stormy weather, the water in the sea acquired a beautiful azure-emerald color. At the beginning of June, there is not yet a large influx of tourists. No scorching heat, and you could relax on the beach all day.
There is no beach at the Luna Hotel, as elsewhere on the coast. In Golden Sands you can use any beach. But on all public beaches, sun loungers and umbrellas are paid, and the prices are very expensive. The sand on the beaches in Golden Sands is bright red, coarse-grained, interspersed with small shell rock, pleasant and without cigarette butts. At the entrance to the sea there is a narrow strip of small pebbles. No special swimming shoes are needed. You can not pay for sunbeds, but sit on the beach on your bedding. On the beaches there are strips of free sand for those who come with their own bedding. Few wooden paths to the sea and few dressing rooms. On the beach opposite the "Moon", the entrance to the sea is excellent, gentle, but the bottom is deep almost near the shore.

A large selection of dishes for different tastes, including national Bulgarian cuisine. I note that the sausage is natural, not soy. For lunch, there are 2 soups to choose from and for dinner there are also 2 soups to choose from, but these are already different soups: not the ones that were for lunch. Moreover, the soups are normal, not ground. Hot meals are served really hot. There are warm plates for hot dishes. Buffet. For food and drinks, you could approach an unlimited number of times. I think that if you don’t eat at a hotel, then in Golden Sands restaurants with a sea view are not cheap, while others around the “Moon” are hard to find. I took Fb (full board), that is - breakfast, lunch and dinner. It differs from all inclusive meals only in that you cannot take food and drinks for free at the hotel bar (by the pool). I really liked the panoramic glazing of the restaurant. On one side of the restaurant, there is a view of the sea, and on the sides of the restaurant, branches of trees are visible through the glass.
Good planning. The concept of nutrition is different from Russian. We have a well-known proverb: "Eat breakfast yourself, share lunch with a friend, and dinner ... " In the hotel, exactly the opposite. There are not too many dishes for breakfast, for lunch the number of dishes doubles, and for dinner - abundance. It is very convenient that dinner at the "Luna" ends at 9 pm and, returning from the tour, you will have time to dine without hurrying. I was at the beginning of the season, and there were no problems with the availability of tables in the restaurant. According to the people present in the restaurant, it could be concluded that the main contingent of the hotel were German-speaking couples of respectable age. There were many Polish speaking young couples with small children. There are Bulgarians. There were few Russian speakers, including those from Ukraine.
The hotel has a night club, but in June it was not open yet. It is located under the dining room, on the stairs at the entrance to the hotel from the sea.
For a certain surcharge, they changed my room with a view of the park to a sea-view room on the 4th floor above the bar. There are no car noises. The view is magnificent. You can directly see the sea, on the left is a view of the pool. The balcony has good furniture, non-plastic. The repair is perfect. The new air conditioner worked almost silently. The bathroom has cool plumbing, a modern shower behind a glass partition. It is inconvenient that there is no shelf in the shower where you can put soap and shampoo. The room has a 42 inch LCD TV, but on most channels there was a bad picture - ripples on the screen. Obviously, problems with the antenna or tuning, but these are minor details.
In general, I was satisfied with the Luna Hotel. A very decent hotel. Recommend.


I went on 2 excursions over short distances: we left after lunch, and returned to the hotel by dinner. The first excursion to Alanja Monastery, Driven Stones and Varna on the way back. There is nothing special to see in the Alanja monastery.
Driven Stones is a fantastic, unique place. In Varna, without a guide, they dropped us off the bus at the Cathedral and said that they would pick us up in 1.5 hours. I went into the cathedral, it is cool, there are benches where tourists can sit and admire the splendor of the church and colorful stained glass windows. Then I crossed the road through the underpass and accidentally stumbled upon a farmers' market. And then it is not clear where to go in an unfamiliar city. Randomly went along a pretty pedestrian street. When buying an excursion, I expected that the guide would show us or at least tell us that in the center of Varna a tourist can see something interesting. All in all, I was disappointed with this tour. Expensive and, in my opinion, the tour was not worth that kind of money.
Another excursion to the Botanical Garden of Balchik, along the way with a visit to a pottery workshop and to Cape Kaliakra, is very impressive. On excursions you need to go in comfortable shoes for walking on stones.
The botanical garden is well-groomed - a miracle, how beautiful and talented it is inscribed in the mountain landscape. Here you can imagine what heaven looks like. It slightly reduced the impression that water did not flow through special stone grooves in the garden, and the rose plantation had many uncut dried flowers, which spoiled the appearance of rose beds. In the botanical garden, we were twice given free tastings of delicious and aromatic wines made from grapes, raspberries, and figs. In the wine shop, which is not far from the cactus and cypress alleys, the wines are too expensive. And in the house next to the waterfall, they offered similar wines in gift sets at a more affordable price. Cape Kaliakra is a historical place associated with the victory of the Russian admiral Ushakov in the battle with the Turkish squadron. At Cape Kaliakra, a 70-meter-high cliff against the backdrop of the sea is breathtaking. Beauty is extraordinary.

I advise you to go on an excursion to the botanical garden of Balchik and Cape Kaliakra.
Translated automatically from Russian. View original

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