Hotel Complex Zara — Hotel in Bansko

We booked this hotel pretty last minute. It was our first time to Bulgaria and we turned up knowing that it was cheaper than holidays in The Alps but had a really good week and liked visiting a new country. ||We were told by our rep that we were one of the first to stay at Hotel Zara with Crystal Ski. This made sense as when we tried to research reviews before booking, there seemed to be a lack of reviews from the UK. ||So main points, hotel lovely on arrival, great location with a very regular shuttle bus to the gondola. I would ask for a room on the back of the hotel due to noise from the road in our room. I would also have upgraded to an apartment or slightly larger room with hindsight but the room was clean enough, warm, comfy beds, hot shower, robes in the wardrobe. Feedback for the hotel would be to add spa slippers to walk down in - pack flip flops as a tip for future travellers. |The TV only had one channel in English, so we had MTV on in the background when in the room. ||The pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room are great after a day on the slopes. If I was being picky then the steam room floor could be a little cleaner. ||We went half board and only saw to add the half board option onto b&b last minute. I think it worked out at about £45 pp for all dinners to be added on for the week! Would definitely recommend. I’m not going to lie, I had low ish expectations for the food based on what other friends had said about their trips to Bulgaria skiing (everything being covered in dill) but there was so much choice at breakfast and dinner that we were very happy eating there all week. Breakfast had loads of Continental options, yoghurts, cereals, fruit, an egg station, omelettes, bacon etc. Dinner had loads of soup, pasta, chicken dishes, pork etc. Something for everyone. Traveller trip for me would be bring a reusable water bottle and coffee flask to fill up. ||We liked Bansko, thought the resort had plenty of bars and restaurants. The ski area was fun and I liked the ski road down in the sun at the end of each day. ||We booked a trip to spend our last day in Sofia. Would also recommend this. It just made sense to us as we like to see cities and would have felt like we were waiting around for our evening flight on our...

We booked this hotel pretty last minute. It was our first time to Bulgaria and we turned up knowing that it was cheaper than holidays in The Alps but had a really good week and liked visiting a new country. ||We were told by our rep that we were one of the first to stay at Hotel Zara with Crystal Ski. This made sense as when we tried to research reviews before booking, there seemed to be a lack of reviews from the UK. ||So main points, hotel lovely on arrival, great location with a very regular shuttle bus to the gondola. I would ask for a room on the back of the hotel due to noise from the road in our room. I would also have upgraded to an apartment or slightly larger room with hindsight but the room was clean enough, warm, comfy beds, hot shower, robes in the wardrobe. Feedback for the hotel would be to add spa slippers to walk down in - pack flip flops as a tip for future travellers. |The TV only had one channel in English, so we had MTV on in the background when in the room. ||The pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room are great after a day on the slopes. If I was being picky then the steam room floor could be a little cleaner. ||We went half board and only saw to add the half board option onto b&b last minute. I think it worked out at about £45 pp for all dinners to be added on for the week! Would definitely recommend. I’m not going to lie, I had low ish expectations for the food based on what other friends had said about their trips to Bulgaria skiing (everything being covered in dill) but there was so much choice at breakfast and dinner that we were very happy eating there all week. Breakfast had loads of Continental options, yoghurts, cereals, fruit, an egg station, omelettes, bacon etc. Dinner had loads of soup, pasta, chicken dishes, pork etc. Something for everyone. Traveller trip for me would be bring a reusable water bottle and coffee flask to fill up. ||We liked Bansko, thought the resort had plenty of bars and restaurants. The ski area was fun and I liked the ski road down in the sun at the end of each day. ||We booked a trip to spend our last day in Sofia. Would also recommend this. It just made sense to us as we like to see cities and would have felt like we were waiting around for our evening flight on our...

The first room we were given reeked, you couldn't stay more than 30 seconds in there with the windows closed and the hotel manager treated us like we were crazy telling us that it is the best room in the hotel and he is staying there when it is available. Don't stay in room 1202. The breakfast is the same every day and the pancakes are always undercooked. Dinner is pretty divers, they try their best to make a pretty well rounded menu, but it is not the best. We wanted to throw my father a party, talked to the ladies at the reception and we got the answer from the manager after we inquired a second time. The answer was that we could have the celebration in the restaurant, with 20 people max (we were a group of about 30 people), the alcohol fee would be 20€ per person without the beverages included and the cake would be 50€. We decided to have a smaller get togather in our room, but due to the thin walls, one of the other guests came to us at about 8:30 pm to ask us to be quiet so they could rest (they were at the oposite end of the hallway). One of the shuttle bus drivers wasn't paying that much attention during the short ride to the gondola and hit a few cars. The distance from the hotel to the city center was quite big so we mostly stayed in the room after we came from the slopes or dinner. It wasn't a pleasant experience overall, would not recommend. We have been comming in Bansko for at least 6 years, but never stayed in such...