MPM Hotel Arsena — Hotel in Nesebar

We enjoyed a week’s stay here during the first week of the UK’s summer holiday.||It was really quiet. Sun loungers were always available both by the pool and on the beach. The outdoor pool is small but lovely. It’s well maintained. The first few days we struggled to get in because it was really cold, we did get used to it though! The indoor pool was deeper and overlooked the sea. ||We had a family room overlooking the beach. The room was really big and the beds comfortable. The balcony was quite small but did come with a clothes maiden for drying clothes which was ideal, bring some pegs though as it can get a bit windy at times! The only downside to the balcony was that the aircon unit ran on to the floor so it was always wet!||The restaurant area was really lovely, it was always clean and set up well. There is the option to sit outside looking out over the beach which was nice, the only downside was that there is no designated smoking area so quite often you could be sat as a family eating and someone would start smoking on the table next to you which is never pleasant!||The restaurant really needs a new playlist! It was so miserable 🤣 We did mention it and it did change on occasion but it was things like my heart will go on etc and it was on repeat every meal time. ||The restaurant staff were really lovely, although one of the women behind the bar could have smiled more. The other staff sang, smiled and were always on hand to help. The food was very varied from day to day but always had a pasta and sauce bar, chips, something on the grill (chicken, kebabs, sausages etc), there was a huge salad selection, lots of breads, a variety of desserts, cured meats and cheeses, ice cream counter and then a variety of hot meals. Breakfast was our favourite!||The snack bar outside served really tasty pizza along with hot dogs and chips. ||There are no self serve drinks other than water, everything is to be ordered at the bars. ||The animation team were really great, especially Venko. They spoke various languages and were great with children. Water polo and water gymnastics was always fun! ||The evening entertainment was always around the pool which seemed a strange set up when there was an animation stage on the rooftop. ||The hotel location, in our opinion, was perfect. It was around a 10 minute walk to New Nessebar (turn right out of the hotel, left at the mini roundabout, right at the end of the street, left at the roundabout) which we visit a few nights. It’s a street closed off to cars and is full of your usual touristy shops. We visited Old Nessebar a few evenings, it’s about a 20 minute walk and is a really beautiful place and worth visiting. Old cobbled streets, street musicians etc. We visited a man made cafe bar whilst there called Michael’s Eco Bar. A quirky little place with turtles! The fish pedicure was great too! ||When walking to Old Nessebar, if you like cats be sure to take the ramp up through the trees and if you call them loads come running. They are really friendly and love a cat biscuit! ||Places we visited:||Aquapark Nessebar - There is a free shuttle bus at the end of the road. |Lake Pomorie - A natural mud bath! You can get the bus at the end of the road. Beware though, as lovely as it is, it smells of egg and there are no showers! I’d recommend doing at the end of your holiday and wear swimwear you don’t mind getting dirty. Thankfully it did wash out!|The circus: There is a brilliant circus on the way to Sunny Beach. Well worth the visit. |Michael’s Eco Bar: Nestled in the middle of old Nessebar. |Funfair: This is right next to the circus. |Sunny beach: About a 20-30 minute walk. Very touristy and very busy. The beach by the hotel is much better. ||All in all we had a really lovely time and would...

I would summarize our stay as a roller-coaster. First, when we arrived, we were told we had to wait for our rooms to be ready by 2pm which was nothing strange, we'd expected that. After like 15mins the receptionist told us one of our room was ready so we could wait in there for the other one. It seemed like a really nice convenience until we saw the room. Although it had everything they declared for the standard room (balcony with the sea view, TV, fridge, air-condition etc.) you can judge by the photos included that the room had very unpleasant issues. It appeared to us, they had had the rooms closed for a long time and they used it only when they're short of rooms for new guests. The other room we got after another 10 minutes, looked similar, though the bathroom was really small and the shower didn't even have a curtain, so the whole bathroom got slippery and wet when you took showers. You could also see the wires sticking out of the walls in the bathroom.

The other negative experience was at the reception. Though, the staff there was really kind and helpful, there were problems with communication. We wanted to send postcards to our relatives. So we were pleased when we saw they were selling postcards at the reception. We were told it's not possible to send the postcard from there (the service you'd expect from a 4-stars hotel but whatever) but they can sell us stamps and we can throw it in the nearest mail box. Sounded great, so we went to have a look at the Old Nessebar Town, where we bought some postcards, but when we went to the reception, the other old receptionist told us they didn't have stamps at all, and couldn't even tell us where the nearest post office was. (You'd expect a receptionist in an international hotel would know the surroundings and I have to say he barely knew enough English to understand us.) The non-so-funny experience was when we were leaving the hotel at the end of our trip. We asked for a breakfast pack since we were leaving early in the following morning. It seemed settled up, so we approached the front desk again, on the day of department, with the same old guy who claimed there were no breakfast packs for us at all. Our stay then started with disappointment and ended with disappointment as well.

I don't want to be only critical towards this hotel. The restaurant staff was absolutely wonderful and professional. The food was delicious and with rich options, the bartenders were cool. The hotel beach was always clean with available sunbeds.

So, to sum it up, the stay was not a complete disaster, there were great things and also things that would need some improvement in our opinion.

Would we choose this hotel again? - Probably not. Did we enjoy our vacation in Bulgaria? -...

We stayed in room A21, a sea facing suite. The bedroom was lovely, a great size with plenty of storage, nice quality bed linen & the balcony.|The living room had a sofa & bizarrely a double bed. This room looked out onto the front of the hotel & had curtains hanging off the windows (didn't get put back in the two weeks we were there, despite telling reception & the room cleaner coming in every day).|Lovely big bathroom plus another separate toilet. Bizarrely no plugs for the bath or sink.|The living room let this suite down badly - bits of wallpaper hanging off, very uncomfortable sofa with no additional seating, etc - it could be a lovely set-up with a little more care & attention.|The balcony had two plastic chairs, a small table & a thing for drying clothes. Lovely place to sit with a breath-taking view over the sea to Old Nessebar. There was an open air stage area to the right of the balcony (same level) which I'm glad to say wasn't used during our stay.|The restaurant was lovely with a great selection of food to suit everyone for all meals. The staff are outstanding - so friendly, polite & efficient - always smiling & welcoming. Some of the food could be hotter but if it's not to your liking, there is a microwave you can pop your plate in to heat everything up. Beautiful outdoor dining space overlooking the sea, spoiled only by selfish smokers.|Pool area is nice with decent quality sunbeds - they say they don't tolerate saving beds by putting down towels but every morning the usual suspects were out at the crack of dawn to get the best locations. Pool bar is good with a selection of pizza & fries throughout the day - just serve yourself from the hot containers on the bar.|The trek down to the beach is worth it but the hotel would benefit so much from a lift down to beach level. Beach is beautiful, cleaned every evening, plenty of sunbeds for guests with easy access into the sparkling Black Sea which is so shallow for a long way out - ideal for children & oldies like us!|Very little to do in the streets around the hotel. A few beach side restaurants/bars which are accessed by going to the left of the hotel nextdoor (Mirage) & down some steps. Some shops selling the usual fake stuff but a very handy little corner shop very close to the hotel for water, etc. Plenty of restaurants within a short distance but didn't try any as Arsena is all-inclusive.|Nice walk to Old Nessebar (about 20 minutes) but we used a taxi most times in the heat. The taxi driver was a lovely guy - Ivan - very friendly, reliable, honest & with great English - can't recommend him highly enough...