Hotel Simona Complex Sofia — Hotel in Sofia City

We came to Sofia for a convention and had booked a room for four nights. We chose this hotel because of the proximity to the area where we would spend most of our time, very near to the motorway for an easy journey and still conventient to get to the city centre.||||When we arrived, we were a little worried. The hotel is right next to the motorway. It was also a truck stop, which in my experience could give some extra noise from the trucks and odours from waste that's left behind.||||However, the hotel itself was better than expected. The corridors are painted and decorated like a medieval village.||||We had a room at the front of the hotel, so facing the motorway. But even as a very light sleeper, it didn't bother me. The curtains are very light, so you may need an eye mask as there doesn't seem much difference between night and day in the room. They don't have shower curtains (which seems to be common in Bulgaria), so it could be handy to bring some flip-flops.||||The staff is very friendly and helpful. A small problem that we reported was quickly resolved and with a smile. Some of the staff, especially at the reception, speak English.||||The hotel restaurant seems open non-stop. The food is very affordable, of good quality and portions. Although the whole menu is good, I would recommend the Serbian menu, especially if you like food served on a wooden plate with a lot of salad. We loved the no. 7 very much (minced meat steak). We had also invited local friends to dine with us in the Hotel's restaurant and they too were very positive about the quality of the meals.||||There is also a free parking at the back between the hotel and the truck area.||||If you don't expect a 4 star hotel, you will be pleasantly...

This hotel is good for transit, but don't expect too much. It's only one star hotel and the pictures from booking aren't the same with the reality. ||The hotel is looking nice, but the room was pretty poor. However, there were an AC, Tv, phone, private bathroom, 2 chairs and a table. We didn't like the pillows and the blancket. They smelt weird and weren't comfortable.|The bathroom is also poor. No cabin shower or at least a curtain...||The restaurant is looking nice and the breakfast is good. You have a lot of options in the menu to choose from and the prices are normal.||The is also a large parking where trucks can park as well.| | For us it was a good choice to spend the night in our way from Bucharest to Lefkada. Or we thought it was a good choice, because we can't say we rested well here. We got a room with windows that fenced the highway. The traffic was super loud, just like we were having the bed in the middle of the street. We were wakeing up at every truck that was passing the hotel. Terrible. When checking in, i've asked if the room is silent and the guy told me yes, it should be silent but it wasn't! I won't stay here again. If you need to sleep here, ask for a silent room when booking, with windows that doesn't fance...

On the plus side, it’s conveniently located for those (like us) needing an overnight stay on the way further. Free parking, large (and inexpensive) rooms, clean and supplied with everything we needed for the night. A restaurant open 24/7 with very good food and a kind waitress serving us in the evening. Friendly receptionist, who spoke decent English.|| ||On the other hand… the parking is mostly used by truckers, so opening the window invites a lot of noise from engines inside -- feels literally like sleeping in the parking lot. Room walls are a bit thin and some of the guests next door had an all-night party. Lots of people smoke inside -- in the rooms and in the restaurant -- even though it’s officially forbidden. Even the waitress offered us an ashtray. The morning waitress wouldn’t let us have breakfast inside, because they were readying the room for some event later. We had to sit in 12C weather outside instead. Finally, when checking out, the receptionist had us wait for good 5 minutes until they “checked the room”, as if we were suspected of having damaged or stolen...