GRIFID Metropol Hotel — Hotel in Varna

Overall, we had an amazing stay in this hotel and would highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area for a peaceful, all inclusive adults only vacation.

Starting with the rooms, I have nothing to complain about - we had a junior suite and the room was clean, spacious, air conditioning worked well and the minibar and coffee were refilled daily.

The hotel’s beach is very nicely accessible and again, adults only, meaning a peaceful experience, with a bar right there, providing drinks and in the afternoon also small snacks. There was always plenty of loungers, though I can imagine that it would look a bit different in peak season.

One way this hotel differs from other all inclusive offerings is that they do all the meals a la carte, as opposed to the typical buffets. I am a bit split whether this is beneficial or not - for lunches and dinners, this is definitely nice and brings a more restaurant feel to the experience. On the other hand, for breakfast there is nothing that a normal buffet wouldn’t have and I’d probably rather just get my eggs and sausages off a buffet, rather than having to ask for everything. Still, the food for all meals is rather good and this is only my personal opinion.

One thing to add regarding dinners is that it’s absolutely worth it to book all the themed dinners you can - they are spectacular and on a much higher level than any all inclusive dinners I’ve seen. The only downside to this is that typically you won’t have any availability for the first 2-3 nights after your arrival, so a point for improvement would be to perhaps allow booking ahead or automatically booking some dinners for guests in order to have this experience on almost all days of the stay.

There is also plenty of amenities - the infinity pool is very nice, as is the natural pool. When it comes to bars, there is always something open, though personally I think it’s a shame that the rooftop bar opens so late as it was dark every time it opened so we couldn’t enjoy the view fully. One thing to highlight is also that there is no “premium” drinks you often see in other all inclusive offers - even the nicer drinks are all included (and the bar staff does not hesitate to make them strong, while the alcohol used is also better quality than I’ve seen in other all inclusive offers).

The staff is in most cases very helpful - namely, we received great service from Mariyana, Minko and Neli, as well as all the bartenders (whose names I unfortunately didn’t manage to catch), but the a la carte offering means they are often very busy, so for this reason I’d once again say moving a larger part of the offer to the buffet would be nice. Also, just from observation, many of the staff are more used to German-speaking tourists than English, so there may occasionally be a language barrier, but nothing that would significantly impact our stay.

Additionally, there is fun animation activities every day (we didn’t catch the sports as they were happening in other Grifid hotels for the most part, but there was plenty all day) and Erika, the animator, can make even the sleepiest crowd have fun, while also apparently speaking every language she wants to! The music quiz and bartending demonstrations were especially fun.

Lastly, a benefit of this hotel is that you are allowed to use some amenities of other Grifid hotels - besides the themed dinners in some other hotel restaurants, there is the small (but fun) aquapark, some activities taking place in Vistamar or other hotels, plus the indoor pool in Vistamar if the weather is not good.

Overall, we had a very pleasant experience in this hotel and can highly recommend it, with only some minor remarks that could make the stay even more pleasant, mainly pertaining to the a la carte and buffet...

We stayed at the Grifid Noa Hotel, Moko building, between July 19–26, 2025, as a family.||We went into this vacation with high expectations, influenced by the heavy promotion, glowing online reviews, and of course, the price point. From the start, we knew we would be staying in the Moko building, so there were no surprises in that regard.||If I had to rate the overall experience, I’d give it an 8 out of 10, mostly due to the gap between expectations and reality.||Overall, the hotel is new, clean, well-maintained, and visually appealing. However, what truly affected the experience was the staff, particularly in terms of cleanliness and organization.||Reception, restaurant, and bar staff spoke English, and some even spoke French or German. But the cleaning and beach staff had difficulty communicating, and the service quality was often lacking. Many of the staff were of Asian origin—which is not a problem in itself—but it was clear they hadn’t received proper training, especially when it came to cleaning standards.||Specific examples:| • Room supplies (like shower gel, towels, and cotton swabs) were not replenished automatically. We had to ask several times to receive replacements, and even after requesting shower gel for four days in a row, we never got any.| • Room cleaning was only done if you pressed the “Please clean” button, which no one explained at check-in. If you had the “Do not disturb” sign on, you would just get a paper notice saying to call reception if you wanted the minibar restocked.| • The poolside toilets were often very dirty, and toilet paper was almost always missing.||Food:||Once again, there was a clear mismatch between what we expected and what we got. While the hotel operates on an Ultra All Inclusive basis, food variety was limited:| • Breakfast was the same every single day.| • Lunch was filling but very repetitive.| • Dinner was advertised as “themed” each evening, but in reality, the dishes barely changed. The two Bulgarian cuisine nights, for example, served identical meals that were largely left untouched.||Beach experience:||This was another issue:| • The number of sunbeds was insufficient, especially on weekends. You could go for a swim and return to find your belongings removed by staff, who gave your spot to other guests. On one occasion, we were even treated rudely and with racist remarks when we tried to reclaim our seats.| • The beach staff’s attitude was, at times, unprofessional and even hostile.||Entertainment:||Entertainment options were weak:| • There was a mini club for kids, but it was poorly promoted. If you didn’t ask about it, you wouldn’t even know it existed.| • Every evening at 8:30 PM there were 30 minutes of dancing for kids, the same routine each night, with little involvement from the staff.| • For adults, the nighttime programs were monotonous and poorly organized, taking place in the ground floor restaurant area, which was generally reserved for guests from the main building.| • Compared to other resorts we’ve visited (e.g., Reina del Mar), the entertainment activities were very limited and lacked energy or charisma.|||Conclusion:||This review might come across as mostly negative, but my intention is simply to offer a realistic perspective. It is a modern hotel with good potential, but it falls short of the heavily promoted image seen online. Most of the promotional materials are filmed in the “premium” areas of the main building—and don’t reflect the reality of staying in the Moko wing.||For those considering a stay here: go in well-informed and with moderate expectations. In our case, we won’t...

Like other travellers, we too had some doubts coming to Grifid Noa after reading the mixed online reviews, however we were happy to find a very good hotel that offers a solid overall beach hotel experience.||We stayed in a standard room in the renovated side of the hotel (the former Moko Beach hotel), which was comfortable even if quite small for 5 stare. Probably the deluxe rooms in the new building are larger.||The food was top quality, both in the main restaurant and in the a la carte restaurants. The cake shop Oree is very nice and also offers vegan options. We tried 2 a la carte restaurants (Foodisiac seafood and Steakroom) and both were amazing, better than similar resort restaurants in Turkey or Egypt. The drinks were good overall, even if some bartenders were clearly inexperienced and, depending on your luck, you could receive a completely different cocktail than what you ordered. But if you stick to the most well known ones you will be fine.||The beach is quite large, has fine sand and the sea entrance is not too steep. After 9 AM it was almost Impossible to find sunbeds, the well known "strategy" of booking them with a towel or T shirt is unfortunately in place here. The beach staff strolls around the sunbeds, smiling as they see most of them occupied even though the beach is almost empty, but they don't do anything about it.||There are 6 pools (relax, kids, main, deep for swimming, infinity on rooftop and indoor), all were very clean and well looked after. The waffle stand between the kids and the main pool is a nice touch.||The animation was nice, with evening shows, live music, parties and the kids club was also very nice, our daughter loved participating in the mini disco every evening on the terrace stage or on the beach.||The spa is great, especially the finnish sauna and the jacuzzi were amazing.||The main issue of the hotel is the parking. If the underground parking does not have availability (and it usually doesn't), somebody from the hotel will show you the way to a partner parking in Golden Sands and then bring you back. On the arrival day we lost almost one hour with the waiting and parking and by the time I was back in the hotel the beach snack bar closed, which was a bad start for us because we hadn't eaten since the morning when we left home. I realize that the space is very limited in Golden Sands as there are many hotels close to each other, so they don't have a better solution at this moment, it is just something every guest should be ready for when arriving at the hotel.||Another small minus was, surprisingly for a 5 star hotel, the housekeeping. Our room was not cleaned in the morning and each day we had to look for the staff and kindly ask then to clean the room until 1-2 PM, because after that our 5 year old daughter had to sleep. Also, the bathroom towels were not white, which would have been nice as this is the custom at the vast majority of 4-5 hotels.||In conclusion, there is still room for doing a few things better, but even so Grifid Noa is a top quality hotel, well...