Dont think anyone has returned yet as this week is the 1st week of the season I think, Im going on the 25th so Ill let you know then.

cheers ears

i 'm waiting for the first reports of people returning as well

Hi

I have just returned from Sunny Beach

It has gone up only very slightly for food and drinks. But it is still really cheap. Weather was fantastic. Not a lot of places were opened when we got there but by the end of week almost everywhere was opened.

Liz

thanks! glad everything was still okay and not too expensive. we paid about 80p a pint last year, that was main concern, that ther beer hadnt gone up too much.

we paid about 80p a pint last year

It depends where you buy drinks, 80 pence (2.30 Leva) is very expensive compared to 'real' Bulgarian prices but OK(ish) for the resorts.

I paid 70 Stotinki - 1 Lev, on average, in non-resort bars last September (around 24-35 pence per 500ml).

Baldur

its still cheaper than England so thats a bonus

do you still need to pay 50 strokini to use the toilets in resort?

do you still need to pay 50 strokini to use the toilets in resort?

Hope so. For the ladies who look after the loos it's their sole income, and theirs are usually a lot cleaner than ours.

Heroines they are, deserve double.

Peter

yes you did still have to pay 50 stotinkis to use the toilet. As Peter said the ladies do keep the toilets nice and clean.

In Sunny Beach the prices of a pint varied from 1 leva to 2.99 leva. Needless to say being Scottish we opted for the 1 leva places . In Nessebar we paid 1.50 leva for a large beer.

count yourself lucky. in golden sands the women attendants are miserable old dears that just sit outside the loos and give you one sheet of paper to take in with you. i have to say that the loos in golden sands were not very clean or looked after you maybe had on or two exceptions but overall a bit ucky. never mind all part of the holiday.

the women attendants are miserable old dears

If you had to live on a subsistence income in Bulgaria, you probably wouldn't appear too happy yourself - they are likely to be pensioners who are supplementing their meagre £28 per month pension, with the odd 50 Stotinki from comparatively 'rich' Western European tourists, just to exist.

Baldur

Hi Baldur

Have to agree we always find that if you speak to the ladies (Toilet attendents) and even pay an inflated price of giving them a couple of lev the look of appreciation on their face and the fact that they check to make sure the toilet is clean for you well makes up for the small price you are asked to pay after all it's not that long ago that you had to pay to go even in this country. and still have to in some places

not in golden sands. some toilets dont even have a lock on the door. i know they are only trying to make ends meet, but i m sure it wouldnt hurt to crck a smile. they must of been balken stewdesses when they were younger, they dont know how to smile either.

The obvious solution to your abhorrence of the toilets and the ladies, whom you find so unwelcoming, is to drastically reduce your intake of fluids while there, which will have the beneficial effect of reducing the number of visits that you have to make, plus the additional benefit of saving all of those 50 Stotinki coins.

Baldur

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Why all this moaning about a measly 50 stotinki to use toilets, it works out a lot less than one is charged on most British Rail stations (20p), even a lot more than the 50p charged on Underground. Last year I posted a report about toilets in Bulgaria. Here goes again, most are FRANCHISED (This saves being on a payroll) and the owner comes each day to collect his dues, what is left over, is the attendants wages, plus he/she has to supply the Toilet requisites. Think on a rainy day, people stay in Hotels, so no takings. How do I know this, I made friends with the Attendant at the toilets alongside the Bazaar in Albena, he explained the situation, he even stays on the property overnight, he loves George Formby, so have got him a couple of tapes for next visit. and I always give him a couple of packets of fags during viist.
Reference the smiling, how often do you see an attendant at our English Loo's, if I did and they smiled at me, I would be a little wary. Tonyt

no one is moaning about paying the money i do realise why! the toilet attendents at home keep our loos spotless and always have an hello and a smile. maybe its just at golden sands they seem as they do. am i asking too much?

We went at Easter so were not in the resorts, I would say that prices have not really gone up... yet! Also as our 'experts' point out it does depend upon where you go. We visited Arbanassi and a taxi was only 3 leva to go into Veliko Turnivo (sorry about spelling), the restaurants etc around there and in Varna were all very reasonable.

I had to smile regarding the comments on toilets, we took a coach from Varna (£8 return each) to VT, very nice coach too, but, toilets were locked, now as men of a certain age may know, a 3 hour journey without access to a toilet can prove difficult - hubby had to ask the driver to stop in the end! return was ok as he restricted his fluid intake prior to our journey, mind you I have never seen him move so fast when the coach arrived back at Varna, he was in the toilets before I could get up off my seat! Sorry to make light of this but it was quite funny at the time. Anyway, it appears that they are still charging at the coach stations for access to toilets, the queue gets quite long when a coach has pulled in for a pit stop, we wondered if there was a deal going with the owners of the toilets, hence locked ones on the coaches and it also serves the purpose of not having to clean the ones on the coach, which no doubt is the responsbility of the drivers and their assistant.

Another point, is that wages in Bulgaria have not gone up, we have friends in the police and medical services who are still earning a pittance so who can blame the Bulgarians for trying to make money where they can.