Gardenia Park Hotel

This hotel is great value for money. I liked the SPA a lot, they have a very good Hamman. 24 hours reception, it is located away from the big noise but still close to the centre (walking distance). Very friendly and English speaking staff. Free parking space close by. Variated breakfast.

I see lots of reviews here that are quite positive, but either the standards in Bulgaria for 4* hotels are much lower than in the rest of Western Europe, USA, Australia or this isn't a 4* hotel. As advertised, it has some of the amenities of a 4* hotel, including a pool, jacuzzi (not working), hair dryers and bar fridge in the rooms (mine didn't work) but the standard just isn't there - a lot of things are dirty, broken, the linens are cheap, there is mouldy silicone in the shower, there were dirty lampshades that didn't fit the lamps. I was just here for a few nights, so no big loss - originally I had booked a 5* up near the gondola but that was too far from restaurants so I had settled on this because it is in the middle of town and I didn't have time to do a lot of research. Good thing this place is centrally located because restaurant at the hotel is pretty boring and not great quality - food is greasy, few vegetables, no spicing (but this is true of a lot of Bulgarian food anyway). I ate there for breakfast and one dinner, rest of the time went out as first impressions didn't make me keen to stay in. I think it gets a heavy use by school groups, package tourists from UK. You can get an apartment or boutique hotel for a similar price.