from uk, 12 December 2005, 03:09

Comment: Hotel Edelweiss Borovets

I have visited Borovets every year for the past 12 years, I have stayed in most of the hotels and dined in most of the local restaurants, Hotel Edelweiss was my choice of hotel for the 2004/2005 ski season and I wasn't disappointed at all, in fact, I felt that it compared very well to most of the higher rated hotels in the resort.

Located just outside the centre of Borovets, (less than 15 minutes walk) and having undergone a full refurbishment for the 2004 season, I and most other people I spoke to during my stay agreed that it was hard to find genuine fault with anything. (excluding one couple having a domestic at 3 a.m on the first night, not the hotels fault)

I had chosen to travel alone on this occasion and was nicely surprised by what I found, as is often the case when you see pictures of the hotel in the brochures, the hotel looked different, but different in a good way, it was smart, clean and modern, the front of house team were very efficient and polite, check in was smooth, professional and direct.

My room was spacious, warm and modern, I had been allocated a twin bedded room for single occupancy, the beds, (I tried both) were firm but very comfortable, the room itself had a new colour television witch showed mostly Bulgarian tv but there was also Eurosport and 1 or 2 other English speaking channels, I had taken my portable dvd player with me and was able to connect it via the scart socket in the back of the tv to enable me to watch some films if I wanted to, the same thing could be of use to people with children for connecting a games consol.

There was plenty of storage, soft lighting, telephone and the brand new double glazed windows did the job they were created to do, the En-suite bathroom was typically Bulgarian, basic and plain, there was complimentary soap and shower gel sachets and fresh clean towels, but above all, the bathroom was very clean, the housekeeping staff were polite and serviced the room daily to a high standard. (I left a very large tip when I departed).

The Hotel Edelweiss has a good sized modern bar in the basement which leads down from reception, MTV or Eurosport were shown on the screen and my goodness do they poor large measures, I asked for a large whiskey and was promptly given nearly half a pint of jonnie walker black label for the princely sum of £2.00, naturally I made a hasty retreat before they realised their mistake, only to find out later that it is normal to receive that kind of measure, with measures like that, a cardboard box in the car park would have seemed nice, I digress.

As in most Hotels in Borovets, my accommodation was on a half board basis, (Breakfast and Dinner included), as a seasoned traveller and a regular to the resort, normally I would opt to dine out in the local restaurants but since the hotel seemed so good, I decided to give the food a chance as well, I was not disappointed, Breakfast and Dinner are both Buffet style.

At breakfast there was always a selection of salads, cold meats, local cheese and one or two local dishes, then on the hot plate there was at least two choices of eggs, bacon, local sausage and tomato, there was also a selection of cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt and even some pastry’s if you fancied something sweet, there was a machine with orange flavoured drink, though it was not pure juice, more like a cordial, fresh juice is available from a waiter at a small cost, also coffee and tea is dispensed on a self service basis from 2 machines in the restaurant, there was a couple of small toasters, though they seemed very slow and you did have to queue a while during busy times.

Dinner was a selection of pasta, rice, cheese, ham and one or two local dishes on the cold buffet, then on the hot buffet there was a choice of vegetables, one or two meat dishes, pasta, fish and of course, chips, bread and butter was available as was ketchup, mayonnaise and any other sauce us Brits like to smear all over our food to trick out taste buds, dessert was a selection of cakes and pastry’s and ice cream is available from a waiter at a small cost.

Bulgarians don’t like to eat hot food, most of the time local food is served warm, however, the thoughtful people at Hotel Edelweiss have provided a couple of microwaves in the restaurant should you want your food piping hot.

I didn’t really have any grumbles about the hotel, though I wish id known there was no KETTLE in the room, I really need a couple of cups of Nescafe before I head off for a days skiing and again when I get back. Take your own brew kit with you.

Overall, The Hotel Edelweiss was modern, comfortable, friendly, warm and very clean. For a low budget hotel/holiday, I think you get a cracking good deal for your money, my next trip leaves in 4 weeks time.

One last thing, Bulgaria is not a rich country, though the locals are rich in character, they appreciate us taking our money to their country, the local wage equates to approximately £30 a month for most of them so please do remember to tip wherever you go.
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