Melia Sunny Beach

"We went to Melia sunny beach, Bulgaria in August 2026. Transfer: Around 30 mins by coach. We had to load the coach with our own cases which is fine but a new one with me and the same with getting them off. A bit of a free for all with others having to do the same. The room keys were a chip inside a wrist band too which was good. Pools: They are quite cold but you get used to it. Apparently 1 of the 2 identical pools are heated to help but despite you noticing the difference between the two it’s still really cold. The lifeguards were overly cautious. No diving. You can’t even sensibly jump in the pool to get in. You have to gracefully get as low as possible and slide in, or use the steps. They loved blowing their whistles. Floats were fairly cheap to buy at the shops around the hotel. Reserving with towels - this is the first hotel I’ve ever been to where you cannot reserve us beds with towels. Up until 9am, if you go down and reserve beds they will remove them and put them on a table. To be honest there’s that many sunbeds there we came down at 10am and got 4 together. There’s literally no rush at all. Never ever seen this on all the holidays over the years but genuinely, no need for sunbed wars at all. The entertainment team did try to get a water polo game every day but as it was cold there was never enough people wanting to play Hotel and room: Overall the hotel was very clean, very tidy and well kept. The rooms were good. We did have an issue with the shower but they resolved it the same day. Air con was good, beds comfortable. We had a family room as it was 2 adults and 3 kids (14,13,12) and there was plenty of room. The entertainment on an evening was alright, nothing to write home about but did the job. Food: The food for all 3 meals was good. Plenty to choose from. The hotel is built with 3 buildings so the ground floor of each one is. Huge restaurant. Breakfasts were the same in each and lunch was similar too. Evening meals in each was slightly different but still plenty of choice and my picky kids managed to eat decent for the week. During the day there is a snack bar doing hot dogs, burgers, ribs and toasties. The burgers were proper burgers. There’s a pizza shack too constantly making fresh pizzas from about midday until about 9pm. You just go ask for slices. It was always either margarita or pepperoni. They were superb. There’s a bar that does ice creams and slushies too. All of this is within the all inclusive bracket. Didn’t see anything we had to pay for. Beach and outside bits: The beach is a few mins walk out the back of the hotel, very safe, very clean and to be fair it was stunning. The beach and the views were incredible. The kids loved the sea as it’s really warm and at times some really good waves. Loads of space there and it goes on for miles which you could walk. There is quite a few shops to buy ‘tat’ and were reasonably priced. You felt safe walking around but there was one or two locals that you felt might be watching you. Didn’t see any trouble. One thing I’d mention was other guests. This was a negative in a sense that I didn’t know where they were from but as a Brit, we’re happy to wait in line for the bar or a lift or to allow someone in a restaurant to pass you. There was a lot of the same nationality people who didn’t care for this at all. After the 2nd time someone jumped the queue we made a point of completely blocking their path to the lift as others were exiting the lift and we got in and told them it’s plain and simply rude to skip the 2 families already waiting. I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing but they literally didn’t care to wait at all for anything. Really rude. Overall we all enjoyed the stay. Pools being cold all day was probably the worst part. Definitely not put off by Bulgaria at all. Whilst I give the hotel and the holiday a 4 out of 5 I’m not sure I’m looking to return as the pool temperature was a big thing for my kids."

"Stayed end of Aug, so peak season and full hotel. Positives - spotlessly clean throughout. - great food and drink - slushies and soft serve icecream free all day - quickness service, minimal waits - fun slides with minimal waits (15mins tops for the big one, less than 10 amd often 1 or 2 for the others) - lots of activities if you want them, no pressure if you don't. - kid enjoyed the kids club. - beautiful beach - generally nice staff - they actually do remove towels from sunbeds if people have reserved them before breakfast. Hooray!!! Negatives - pools are very cold. - lifeguards, while attentive, are awful. - it's inescapabley busy - booking in is a bit of a faff - Sunny Beach as a resort outside of the hotel is horrible - main evening entertainment could be better - snackbar at pool and beach consistently overwhelmed and not efficient in getting people served Things you might want to know: - while they are three levels of thrill, ALL slides are 1.2m height restricted. - there are great toiletries in the room bathroom. You didn’t need to take shampoo, conditioner, shower gel or soap unless you are realy fussy. - balcony and door to room do not have high or dead locks. Kids could get out easily. - British in the minority, but English used everywhere Overall, we (two adults, one 7 year old), had a great time. The food across 5 restraunts was generally excellent and varied. The three main buffets are vaguely themed to Italian, Spanish and local. They did get a bit chaotic. Our favourite of the three was the Spanish which felt a little calmer. I think they'd do well to lean more heavily to the individual cuisines. The Chineese hotpot is a great concept, choose your ingredients and cook them in a central pot with a choice of sauces. The absolute standout was the Indian though, really superb food, range changed frequently, and was properly made. You could watch making and cooking the bread from scratch and spicing the dishes. Incredible really. Food at the German bar was great. The beer is decent like drinking supermarket stubbies all day, the spirits are strong, the range is good, although a definitive list at the bar would be helpful. The pool situation went a long way to spoil the whole holiday in honesty. The lifeguards have clearly been told 'these are the rules, enforce them', not 'make sensible decisions to keep people safe while they have fun'. So safe activities, like tiny kids learning to jump in, get a whistle and a no and a grumpy face, while actually dangerous activities that are not listed in the rules like hugely boisterous behaviour and people chucking rock hard balls about are allowed to continue. As a lifeguard myself previously, that is not how you do it. Let people enjoy the pools, let them jump in sensibly, but stop things that are avtually dangerous. As it is the whistles are non stop annoying eveyone trying to relax, swimmers end up just ignoring them anyway as there ultimately seems little consequence to rule breaking other than more whistles, and at one minute past 6 when the lifeguards finish everyone is quite safely chucking themselves in the pool anyway. Its a bit of a farce really, and would be the biggest reason I'd hesitate to return. The surrounding area, to me, is horrible. Handy if you want a knife or tazer, which are openly on sale, to score some gear, or want the worst knockoff tat on the planet though! Such a shame a lack of regulation has allowed this mess to sprawl around such an incredibly beautiful beach. On arrival everyone goes to one reception, queues, only to be told to go to the reception of another block and queue again there to check in. I don't know if this is a hotel or jet2 communication issue, but it isnl frustrating and shouldnl be better. Most of the staff are great, my favourite was Sartander (or similar spelling) at our lobby bar, a lovely and helpful guy. My daughter slipped in the bathroom and tore a towel rail off the wall as she fell, reception were fine about it and had it fixed in a couple of hours. Great service. Kids disco and entertainment was good, but although those invilved clearly try hard I thought the main evening entertainment could have been better. There's a nice calmer outdoor bar with a singer, or the indoor lobby bars, so options depending how you are feeling. I personally probbaly prefer somewhere a bit less busy. Ultimately, they do really well with what they have but this hotel is massive in terms of room numbers and relatively small in space for this number of rooms. It always feels busy, like it is on the edge of not coping, but it just about manages to get away with it."

"This hotel is fab, super clean the food is amazing and the staff are lovely ! My room was for me and the 2 children. We had an issue with the sofabed twice and they replaced it with another real bed in the room quickly and the manager of the hotel came and found me at the pool to let me know. The cleanliness is 10/10 there are people constantly cleaning sweeping the floor in the food area. The choice of food is amazing. We did the Indian one night was okay but returned for the naan breads and they had the best selection of curry’s on a lamb curry and a prawn one with pakoras this was also 10/10 Really happy with the hotel it’s in the heart of what is going on outside. The beach I did not love but that’s preference. If I chose to go back to sunny beach I would only come back to this hotel."