Kaliakra Mare Hotel

Interesting place. The hotel is well located right on the beach and we upgraded to an executive sea view room from a standard sea view room for 21 leves (a little over £9) a night. They initially wanted 42 leves a night but with a little pushing the price halved. They are bigger and have excellent sea view and balconies.we can clearly see the sea from our bed. We are hear right at the start of the season and the rest of albena is very quite. The food is good and more varied then most having had, chicken; duck, beef, lamb,pork, mussels, king prawns, tuna stakes and shark. As well as all the usual things. A good 7 out of 10 food wise but an 8 out of 10 for all inclusive. They have 4 bars and they serve decent brands and cocktails but they are all pretty small and I have absolutely no idea how they would cope when full in the high season.
Some staff are friendly enough and most have a basic bit of english. But it's not an "english" hotel. Seem far more for germans and Romanians (less then an hour to the boarder). Be aware Albena is very much a resort on it's own (there must be over a dozen hotels etc) but everything here in the resort is geared to getting your pennies and the prices are really high for Bulgaria. Even a 15 minute taxi to the nearest town is £30 return and the so called supermarkets on the resort are sometimes twice uk prices (and 4 times normal Bulgaria prices).
Finally the hotel is clean and well kept.

The hotel is very close to the beach and kids love that (and adults too). The rooms are big and very nice, but the a/c is too weak and it wasn't able to cool the room properly. The room cleaning lady did a nice job and the room was always cleaned.
The food was great but the coffe was not very good. The only good coffee was the one served from the inside bar near the reception.

Spent 2 weeks here in September with my family. It was almost end of season so very quiet and not much to do except explore. This was to our liking tho as we wanted a very relaxing holiday. Food was very good and snacks anytime during the day, restaurant staff could have been more friendly and at least acknowledge you. However the room cleaners where smiley and room was cleaned everyday. The bar staff especially Kleo and Pino pretty much made our stay fantastic, so warm and friendly. By the end of our first week we seen them more as friends than staff, we had such a great laugh with them and they are both and absolute credit to the hotel 🙏🏼 There is a local shop just outside the front doors to the hotel, the gentleman in the shop was so friendly and kind, he went out his way to buy stuff that we liked and stocked his shop with it. Please visit this shop if you go on holiday, he will look after you from snacks to getting you a reduced price on a taxi.

Overall a relaxing stay, but this hotel really needs a makeover
It has seen some better times, so do not expect any luxury. Its located just by the beach which makes it very comfortable to move around back and forth.

Rooms - described separately.

Pools - one large pool and a second shallow one with a slide for kids. When we arrived, pool was a mess. There were lots of small and large flies in the pool, also sometimes seagulls were stealing food and dropping it in the pool. The people who were responsible for maintaining it weren't really interested, only reacted when I started cleaning the pool with the net. It really felt like the lifeguard's role was to only hand out towels. They did clean it in the mornings, but a regular upkeep during the day would be welcome.

Beach - first two rows are paid. 24 BGN for two sunbed and unbrella. Rest is free. Hotel has a strict policy against reserving beds.. which is just an empty threat. Nobody cares. If you came after breakfast only last lines were free and you can stroll through a basically empty beach.. with 90% sunbeds reserved. The hotel doesn't do anything about it and their manager confirmed this. So if you want nice beds without paying, go early and reserve. No-one will do anything about it. Sad but true.
Beach is beautiful, nice sand, warm sea, nice waves. Watch out for medusas - they do sting a bit.

Food and drink - described separately.

Entertainment - there is some entertainment for kids, but can't say what it is. They organize some games throughout the day, dances, evening shows etc.

Nationality wise, hotel is visited by Bulgarians, Romanians and Germans. No soviets spotted, but they were here in the past as hotel information is in EN, BG, RO and soviet.

Services - money exchange onsite. You can also book trips with hotel or rent a car.

1. Location is on the beach and placed on the good fine sand. Suitable for children and the bay is often calm with no high waves. Shallow waters for 20-30 meters so you can go even if you can't swim.
2. Double standard room is quite small with 3x5 meters with enough place for two adults, but that's all about. Don't book this with two kids. Especially with baby. It's probably better if they don't offer this option at all, because when you have baby cartridge and portable infant bed things get hard.
3. Food is good mainly pork and chicken . I rarely give high rating for all inclusive food but this one gets a point for the barbecue. Sweets are also good if you're not on a diet.
4. Drinks on the other hand is not you would have been expecting for 3000 bgn or 1500 euro per week. Alcohol Is very cheap: whisky Is Johny Walker red label at best and creme liquor is not Baileys that you probably expect from "ultra all inclusive". Jack is payed and prepare for shocking prices. Another disappointed bourbon fan 😭.
5. Animation is poor mainly focused for German Poland and Russian audience. Games work with coins are are turned off. So there is only table tennis and jagger football. There is thematic animation on the scene each evening. The magic show is actually not bad. And end of list.
6. Sanitization and maintenance is something they need to hardly improve especially if you're not used to see spider webs and swallow nests on the balcony and pool toilets. Pools are crystal clean BTW but we are at the start of the season so it may change a bit.
7. Parking is payed all over the place and is zoned. Green zone is 20, blue - 10 and 6 bgn on the bus station.
8. Shade and sun beds are free except for the first two lines. Prices are on the picture.
In conclusion definitely don't recommend the ultra all inclusive and animation. My strong suggestion is think twice and ask questions for what exactly you are paying before booking, because if you're having high expectations just go somewhere else.
At peak of the season prices get a lot more higher so for next year I would personally consider alternative.
Hard 4- (minus) score

Great hotel, good and renovated rooms,tasty food,very clean and sandy beach just a few steps away, our hotel to go to when we are in Albena. Thanks again Venera Kirova