Hotel Pri Chakara

The hosts were kind and helpful, and I really liked my room. New Year's Eve dinner was delicious. On the 1st, we had a big brunch with plenty of fruit, English breakfast, and a variety of juices. The service was perfect, and I'd recommend the place. I'm looking forward to going back.

We couldn't eat the food apart from the salads, since the meat was uncooked. The owner had said we'd have Wi-Fi, but there wasn't any. The bedroom was decent, though very small, and the beds were uncomfortable and squeaky. The bathroom smelled, and the air conditioning had no remote. I wouldn't recommend staying here.

The only edible food was the salad, and I ended up losing weight. The meat was raw. For my New Year's Eve vacation, I regret choosing this place: the service was terrible, with no internet and a poor attitude from the staff. I don't recommend it to anyone.

The chalet's position gave us a fantastic view across Veliko Tarnovo, especially when we watched the New Year's Eve fireworks from the main street. There was courtyard parking for all our cars, so we could relax about the rumors of car thefts in Bulgaria. We were a group of 23 and stayed four days over New Year's Eve. The rooms were clean and warm enough for me, though not warm enough for a T-shirt; it was December in Arbanasi, and our host kept adding wood to the fire. My room furniture suited what we'd paid: a large wardrobe, TV, table with one chair, and a bed where I slept over ten hours without back pain. It wasn't fancy, but we were there to party and see Veliko, not hang out in the rooms. Food included chicken, pork, beef, salads, meatballs and soups, with French and English breakfasts. I liked the beef steak, meatballs, salads, appetizers and homemade bread, all cooked to my taste. The rice at the New Year's Eve meal, though, was terrible and nobody in our group could eat it. Nico handled the arrangements with me over WhatsApp and tried hard to meet our requests before we arrived. There were persistent bad smells in the bathrooms, an issue mentioned in older reviews too. We also had a language barrier with most of the staff, though less so with Nico, and used Google Translate to order, especially at the restaurant. We asked for a well-done chicken breast, but it came back just as it had the first time. We should have clarified the alcohol arrangements: the quantity and variety disappointed many of us, though that could have been a misunderstanding or my failure to ask more. Wi-Fi only worked in the restaurant, a problem for people working remotely over New Year's Eve, especially with weak mobile data inside. There was no remote for the air conditioning either. I'm sure people take them, but guests should be able to use the air conditioning if it's listed. I give it four stars because it met my expectations, but didn't exceed them.