Hotel Arkutino

I’ve returned to this resort many times over the years because the location is fantastic, but the hotel has got worse each year while prices have gone up sharply. Rooms aren’t cleaned properly, and for what it costs, the Family resort feels very overpriced. The food is the biggest issue. There’s a lot of it, but the quality is poor: the cheese doesn’t seem like real cheese, the butter is some unpleasant substitute fat, dishes lack taste, meat is tough and bland, and the fruit is about as bad as it gets. My wife and I tried the wine at the bar and it was awful. I wouldn’t call it wine. The juices were just water with the cheapest flavoring. The dining area hygiene is poor too. If you’re concerned about Covid 19 precautions, this is a bad choice: there were almost no measures, food service was badly organized with too few people serving, and children touched food on the counters with bare hands. Each year we had stomach problems there. Vegetarians should know there’s practically nothing suitable. I paid for all inclusive, but ended up hungry and going out to restaurants in Sozopol or Primorsko. One option if you’re still hungry is a paid bar on the beach towards Ropotamo, where you can get a decent breakfast, salads, drinks, and meals. Great location, but expect poor quality food, badly cleaned rooms, high prices, and little for vegetarians. You may have to eat elsewhere even with all inclusive.

The beach was the one good part, about a five minute walk along a wooden path through the dunes. The resort itself doesn’t live up to its four star advertising. It sits on a hill with lots of stairs and steep paths, so I wouldn’t recommend it for families with small children. There’s plenty of food, but it’s cheap, not tasty, and usually cold. The restaurant has two floors, barbecue downstairs and the rest upstairs, so with self service you have to run around to put a meal together. Service was awful and unprofessional, with young staff smoking while they worked, and poor help with drinks and clearing plates. For the price, guests should get much more. We definitely won’t return.

The price makes no sense for food of this quality. This apart hotel’s all inclusive offering was so poor that I chose to spend extra on meals outside. It seemed like the cheapest food, cooked by beginners. In a whole week, the only seafood we got was tasteless squid and shrimp, probably bought at a supermarket near its expiry date. Never again.

It’s a beautiful place, and the food is good, but they don’t have enough staff. Every drink they serve seems to be the cheapest available. The place is completely unsuitable for people with disabilities. For children, there’s nothing to do beyond the pool and beach, so it might suit couples wanting a quiet holiday better than families.