Hotel Victoria Palace - Jim. Date of travel: Jun 2007
Second time at Sunny Beach and prices have gone up slightly but you can still eat & drink fairly cheaply although there are a few more expensive restuarants & pubs. ie. one pub can sell a pint of beer for 1 leva yet a pub on the next street (nearer the beach) charges 3.8 leva Overall the Bulgarians are quite friendly & helpful but there are always a minority of people who just rip you off so you always have to be careful. One of the major scams take place in Nessebar old town where you are offered to change money by people walking about the streets at a higher exchange rate than the authorised money exchangers. If you accept their deal they count legitimate leva out in front of but dont pass it to you, and as soon as your money is passed to them to do the exchange for the the leva that you've seen being counted, another person forces his way into the transaction stating not to change money in the street is illegal and quoting Bulgarian mafia etc. This interuption then gives the original person that you were doing the money exchange with the opportunity to swop the legit leva that was counted out in front of you to be swopped with useless money and the useless money is passed to your hand, which immediately you just put it in your pocket. As soon as the false money is passed to you the person that you are dealing with scarpers leaving the person that forced his way into the transaction ushering you in the other direction continuing to go on about the Bulgarian mafia etc, by the time you get to check the money again both people have disappeared from the streets. These conmen are excellent at what they do and have their timing to perfection. This is not one or two individuals doing this scam but large groups and teams of conmen and thieves. They also have minders/muscle all placed about the streets and prepared to anything if anyone wants to make any issue about being conned. The police will not help or protect you against these people but seem to turn a blind eye. The advice being to walk past anyone offering to exchange money in the street or offering cheap cigarettes -Do not deal with these people. Deal with authorised money changers/booths or banks and shopkeepers for cigarettes, etc.

I loved Sunny Beach bars and clubs - Kelli, Georgie. Date of travel: Aug 2006
The Hotel Victoria Palace was fantastic, the food was lovely and the rooms were massive compared to others in the area. The pools were really big and I loved the swim up bar, the staff could have been a little more friendlier but other than that everything was perfect, the hairdressers and spa also make it great for relaxation! Tour Operator: First Choice