Golden Sands Trip - June '26
2 nights in an all-inclusive hotel for £65. Shite or worth it?
The whole reason I started Shoestring was because I always kept seeing flights for £30 or a hotel for £90 and thought 'surely for that price it's worth taking? Like even if it's a bit shit, for that price, why not?'. So, when I found an all-inclusive hotel in Bulgaria for £65 for 2 nights, I went.
Journey Out
The best flights for this trip turned out to be Luton to Varna. I used the airport parking trick to sort it for about £30 all in rather than the £100+ Luton Airport were after (for a Fri-Sun trip, robbing bastards). The flights weren't the cheapest (about £110 return), but I wanted to go and see what a £32 ish per night all-inclusive was like, so I figured it was worthwhile.
Tip here - if you do fly into Varna and are in need of a Taxi, don't go with the lads whistling at you and shouting you over. I know that sounds obvious, but they stand in front of the airport and do approach sometimes. Instead, go for Triumf Taxi's. They have a proper sign in the airport, pre-set rates, and also accept card (and probably best of all, don't scam you).
They also have an app you can download to call one uber-style if you need. Which is cool. (You do still have to pay at the end of your trip in the car though, not before like with Uber or Bolt)
The Hotel (Park Hotel Odessos)
I don't really know how best to present all of this so I'm just gonna write. Was it worth it? In short, oh yes it was.
I've actually never been to an all-inclusive before so didn't really know what to expect. I thought the drinks list would be like one beer, one wine and one spirit. What I did not expect was for there to be a drinks list this big, and for that to include cocktails.
The hotel was also pretty solid. Nice room with a sea view (although the sea view was probably thanks to me adding a cheeky little "sea view please :)" note on the initial booking. Hey! Don't ask don't get, and in this case it looks like it worked!), three separate pools (one indoor and two outdoor) and three bars, one with unlimited pool snacks like nuggets, burgers and waffles too. The food was also completely fine. Buffet-style at set times, but more than serviceable and did the job. Also fulfilled a bucket list item for me - a self-service beer pump in the food hall. Fantastic. And all for £65 each, remember!
There were a couple of bits that were rough around the edges (such as the Gym, in which only the bench press was really working properly), but again, for the price (and the fact that only weirdo's like me go to the gym at an all-inclusive), it was grand.
The Local Area (Golden Sands)
Golden Sands itself felt quite like a typical Bulgarian seaside resort (which is probably because that's exactly what it was). I've been to Sunny Beach before, and this had a whiff of that although nowhere near as manic. That could have been because we were early June and right at the start of the season, but I suspect Golden Sands is more of a holiday / family place whereas sunny beach is more outright-party.
There were a fair whack of restaurants and bars around, including one we ended up in both nights called Beerkonig. Played german party music and sold german shirts. We also made friends with some germans and drank beer with them into the small hours. Great fun, and making friends is one of many things I love about just going somewhere else.
Varna
On the last day before flying home, we got a taxi (using Triumf Taxi's app - fancy fancy!) into Varna itself to try and be a bit more cultural instead of just "relaxing" and "drinking beers".
Yeah... that went well.
Varna did actually have a couple of nice places to walk through. The sea garden was nice (with a statue of a fella and a lad holding a pistol and a grenade, which was pretty cool). The beachfront was also golden and sandy (despite not being in golden sands). Stopped in Makalalai beach bar for some food, and the tables on the sand were cool and the prices were solid, the food was pretty bang average (I'd come here for drinks again but that's about it).
Got a slushie (cool), saw some fountains and the cathedral and broke out two of my finest stock poses (cool), then got a third and final truimf taxi to the airport. So Varna was nice enough, but I wouldn't look to spend more than a few hours there if I went again (unless I went to try the nightlife, no idea what that's like in Varna itself).
Varna Airport
One last treat, varna airports outside terrace garden area. Absolutely lovely and a great change from the drek of some airport departure lounges you find.
In Summary
I'm not the sort of guy who wants to be like 'top 10 places here!' or 'bucket list itineraries in X'. That would probably look fancier in insta, but i want to show you that you can have a good time pretty much anywhere you go.
This trip was a perfect example of that. Booked about 7 days before, Friday to Sunday, lovely flight times, and an all-inclusive for a price that was really quite silly.
Was it an absolute bucket-list destination? Not really. Was the hotel a 5 star mega mansion? Also no.
But was the hotel worth the price I paid? Yes, by a long way yes. Was it worth going for a weekend? Absolutely. Better than staying at home? Unbelievably so.
So, in short, a textbook Shoestring trip. Affordable, great value, great memories, great fun.
After all, why not?
ALSO if you're a club member, you can see where these places were (and any others I went to that I haven't written here). I've added them to the members Bulgaria map so you can have a look-see for yourself! (If you're not a member yet, this page sums up pretty well what membership is all about. Not 'perfect' travel, not 'hidden gems' or 'magical bucket list destinations' Just all about going a few days away somewhere else because it's almost certainly more fun than staying at home again.
Have a look inside with a free trial if that sounds like fun to you!)