Hotels offer a fourth for three nights – free
For most Bulgarians, this year’s Easter holiday will be mainly in Bulgaria. You can still find offers that are 30-40% lower than usual, or with discounts that increase depending on how many days the reservation is made, showed a check of “24 hours”.
Several factors are leading to increased domestic supply this year. On the one hand, from Good Friday, which this year is April 30, to Thursday next week – May 6, St. George’s Day, plus the following weekend are a total of 10 days. This is an ideal time for a complete vacation, especially
if one succeeds
to take
leave for all three
working days
in this period
– 4, 5 and 7 May. The same goes for students. Children from 1st to 11th grade will have only two school days in the first week of May – 5th and 7th.
On the other hand, opportunities to go abroad, whether near or far, are quite limited due to the pandemic. (See below).
And from the third – this year the summer season starts on May 1 and the competition for attracting customers includes summer resorts, resort towns and individual accommodation, which makes the supply abundant and reduces prices.
Last year, around May 1, we were still in the first lockdown and the bans on leaving the area applied. However, for the long weekend then about 40 thousand cars with citizens of Sofia managed to leave Sofia.
“Now our calculations show that
will have
minimum
200 thousand
traveling
from Sofia
especially for the Easter holidays “, said the executive director of the Institute for Analysis and Evaluation in Tourism Rumen Draganov. And if the weather is good, there may be many more.
“The trend for this Easter is different from the previous ones. In the first place, many more package holidays are offered, and the lure is that the longer the stay, the more free nights are added “, explained the member of the board of the Association of Bulgarian Travel Agencies Lyubomir Nikolov.
This is mainly the case of the Black Sea hotels, for which this is understandable. It is not profitable for them to open so early if they do not provide enough guests for a long period.
On Golden Sands for example, many hotels offer a night with a sea view for 70-80 levs per person on an all-inclusive basis, but when booking for three nights around Easter,
the fourth
is free
Respectively, if 5 or 6 nights are paid, the offer includes another two days stay. This is the price per person and in addition to the main service includes the use of indoor heated pool, spa, gym and animation for children and adults plus resort fee.
In practice, a 5-day vacation with 4 nights costs 240 BGN per person. The price can not be compared at all with what a person would pay for the same hotel in the middle of August, because then it is about two and a half times higher.
133 leva is a double room on Easter in Overview, but for reservations made until April 30.
IN Albena There will be four hotels for Easter, one of which is 5-star, where the holiday stay is suitable for families with small children, for whom there is a special 4-day program from April 30 to May 4. Prices are also at a minimum and are about 60-70% lower than those for the same hotel in August.
IN sunny Beach There is almost no hotel that does not offer Easter packages, and the prices there are lower than those in Albena. Some of the hotels are already advertising 3-4-day package holidays for the period around May 24.
In the race to attract guests
have joined
and hotels in
winter resorts,
as, of course, the prices there are much lower, because for them it seems to be already a “low season”. For example, in Pamporovo, a night in even the best hotels rarely costs more than 55 leva per person on an all-inclusive basis, and this year’s package includes the use of an indoor pool, sauna and Easter lunch.
IN Borovets for 210 leva
man receives
three nights on
full board
with drinks that include beer and wine in addition to coffee and soft drinks. There is also a themed lunch for Easter, children’s animation – reproduction of Bulgarian customs, competition for the most beautiful egg, competition with eggs, use of indoor heated pool, sauna, steam bath plus other usual services of the hotel.
In Bansko most packages are for a three-day stay, but there are also quite a few 4-day stays, with the highest prices reaching a maximum of BGN 239 also on an all-inclusive basis. The plus of the resort is that
the cabin
lift will
continue
to work
and if the weather allows, the stay can be combined with a trip to the mountains.
The situation is different in the resort towns in the interior of the country. In Velingrad and Hissarya, where people go mostly because of the mineral water, they still do not know whether the current restriction for visitors to spas and swimming pools to up to 30% of capacity will continue to apply from May 1.
However, offers for Easter packages are plentiful, but
the prices are
much higher
In the most luxurious hotels in Velingrad, for example, a 5-day Easter package with 4 nights for two costs about BGN 1100-1200 for accommodation in a double room, but in lower class hotels there are offers with similar conditions for BGN 350-500. In Hissarya the conditions are almost the same, but in terms of price there, in general, the offers are about twenty percent cheaper.
Easter vacation abroad is not impossible, but according to Lyubomir Nikolov, there are significant changes in distant destinations lately. In Zanzibar, for example, the wet season is now beginning
charters
lately
they are strong
decreased
However, prices are by no means lower than before.
At the same time, charter flights and trips to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, which are also entering the rainy season, but also to Egypt and Tunisia are increasing.
Sri Lanka is an average exotic destination for Bulgarians. The 6-day trip with a guided tour program can cost between BGN 2,500 and 4,000 per person.
Many more excursions are organized to Egypt, and the promotional prices can currently be BGN 300 per person, but this is still the basic price for a stay in the lowest class hotel. Most often a 6- or 7-day stay there costs about 500 euros.
All offers for Egypt, however
must
are read
carefully
because a negative PCR test is currently required to enter this country up to 72 hours before arrival. It can be done for $ 100 and after landing at the airport there, but if it is positive, it requires a 14-day quarantine on the spot. Some tour operators include these costs in the price, but others do not and these details need to be carefully checked. For example, an Easter holiday in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is only possible against a negative PCR. With the same study we can enter Kosovo and Turkey, where tourists are given the opportunity for a 7-day quarantine instead of taking a test. The latter, however, is quite inconvenient, especially if we have gone for a few days.
In Greece and Romania, we do not have the right to choose between these two options, as it is mandatory to present a negative result from a PCR test, and if it is positive, we are subject to quarantine. While in our southern neighbor it is within 7 days, Romanians want us to remain isolated for at least 10 days after entering the country. If we refuse to be tested before we arrive in Romania, we will be quarantined for a period of 14 days, which will not be necessary only for a stay of less than three days and the presence of PCR.
Two of the Balkan countries offer an additional option for those wishing to spend the holidays on their territory – a vaccination certificate. Bulgarian citizens arriving in Montenegro must have a negative PCR, a positive result of an antigen test in less than 30 days or present a certificate of immunization. This means giving a second dose at least 7 days before the trip.
The requirements for a holiday in Slovenia are similar – PCR test, coronavirus vaccination document or positive test for COVID-19, issued not less than 21 days ago, but not more than 6 months before the visit to the country.
– .
