Here are the available villas for rental in Bulgaria.

Something for everyone

Sunny Beach is an up and coming resort, with lots of beach water sports, plenty of night time entertainment if you want it or some more quietly located hotels if you want to relax.
We stayed at the Victoria Palace Hotel to the north of Sunny Beach. It's just on the sea front and it was absolutely fantastic. I would certainly recommend it if you want a bit of luxury and just to relax.

Very disappointed

Had two weeks holiday in Sunny Beach in July 2003. Very disappointed.
Although prices are cheap and people are friendly, the resort is so commercialised. Big hotels have been built everywhere with more in the offing.
Give it two years and the place will be like Benidorm!
Hundreds of kids running about in electric scooters at night - loud music everywhere you go. Even on the beach the bars would play disco/rap music constantly at a piercing volume.
Some of the toilets were definitely a bit "iffy". Sorry wouldn't recommend it to anyone

Bulgaria: high times at low cost

Bulgaria might seem like an unusual option for a beach holiday but it's fast becoming a popular destination for British holidaymakers.

The resort of Golden Sands, on the Black Sea coast, shares the same latitude as Biarritz and experiences the same fantastic, mild weather as the French Riviera.
One thing Bulgaria has over French resorts is that it's much cheaper. Golden Sands is its big, lively party hotspot on a busy, two-mile white sand beach. It's packed with discos, cocktail bars, pubs, casinos, market stalls and amusements for kids.
As a result, the area is predominately occupied by young Brits, Germans and Russians and youthful families, but it still attracts plenty of people of all ages.
If you want to escape the crowds and discos, opt for one of the five hotels with a private beach in the Riviera Holiday Club at the southern end of the resort. The best of the lot is the five-star Imperial, a stylish '70s hotel that's more fashionable than most Hollywood stars' wardrobes. It is a gorgeous example of funky architecture and design.
The resort is in a National Park so you can get away from it all on peaceful walks through the lush woods. Other things to do in the area include romantic yacht trips or themed pirate boats for the kids. If lucky you'll spot a dolphin.
Within walking distance is the 12th-century Aladzha Rock Monastery located on a hill with beautiful views.
For the sporty there's tennis, mini golf, horse riding, jet skiing, paragliding, sailing, windsurfing, waterskiing and bowling. Golden sands has two diving schools so it's possible to gain a qualification far more cheaply than in the UK. ... more

Opt for cheaper packages

I enjoyed a week in June in the Albena resort. Initially, I was a little disappointed as the first impression was that of a holiday camp.
However, I soon got over that. Everything you could possibly want was there. Because it is all set in forest and hills, the resort had a spacious feel although nothing was any further than a 15minute walk away.
It was just beautiful with all the greenery of the trees and the golden sandy beach. The locals were friendly and helpful, and the value for money was incredible.
I would love to go to other parts of the country before it all gets expensive. Unfortunately the cheapest way to get there seems to be in association with package deals to resorts.
Compared to other destinations, flight-only deals to Bulgaria are quite expensive, around £400- 500 per couple return.

Borovets ski trip was snow joke

There's no denying the panoramic view from the Martinovi Baraki slope in the heart of the Bulgarian winter playground of Borovets is to die for.

Above hangs a lawless cornflower blue sky. Beneath sits powdery white virgin snow. And an imposing army of towering, frost-fringed firs surrounds.
Completing this idyllic wintry scene is a group of ironically applauding snow-boarders, revelling in my spectacular red-run wipe-out.
Spread-eagled in the middle of the slope with one ski pointing north and the other buried in a fence 20 metres away, it's fair to say that I hadn't made the most elegant of descents.
In fact it's no exaggeration to admit my first attempt at on-piste independence was little more successful that Eddie The Eagle Edwards' failed bid for an Olympic ski-jumping gold medal.
Just six hours into my ski-school week - my first and only experience of winter sports - I should have listened when my instructor (a former stuntwoman no less) urged my group of novices to stick with her and not risk prematurely puncturing our fragile confidence.
Said confidence duly speared, I was relieved to discover later from the laconic hotel physician Dr Dryanovski that only my pride had been deflated, not my lungs. Still, the suspected (and later confirmed) fractured rib and "traumatised nerve endings" weren't the ideal ingredients for a week of skiing.
But no matter. Several anti-inflammatories and industrial strength painkillers later and I was back on the (nursery) slopes perfecting my snow plough and taking things much more sensibly.
And therein lies the problem of the ski-school experience. Everybody's got do to it but for holidaymakers of an impatient nature the drudgery of mastering the basics is just too tempting to ignore.
But maybe that's just me.
Sensible skiers will be in seventh heaven in with its (relatively) benign slopes, legion of well-trained, day-glo attired instructors, and easy accessibility from the ring of hotels circling the foot of the 9652ft peak.
The four-star Samakov Hotel where we stayed was a mere five-minute snow-booted shuffle from the base of the main Rila slope. The rooms are functional rather than flashy but the hotel is well-equipped with a swimming pool, gymnasium, several restaurants and bars and even a bowling alley. ... more