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Hotel Riagor Sunny Beach Review (All Inclusive Bulgaria!)

For the second year in a row we headed to Sunny Beach for the summer, and to Hotel Riagor! The first time we came here it was solely because it was the best priced hotel with an 8+ rating on Booking.com, but we may have sparked a tradition!

An Overview On Riagor Hotel

Hotel Riagor is a fairly small, family owned hotel. It offers an all inclusive plan with three daily meals and all drinks. It is not a sprawling Mexican style resort with multiple restaurants and pools.

There is a salt water pool with a smaller adjoining pool for little kids. In the back garden there is also a jungle gym.

Rooms are simple, fairly spacious, and air conditioned. Both times we had a double bed, single bed, and a sofa bed. (I’m not sure if every room is the same.) The beds and linens are very comfortable.

Every room has a balcony which is a great plus! There is a mini fridge and desk in the room, and the bathroom has an enclosed shower. (Let me tell you, wet rooms abound in the Balkans, so a shower door is fantastic.)

The Wifi was suitable for working the whole time we were there, and it seemed like every floor has a dedicated router. (Although I suspect speeds may suffer when Sunny Beach is very busy.)

Is the Food Good?

Having good food is the most important thing for us when we book an all inclusive. If you’ve already paid for three meals, nobody want to be trapped eating bad food!

We really enjoyed the food at this hotel. This year the variety was even better than last year. Lunch and dinner are never the exact same thing on the same day, and while many of the ingredients are the same, there wasn’t much repetition.

Breakfast is simple and generally the same few dishes, but that’s the nature of breakfast buffets everywhere.

We can’t really speak to the quality of the drinks because we pretty much stick to soda water and fruit juice, but we saw plenty of cocktails.

They are Low Waste

Speaking of similar ingredients, we often noticed some elements of lunch or the previous dinner being incorporated into other dishes.

This made us very happy, because on the days with fewer people we would hate to think that they throw everything away!

Housekeeping makes the beds daily but they only wash the linens a couple times per week unless they are visibly dirty (like if you spill a coffee on them…*cough*). This is great for conserving energy and water.

They do use disposable cups for the bar, but you can hang onto them and get them refilled.

The Staff are Incredibly Friendly

If you’ve ever been to Bulgaria, you might know that the people aren’t exactly…warm. Hotel Riagor is very different! The staff are all very friendly. Reception, housekeeping, servers, management, and the bartender, are all smiling and happy.

Most of the staff from last year was the same this year, which was a pleasant surprise. When we booked for our stay this year, everybody remembered us. They even waited up late for us to arrive and saved us some food from dinner!

The Swimming Pool

The pool isn’t huge, but big enough for the size of hotel. We found that it was usually pretty empty around 4 pm because most people swim in the morning or after lunch. The pool isn’t heated, so it is warmest later in the day anyway.

There are plenty of sun loungers and there wasn’t a problem with people trying to hold them all day with towels, which has been an issue at other resorts. (We were staying early in the season though, so it may be like that in August.)

It’s Close to the Beach

Hotel Riagor is only about 3 blocks from the beach (on the Black Sea), so it is an easy walk multiple times per day – should you choose to do that. The beach is sandy and there are large sections that are reserved for free public use.

We stuck around the hotel for the most part, because we prefer to swim in the pool.

Getting to Hotel Riagor

Getting to Hotel Riagor from the Burgas airport or city center is pretty simple:

Travelling By Bus

There are regular buses that you can catch either from the bus station (beside the train station) in the city of Burgas, or just outside the airport.

The ride does take about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on where you leave from and which route you catch. Some of the buses to Sunny Beach travel through other villages on the way, but they all get you there eventually. (As of 2024 this fare is about 8 leva or approx 4 Euros)

From the Sunny Beach bus station you can catch the orange buses that run up and down the main street. Hop out at the stop across the street from Zero Bar & Grill, and it’s about a 5 minute walk to Riagor from there. (This bus is an additional 2 leva or approx 1 Euro.)

Arriving by Taxi

It is a fair distance from Burgas to Sunny Beach, so a taxi can be a bit pricey. It is about 85 leva (approx 45 Euros) from the train station in downtown Burgas to Hotel Riagor. From the airport it will be a little bit less.

I wouldn’t recommend driving to Hotel Riagor because Sunny Beach does not have much by way of free parking. There is a car park very close by but it has never been open while we were at the resort.

Cons for Hotel Riagor

There is nothing that we don’t like at Riagor, but here are a couple of things to note.

No Hot Tub/Spa

Both of the pools are cool salt water pools. If you were looking at pictures, you might have thought one is a hot tub, but it’s just a shallower pool for kids. Sunny Beach is plenty hot in the summer, so I wouldn’t want to soak in a hot tub anyways, but I know some people like them.

Smaller Dining Room

This is not really a Hotel Riagor specific problem. As with most hotels, the dining room is small when every guest decides to come for a meal at the same time. It was fine when we were there early in the season, but I imagine in high season you may have to wait for a table.

We found that lunch and dinner were quietest at the beginning of the meal time. (I can’t tell you about breakfast because we always arrive in the last 20 minutes!)

The Bar Closes at 10 pm

The bar closing at 10 wasn’t really an issue for us because we purchased big bottles of water for night time at the nearby supermarket anyway. (The tap water in Sunny Beach is not suitable to drink.) Some evenings it seems quite early to not be able to get another drink.

That being said, it might be best for the peace and quiet of the hotel that they stop serving alcohol fairly early. I also don’t know if they have later hours when the hotel is busier.

I hope this helps you decide to book your stay at Hotel Riagor! We love the laid back atmosphere, tasty food, and friendly staff.