Bulgaria and Romania are the new summer sun destinations for the Irish market in 2005. Both countries have seriously upgraded facilities.
Both countries are bringing holiday makers to a cluster of resorts on the Black Sea. Flight times are longer than Spain but not as long as the Canaries. If you are going through Burgas, watch for longish transfer times to Albena and the wonderfully named Golden Sands - the communists renamed it to attract western tourists, when you hear it used to be called Zlatni Pyassutsi you can see why.
Temperatures can be surprisingly hot but cool rapidly in September. The Bulgarian season is about two weeks longer than the Romanian.
Prices are cheap but climbing fast. Your holiday will cost Eu200-Eu300 less than the equivalent brochure holiday in Spain. Local beer comes at 50c a pint and it isn’t bad.
Standards of service and food are vastly improved on the 1980s, when the countries last featured large on the holiday market. The emphasis is in offering four star quality at three start prices, so expect spas, large rooms and added value comfort.
DON’T expect high standards of infrastructure. The hotels have been upgraded, the roads have not. Excursions are not really a feature of resort life.
Bloodsucker excursions to Transylvania from Constanta are so slow and laborious as to be almost out of the question.
For those who do go, Bram castle is a must-see. It has precious little to do with Dracula, who was after all invented by a Dubliner, or even Vlad the Impaler who used it as a stopover B&B, but it is as close to the vampire as you will get in Romania.
