St. Spas Hotel & Balneo Complex in Velingrad

****AVOID AVOID AVOID****
⭐️ 1/5 – Misleading “5-star spa” marketing: overcrowded, unsafe, and not relaxing at all

I’m leaving this review because what is advertised online is nothing like the reality. This is not a 5-star spa experience — it’s the opposite.

I booked a private room, and honestly that was the only good part of this stay. Everything else, especially the spa, was a complete disappointment.

First, the spa area is very small for the amount of guests they allow inside. There are only two small pools, and they were visibly not in a good condition (dirty/poorly maintained). On top of that, the flooring is dangerously slippery — I personally saw several kids fall in front of me because of it, and one of them hurt themselves. That is a serious safety hazard and should not happen in any hotel, especially one calling itself “5-star.”

Now the biggest issue: the spa is overcrowded to an insane level.

I had to pay €22 per day for 2 people to use the “5-star spa.” I paid, but I couldn’t properly use it:

Day 1 (Friday): We waited around 2 hours before we could finally use one of the two outside small jacuzzis. The main pool area was overcrowded. We tried the sauna and stayed about 10 minutes before it became packed. There are only two saunas total, which is nowhere near enough for the number of guests.

Day 2 (Saturday): Even worse. More people arrived and it became impossible. We spent about an hour just waiting to find a sunbed — and we never found one free. The noise level was constant, the crowd was huge, and there was zero relaxation. A spa is supposed to be calm, quiet and comfortable — here you can barely hear your own thoughts.

Realistically, this spa can handle maybe 30–40 people, but it felt like there were 100+ inside at the same time. It’s basically “pay extra to stand and wait.”

I went to reception to request a refund for the spa because I paid for a service that I couldn’t actually use. I waited around 20 minutes before the manager spoke to me. She was arrogant and dismissive, and said something like “for this money you won’t find a better spa in Velingrad.” That’s not the point. I wasn’t arguing about the price — I was saying that what they promote online (“relax and spa”) is misleading compared to what guests actually experience. She didn’t want to listen, started shouting, and handled the situation in a very unprofessional way. Yes, the refund was given, but the attitude was unacceptable.

My honest opinion: worst hotel/spa experience in the Velingrad area. If you’re booking for relaxation, hygiene, safety, and a real spa experience — AVOID.

Balneo SPA Hotel Sveti Spas
I am not sure how this hotel has received a 5-star rating. In terms of hygiene, I would give it minus one star. The lobby bar closes at 8:00 PM, which is very strange for a hotel of this category — you can’t have a drink or relax and chat in the evening.
The pool and jacuzzi are constantly overcrowded, making it impossible to relax. The water in the indoor pool is dirty, and the outdoor pool cannot be used because the water is too cold. I don’t understand why they don’t use the same water system as the indoor pool.
The room we stayed in was private and of good quality, which was the only positive point. However, overall the hotel feels old and in need of serious renovation and improvement.
Unfortunately, the experience does not match a 5-star standard.

We stayed at Sveti Spas for one night. Overall, most of the staff were polite and helpful, but unfortunately our experience was overshadowed by an unpleasant incident. When we arrived, our room was not stocked with two robes. Since we were only staying one night, we didn’t consider it a big issue and chose not to mention it.

However, upon checkout the next day, we were stopped by staff and made to wait around 30 minutes while they involved other parties, as they believed we had taken the robes. This was very uncomfortable and left us feeling unfairly treated, especially since the robes were never in the room to begin with.

It was a disappointing end to what could have been a nice stay.

Honestly the worst 5* Hotel ive ever stayed in. I dont quite understand who gave them this 5 stars? The location is nice, but our apartment was next to a street with lots of train/car noise. The three ladies at the reception were very unpleasnt, never smiled once. Thats a first no go for a 5* Hotel. After i complained that several things in the apartment are not working, the lady just starred at me with no reaction whatsoever. Rooms are very unpleasently styled. Toilett seat was broken, the sink pipe was also dropping, one of the socket didnt work, the fridge was anything but cold. Everything looked like a cheap Motel in the USA. I was very shoked, cuz on the other hand the pictures on the website are well made. The only nice thing was the outdoors, the garden. They spent for sure a lot of money on the outside looks. The food is also very far away from a 5*. Than the cherry on the top was when we had a very loud music playing during dinner. Thats was very annoying. The pool was ok, bit durty. Lots of the lying chairs outside were broken and the gras quality was awlful. So, please people, choose another hotel.